Foods available to African farm households increase with market access and off-farm work
Africa / Animal Production / Article / CCAFS / Consumption / Food Security / HUMIDTROPICS / ILRI / Livelihoods / Livestock / LIVESTOCKFISH / Markets / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock / SLS / Spotlight

Foods available to African farm households increase with market access and off-farm work

Common foods of Khulungira village, in central Malawi: Nsomba zophika (fish stew), chimanga chophika (boiled maize), nyemba zophika (mixed beans with salt and oil), bowa wofutsa (dried mushrooms with ground groundnuts), nkhwani wophatikiza ndi maungu anthete ndi kachewere wophika (pumpkin leaves, pumpkin blossoms and potatoes) and mazira ophika ndi phwetekere, anyezi, mafuta ndi mchere (boiled … Continue reading

Is the ‘Third Epidemiological Transition’ upon us?
A4NH / Agri-Health / Animal Diseases / Article / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / Epidemiology / FSZ / Human Health / ILRI / Intensification / Spotlight / Zoonotic Diseases

Is the ‘Third Epidemiological Transition’ upon us?

Zoonoses—diseases transferred from animals to humans—have been with humanity throughout history. But today’s growing scale of livestock production in developing countries to feed their fast-growing and fast-urbanizing populations is sparking debate about whether the livestock sector is contributing to a fundamental a shift in global disease mortality, something known as an ‘epidemiological transition’. If so, it would be the third such transition in human history. Continue reading

First global map of the rising use of antimicrobial drugs in farm animals published in PNAS
A4NH / Agri-Health / Article / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / Food Safety / FSZ / Geodata / Human Health / ILRI / Intensification / Spotlight

First global map of the rising use of antimicrobial drugs in farm animals published in PNAS

As reported last week in a scientific paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), Global trends in antimicrobial use in food animals, worldwide antimicrobial consumption is expected to rise by a staggering 67% between 2010 and 2030. Continue reading

How to act in the face of uncertainty (and adapt to ‘wicked problems’) with ‘no regrets’ options–CGIAR PNAS paper
Agriculture / Article / Capacity Strengthening / CCAFS / Climate Change / Food Security / Geodata / ILRI / ILRIComms / Policy / Poverty / SLS / Spotlight / Vulnerability

How to act in the face of uncertainty (and adapt to ‘wicked problems’) with ‘no regrets’ options–CGIAR PNAS paper

A 2013 paper, Addressing uncertainty in adaptation planning for agriculture, deserves a wide readership. The paper was published in 2013 in the prestigious US science journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). It tackles ‘uncertainty’ in climate change research for development. If you can manage your way through the technical jargon, you get to this: The results demonstrate the potential for robust knowledge and actions in the face of uncertainty. Continue reading