New map: Benefits of controlling trypanosomosis in the Horn of Africa
Agriculture / Books and Chapters / Cattle / Disease Control / East Africa / Ethiopia / Geodata / ILRI / ILRIComms / Kenya / Knowledge and Information / SLS / Somalia / South Sudan / Spotlight / Sudan / Trypanosomiasis / Zoonotic Diseases

New map: Benefits of controlling trypanosomosis in the Horn of Africa

Using the Horn of Africa as an example, the maps illustrate different steps in a methodology developed to estimate and map the economic benefits to livestock keepers of controlling a disease (Shaw et al. 2014). Cattle are first assigned to different production systems as shown in Map 1, illustrating for example, where mixed farming is heavily dependent on the use of draft oxen in Ethiopia, areas of Sudan and South Sudan where oxen use is much lower, and the strictly pastoral areas of Somalia and Kenya. Continue reading

New map: Impacts of climate change on length of growing periods in Africa
Africa / Agriculture / Books and Chapters / CCAFS / Climate Change / Geodata / ILRI / ILRIComms / Knowledge and Information / SLS / Spotlight

New map: Impacts of climate change on length of growing periods in Africa

Impacts of climate change on length of growing periods in Africa by Philip Thornton The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has published an atlas illustrating the current state of African smallholder agriculture. The Atlas of African Agriculture Research and Development comprises a series of maps and short analyses that showcase and locate the continent’s diverse agricultural … Continue reading

New map: Rainfall and rainfall variability in Africa
Africa / Agriculture / Books and Chapters / CCAFS / Geodata / ILRI / ILRIComms / Knowledge and Information / SLS / Spotlight / Water

New map: Rainfall and rainfall variability in Africa

An average of less than 1,000 millimeters of rain falls per year across most of Africa (Map 1). Rainfall tends to decrease with distance from the equator and is negligible in the Sahara (north of about latitude 16°N), in eastern Somalia, and in the southwest of the continent in Namibia and South Africa. Rainfall is most abundant on the eastern seaboard of Madagascar; portions of the highlands in eastern Africa; large areas of the Congo Basin and central Africa; and parts of coastal western Africa including Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea. Continue reading

New map: Ruminant livestock distribution in Africa
Africa / Agriculture / Books and Chapters / Geodata / ILRI / ILRIComms / Knowledge and Information / Livestock / Livestock Systems / SLS / Spotlight

New map: Ruminant livestock distribution in Africa

Ruminant livestock are raised across large parts of Africa where environmental conditions allow. Cattle, sheep, and goats are the most widespread, while camels are restricted to drier areas, particularly in the Horn of Africa and the arid parts of western Africa. These maps of ruminant dis­tribution should, however, be used in conjunction with the livestock production systems map to better under­stand the systems and climate zones where ruminant live­stock are found. The role of livestock varies greatly depending on the production system. Continue reading

New map: Livestock and mixed crop-livestock systems in Africa
Africa / Agriculture / Books and Chapters / CCAFS / Crop-Livestock / Geodata / ILRI / ILRIComms / Knowledge and Information / Livestock Systems / SLS / Spotlight

New map: Livestock and mixed crop-livestock systems in Africa

Livestock-producing agricultural systems cover 73 percent of Africa and stretch across several climates (Map 1). To some extent, these climates determine what type of farming is practiced. In Africa, livestock-producing systems are broken into two main categories: livestock and mixed crop-livestock. These systems exist in three common African climates: arid/semiarid, humid/subhumid, and temperate/tropical highlands. Continue reading