Improving forage crops in livestock systems shows potential for reducing climate change

Vietnamese farmers with cattle fodder. A report by CIAT says livestock systems that use improved forage crops reduce the effects of climate change (photo credit: ILRI/Werner Stür).

Last week, AlertNet published an opinion piece highlighting recent research by the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) on how forage-based systems, which dominate agriculture in the tropics, could be harnessed to reduce livestock’s contribution to climate change.

‘Livestock have particularly been ‘lambasted for their voluminous greenhouse gas emissions, implicated in massive land degradation, and denounced for driving deforestation, [and] are supposedly the bad kids on the block – the black sheep of sustainable agriculture. The polarisation of the livestock debate has brought about one of the greatest public image travesties of our time. It has seen small-scale livestock keepers, who raise a handful of animals for milk or meat in low-tech systems with a negligible environmental footprint, tarred with the same brush as large-scale industrial producers.’

The article cites recently published research by CIAT, which shows that ‘well-managed “LivestockPlus” systems involving improved forage crops – plants grazed by livestock – actually have impressive environmental credentials.’

The findings are based research that looked at the use of a forage known as brachiaria, a deep-rooted grass native to Africa that is now widely grown in South America and in Southeast Asia; which shows that ‘improved forage crops’ have multiple benefits for sustainable smallholder agriculture and could be powerful crops for mitigating climate change as well as helping restore degraded pastures.

‘With its big green leaves, brachiaria has very high carbon accumulation potential, acting as a powerful carbon sink within livestock systems. It can also help retain and even increase stocks of soil carbon, in part by recycling carbon through animal manure and aboveground litter, and also due to its high turnover of roots – each generation of roots adds to the carbon stock deep in the soil.

‘In fact, the CIAT study shows that high quality forages like brachiaria are second only to native forest in terms of their potential for storing soil carbon. In areas with high rainfall, they could even sequester more atmospheric CO₂ than forests. Forthcoming research will look more closely at this.

This latest research was published in CIAT’s new flagship publication Eco-Efficiency: From Vision to Reality, which details the science of sustainable smallholder agriculture.

‘Brachiaria has been shown to produce higher milk and meat yields in cattle – ten times more per unit land area than if the animals grazed on native savanna grass. And because it’s a high quality, easily digestible food, animals fed with brachiaria emit less methane per kilo of meat produced.’

‘With the right policy environment, higher productivity could also reduce the need for larger herds, in turn easing pressure on forests.’ The CIAT study recommends using brachiaria in “agro-silvo-pastoral systems”, or systems that incorporate an eco-efficient holy trinity of food crops, forages and trees.

According to article, ‘the solution [to the negative perception of livestock’s impact on the environment] could lie with the developing world’s 1 billion smallholder livestock keepers, who have much to gain from highly-productive LivestockPlus systems. Their involvement could be instrumental in helping to reversing livestock’s negative image, particularly if adoption of these systems means they become recognised as environmental guardians.’

Read the whole story on the AlertNet Blog: Climate Conversations: Livestock: Cure or curse?, 24 May 2012.

 

Dry-season milk supplies to pastoral children improves their nutrition, development and health

Fresh camel milk from Somali youths (photo on Flickr by G A Hussein).

The Feinstein International Center, at Tufts University (USA), has published a report of a study on the impact of dry-season livestock support on milk supply and child nutrition in Somali Region, Ethiopia.

Ethiopia’s Somali Region is the easternmost of Ethiopia’s 9 ethnically based administrative divisions and most of the people there are Somali. The region is remote with a mobile nomadic population and little infrastructure. It is mostly desert with high average temperatures and low bi-modal rainfall. Its economy is weak and reliant predominantly on traditional animal husbandry and marginal farming practices. The predominantly livestock-based economy has, for centuries, relied up on herding a primary stock of camels, flocks of sheep and goats, as well as the raising of cattle in settled agricultural areas where conditions are favourable. Export of live animals to the Gulf countries to the north is the main source of cash in the local economy.

The Feinstein Center provides the following synopsis.

‘Children in the pastoral areas of Somali Region Ethiopia are increasingly among the most nutritionally vulnerable populations in the world. In response to more frequent droughts and recurrent nutritional emergencies in the Region, the international community has tended to prioritize the provision of food aid and therapeutic treatment of severe acute malnutrition; Little has been done to understand the potential role of milk, a well-established pillar of the pastoral diet and one of the world’s most nutritionally complete foods, in maintaining child nutritional status.

‘This report presents the findings of two cohort studies assessing the impact of small-scale livestock interventions, designed to sustain access to and availability of animal milk at the household level over the dry season, on the nutritional status of children under 5 years of age. The studies were conducted for one calendar year, July 2010 to July 2011, in two pastoral Zones of the Somali Region.

‘The results reveal that, in sites exposed to the intervention, animal milk off-take improved dramatically, child consumption of animal milk increased, and child nutritional status stabilized compared to that of children in the control sites. Moreover, the direct costs of the livestock interventions were found to be 45 to 75 percent less than those incurred through therapeutic feeding programs, and the benefits were found to extend beyond nutrition to include developmental, health, and livelihoods aspects.

‘The study represents the culmination of four years of investigative research into the role of milk in pastoral child nutrition and a call for new, holistic, and preventative approaches to addressing child malnutrition in pastoral regions.’

Read the whole report: The Impact of Dry Season Livestock Support on Milk Supply and Child Nutrition in Somali Region, Ethiopia, By Kate Sadler, Emily Mitchard, Abdulahi Abdi, Yoseph Shiferaw, Gezu Bekele, and Andrew Catley, Feinstein International Center, at Tufts University, May 2012.

 

Extreme hunger in East Africa and the Sahel: Building response systems that work

Arid soils in Mauritania, where crops have failed because of a severe drought and the Sahel region faces a major food crisis: Over 700,000 people are affected in Mauritania and 12 million across West Africa (picture credit: Pablo Tosco/Oxfam International).

Senegalese singer Baaba Maal has visited Mauritanian communities at the center of the current food crisis in the Sahel. Low rainfall, poor harvests, a lack of pasture and rising food prices are among the key factors driving this crisis, which now affects one in four people across the country.

Andrew Wander, media manager for humanitarian emergencies for Save the Children, writes in the Guardian‘s Poverty Matters Blog that ‘forewarned is not forearmed’ when it comes to dealing with slow-onset food crises.

‘After the hunger crisis that engulfed east Africa last summer, there was plenty for the world to think about. After all, we’d been warned it was coming—the first alerts of a potential crisis came the previous year. But not enough was done to avert it, and we now know that failure cost tens of thousands of lives and millions of dollars in aid money. . . .’

The good news, Wander  says, is that ‘despite the bleak forecasts from both east and west Africa, progress has been made. Governments, UN agencies and NGOs are acutely aware of the need for change and are actively seeking improvements in how we respond to hunger. We’re on the ground earlier, more funding has been made available by donors, and journalists have been covering the story of the growing crisis in west Africa since January. In comparison, previous seasonal hunger crises in the Sahel have never attracted attention before the summer—there’s no doubt that more is happening earlier this time round.

‘But it is not enough. . . .

‘In east Africa, we are in danger of seeing the improvements from last year wiped out by poor rains, failed crops and ongoing conflict. Parts of Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya are always vulnerable to hunger. After last year’s horrors, millions of people are especially vulnerable and, like last year, the money for preventive work is not there. Without funding, those people could find themselves facing a second summer of extreme hunger.

‘So why can’t we fix this broken system in time to stop crisis in the Sahel and east Africa? . . .

The hard truth is that pictures of starving children give donors an instant justification to release significant amounts of money. Predictions of starvation, however accurate, do not. . . .

‘The truth is that for many people, giving to crisis appeals is an emotional response, not a logical decision. . . .

‘But change is a process. It will take time, and there’s a long way to go. The lives of thousands of children depend on us completing the journey, and building a system that works.’

Read the whole article at the Guardian‘s Poverty Matters Blog: Extreme hunger in East Africa and the Sahel: forewarned but not forearmed, 9 May 2012

 

Crop, tree, water, livestock and fish scientists call for action at Rio+20 sustainable development summit

CGIAR centres and initiatives signing a 7-point ‘CGIAR Call to Action’ at the June 2012 Rio+20 UN sustainable development summit.

Mark Kinver at the BBC reports today on a global group calling for decision-makers at the June Rio+20 sustainable development summit to take a concerted approach to agricultural policy, based on science. The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) is part of the group of research institutions making this ‘call to action’.

‘The biggest environmental summit for a decade must make meaningful progress on global food security and sustainable agriculture, say researchers.

‘CGIAR, the world’s largest publicly funded research body, has published a seven-point “call to action” plan.

‘Ahead of the Rio gathering, scientists are calling for an improved commitment to deliver nutrition security and lessen the need to aid.

‘Agriculture is estimated to provide jobs for 40% of the world’s population. . . .

‘”One reason why it is necessary to push attention on to agriculture in Rio is because negotiations are going really slowly,” explained CGIAR spokesman Bruce Campbell.

‘”We thought it was really important to put the focus on agriculture in Rio, and the 15 research organisations have come together in order to form a consortium and speak with one voice for the first time.”

‘Dr Campbell added that the agencies were calling on the negotiators to reaffirm the role of science and technology. . . .

‘The Rio+20 Conference, formally known as the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), will take place in Brazil on 20-22 June 2012.

‘The summit marks the 20th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), which was also held in Rio de Janeiro, and the 10th anniversary of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, South Africa. . . .

‘Heads of states from more than 100 nations are expected to attend the summit.’

Read the whole article at BBC News: Nations need food security goals, 23 May 2012.

See CGIAR Calls to Action at Rio+20, 23 May 2012.

See CGIAR ar Rio+20 landing page on the CGIAR Consortium website.

 

Aliens in human brains: Pig tapeworm is an alarming, and important, human disease worldwide

Pork infected with pig tapeworm cysts (photo credit: ILRI/Fahrion).

An article in this month’s Discover Magazine reports on infection with pig tapeworm, or cysticercosis, a target disease of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) that is rare in the industrialized world but unfortunately not at all rare in poor countries.

‘. . . Before they become adults, tapeworms spend time as larvae in large cysts. And those cysts can end up in people’s brains, causing a disease known as neurocysticercosis.

‘“Nobody knows exactly how many people there are with it in the United States,” says Nash, who is the chief of the Gastrointestinal Parasites Section at NIH. His best estimate is 1,500 to 2,000. Worldwide, the numbers are vastly higher, though estimates on a global scale are even harder to make because neurocysticercosis is most common in poor places that lack good public-health systems. “Minimally there are 5 million cases of epilepsy from neurocysticercosis,” Nash says. . . .

‘The closer scientists look at the epidemiology of the disease, the worse it becomes. . . . Earlier this spring, Nash and colleagues published a review of the scientific literature and concluded that somewhere between 11 million and 29 million people have neurocysticercosis in Latin America alone. Tapeworms are also common in other regions of the world, such as Africa and Asia. “Neurocysticercosis is a very important disease worldwide,” Nash says.

‘The alarming illness occurs when tapeworm larvae lose their way. Normally, Taenia solium has a life cycle that takes it from pigs to humans and back to pigs again. . . . But sometimes tapeworms take a wrong turn. Instead of going into a pig, the eggs end up in a human. This can occur if someone shedding tapeworm eggs contaminates food that other people then eat. When the egg hatches, the confused larva does not develop into an adult in the human’s intestines. Instead, it acts as it would inside a pig. It burrows into the person’s bloodstream and gets swept through the body. Often those parasites end up in the brain, where they form cysts. . . .

‘Although finding a better cure is important, Nash is more interested in preventing tapeworms from getting into human brains in the first place by breaking their life cycle. A favored strategy is identifying people who have adult tapeworms in their bodies and giving them drugs to kill the parasites. It is also possible to vaccinate pigs so that they destroy tapeworm eggs as soon as they ingest them.

‘None of this is rocket science—which makes Nash all the more frustrated that so little is being done. “I see this as a disease that can be treated and prevented,” he says. But there are precious few resources available for treatment and little recognition of the problem. “All of this seems to be very feasible, but nobody wants to do anything about it.”’

Read the whole article at Discover Magazine: Hidden epidemic: Tapeworms living inside people’s brains, 15 May 2012 (June 2012 issue).

Read about an ILRI Sep 2011 workshop on cysticercosis: Market incentives–not top-down regulation–needed to help poor farmers take advantage of East Africa’s burgeoning pig industry, 17 Jan 2012.

Read more about a People, Animals and their Zoonoses (PAZ) project of the University of Edinburgh and ILRI, which is taking a close look at the health of people and livestock in a densely populated region of western Kenya. One of the health issues project members are investigating is the role played by pigs in transmitting zoonotic diseases and the risk factors for human infection in western Kenya. PAZ is funded by the Wellcome Trust and led by Eric Fevre.
ILRI Clippings Blog: Forestalling the next plague: Building a first picture of all diseases afflicting people and animals in Africa, 11 Apr 2011.

See also ILRI photofilm: The connection between animal disease and human health, Jan 2012, duration: 01:55. This brief film describes the work and expected impact of the ILRI-Welcome Trust ‘People Animals and Their Zoonoses Project’ that is investigating the impact of disease pathogens in people and animals in Busia District, in western Kenya.

And the ILRI photofilm: Dying for meat, Feb 2012, duration: 2:56. This short film features small-scale butchers and consumers from Nairobi, Kenya, and a commentary by Delia Grace, an ILRI veterinary epidemiologist who is leading multi-institutional research on agriculture-associated diseases, on issues that connect animal and human health.

 

President Obama: Sustaining commitments, speeding things up, for African food security

Last week at the 2012 G8 Summit in the USA, Oxfam International asked world leaders to join smallholder farmers and developing countries to fight hunger by delivering on their previous pledges and recommitting for the future by joining its Grow Campaign (image credit: Oxfam International).

Last week, on 18 May and the eve of the 2012 G8 meeting that he led, US President Obama said and announced some stirring stuff, including a New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition. The occasion was the 3rd annual Symposium on Global Agriculture and Food Security, organized by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and held in Washington, DC.

Perhaps decision-makers at this June’s United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio +20), which Obama along with many other heads of state is being urged to attend, could take a leaf from the US president’s focused commitment to (long-neglected) global food security and farm productivity.

The following are (long) excerpts (I didn’t find much I wanted to cut) of Obama’s speech last week.

‘. . . Now, this weekend at the G8, we’ll be represented by many of the world’s largest economies. . . . [T]omorrow at the G8, . . . we’re launching a major new partnership to reduce hunger and lift tens of millions of people from poverty. And we’ll be joined by leaders from across Africa . . . .

‘Now, this partnership is possible because so many leaders in Africa and around the world have made food security a priority. And that’s why, shortly after I took office, I called for the international community to do its part. And at the G8 meeting three years ago in L’Aquila, in Italy, that’s exactly what we did—mobilizing more than $22 billion for a global food security initiative.

After decades in which agriculture and nutrition didn’t always get the attention they deserved, we put the fight against global hunger where it should be, which is at the forefront of global development. . . . It’s rooted in our conviction that true development involves not only delivering aid, but also promoting economic growth—broad-based, inclusive growth that actually helps nations develop and lifts people out of poverty. The whole purpose of development is to create the conditions where assistance is no longer needed, where people have the dignity and the pride of being self-sufficient.

‘You see our new approach in our . . . food security initiative, Feed the Future. Instead of simply handing out food, we’ve partnered with countries in pursuit of ambitious goals: better nutrition to prevent the stunting and the death of millions of children, and raising the incomes of millions of people, most of them farmers. . . .

As President, I consider this a moral imperative. As the wealthiest nation on Earth, I believe the United States has a moral obligation to lead the fight against hunger and malnutrition, and to partner with others.

‘So we take pride in the fact that, because of smart investments in nutrition and agriculture and safety nets, millions of people in Kenya and Ethiopia did not need emergency aid in the recent drought.

‘But when tens of thousands of children die from the agony of starvation, as in Somalia, that sends us a message we’ve still got a lot of work to do. It’s unacceptable. It’s an outrage. It’s an affront to who we are.

‘So food security is a moral imperative, but it’s also an economic imperative. History teaches us that one of the most effective ways to pull people and entire nations out of poverty is to invest in their agriculture. . . .

‘It’s a moral imperative, it’s an economic imperative, and it is a security imperative. For we’ve seen how spikes in food prices can plunge millions into poverty, which, in turn, can spark riots that cost lives, and can lead to instability. And this danger will only grow if a surging global population isn’t matched by surging food production. . . .

‘And perhaps nowhere do we see this link more vividly than in Africa. On the one hand, we see Africa as an emerging market. African economies are some of the fastest growing in the world. We see a surge in foreign investment. We see a growing middle class; hundreds of millions of people connected by mobile phones; more young Africans online than ever before. There’s hope and some optimism. And all of this has yielded impressive progress—for the first time ever, a decline in extreme poverty in Africa; an increase in crop yields; a dramatic drop in child deaths. That’s the good news . . . .

‘On the other hand, we see an Africa that still faces huge hurdles: stark inequalities; most Africans still living on less than $2 a day; climate change that increases the risk of drought and famine. All of which perpetuates stubborn barriers in agriculture, in the agricultural sector—from bottlenecks in infrastructure that prevent food from getting to market, to the lack of credit, especially for small farmers, most of whom are women. . . .

There is no reason why Africa should not be feeding itself and exporting food again. There is no reason for that.

‘So that’s why we’re here. In Africa and around the world, progress isn’t coming fast enough. And economic growth can’t just be for the lucky few at the top, it’s got to be broad-based, for everybody, and a good place to start is in the agricultural sector. So even as the world responds with food aid in a crisis—as we’ve done in the Horn of Africa—communities can’t go back just to the way things were, vulnerable as before, waiting for the next crisis to happen. Development has to be sustainable, and as an international community, we have to do better.

So here at the G8, we’re going to build on the progress we’ve made so far. Today, I can announce a new global effort we’re calling a New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition. And to get the job done we’re bringing together all the key players around a shared commitment. Let me describe it.

‘Governments, like those in Africa, that are committed to agricultural development and food security, they agree to take the lead—building on their own plans by making tough reforms and attracting investment. Donor countries—including G8 members and international organizations—agree to more closely align our assistance with these country plans. And the private sector—from large multinationals to small African cooperatives, your NGOs and civil society groups—agree to make concrete and continuing commitments as well, so that there is an alignment between all these sectors.

‘Now, I know some have asked, in a time of austerity, whether this New Alliance is just a way for governments to shift the burden onto somebody else. I want to be clear: The answer is no. As President, I can assure you that the United States will continue to meet our responsibilities, so that even in these tough fiscal times, we will continue to make historic investments in development. . . .

‘We’ll continue to be the leader in times of crisis, as we’ve done as the single largest donor of aid in the Horn of Africa, and as we focus on the drought in the Sahel. That’s why I’ve proposed to continue increasing funds for food security. So I want to be clear: The United States will remain a global leader in development in partnership with you. And we will continue to make available food—or emergency aid. That will not change. But what we do want to partner with you on is a strategy so that emergency aid becomes less and less relevant as a consequence of greater and greater sustainability within these own countries.

‘That’s how development is supposed to work. That’s what I mean by a new approach that challenges more nations, more organizations, more companies, more NGOs, challenges individuals—some of the young people who are here—to step up and play a role—because government cannot and should not do this alone. This has to be all hands on deck.

‘And that’s the essence of this New Alliance. So G8 nations will pledge to honor the commitments we made in L’Aquila. We must do what we say; no empty promises. And at the same time, we’ll deliver the assistance to launch this new effort. . . .

‘Next, we’re going to mobilize more private capital. Today, I can announce that 45 companies—from major international corporations to African companies and cooperatives—have pledged to invest more than $3 billion to kick off this effort. And we’re also going to fast-track new agricultural projects so they reach those in need even quicker.

‘Third, we’re going to speed up the development and delivery of innovation—better seeds, better storage—that unleash huge leaps in food production. And we’re going to tap that mobile phone revolution in Africa so that more data on agriculture—whether it’s satellite imagery or weather forecasts or market prices—are put in the hands of farmers so they know where to plant and when to plant and when to sell.

‘Fourth, we’re joining with the World Bank and other partners to better understand and manage the risks that come with changing food prices and a changing climate—because a change in prices or a single bad season should not plunge a family, a community or a region into crisis.

‘And finally, we’re going to keep focusing on nutrition, especially for young children, because we know the effects of poor nutrition can last a lifetime—it’s harder to learn, it’s harder to earn a living. When there is good nutrition, especially in those thousand days during pregnancy up to the child’s second birthday, it means healthier lives for that child and that mother. And it’s the smart thing to do because better nutrition means lower health care costs and it means less need for assistance later on.

‘That’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to sustain the commitments we made three years ago, and we’re going to speed things up. And we’re starting with these three countries—Tanzania, Ghana and Ethiopia—precisely because of their record in improving agriculture and food security.

‘But this is just the beginning. In the coming months, we’ll expand to six countries. We’ll welcome other countries that are committed to making tough reforms. We’ll welcome more companies that are willing to invest. We’re going to hold ourselves accountable; we’ll measure results. And we’ll stay focused on clear goals: boosting farmers’ incomes, and over the next decade, helping 50 million men, women and children lift themselves out of poverty.

‘And I know there are going to be skeptics—there always are. We see heartbreaking images—fields turned to dust, babies with distended bellies—and we say it’s hopeless, and some places are condemned to perpetual poverty and hunger. But the people in this room disagree. I think most of the American people disagree. Anyone who claims great change is impossible, I say look at the extraordinary successes in development.

‘Look at the Green Revolution, which pulled hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. Look at microfinance, which has empowered so many rural poor—something my mother was involved with. Look at the huge expansion of education, especially for girls. Look at the progress we’ve made with vaccines—from smallpox to measles to pneumonia to diarrhea—which have saved the lives of hundreds of millions. And of course, look at the global fight against HIV/AIDS, which has brought us to the point where we can imagine what was once unthinkable—and that is the real possibility of an AIDS-free generation.

‘Moreover, we are already making progress in this area right now. In Rwanda, farmers are selling more coffee and lifting their families out of poverty. In Haiti, some farmers have more than doubled their yields. In Bangladesh, in the poorest region, they’ve had their first-ever surplus of rice. There are millions of farmers and families whose lives are being transformed right now because of some of the strategies that we’re talking about. And that includes a farmer in Ethiopia who got a new loan, increased production, hired more workers. And he said, “This salary changed my life. My kids can now go to school.”

‘And we start getting the wheel turning in the direction of progress.

We can do this. We’re already doing it. We just need to bring it all together. We can unleash the change that reduces hunger and malnutrition. We can spark the kind of economic growth that lifts people and nations out of poverty. This is the new commitment that we’re making. And I pledge to you today that this will remain a priority as long as I am United States President. . . .

Read the whole speech at the White House website: Remarks by the President at Symposium on Global Agriculture and Food Security, 18 May 2012.

Read related article on this blog: Move our global food systems into a ‘safe space’–Memo to G8 from CGIAR’s Bruce Campbell, 20 May 2012.

 

African swine fever is growing threat to poor and rich countries alike

Participants of an African swine fever workshop held in July 2011 at ILRI’s Nairobi headquarters: (From left) Raymond Rowland (Kansas State University), David Odongo (ILRI), Richard Bishop (ILRI), Maria-Jesus Munoz (Centro de Investigación en Sanidad Animal-Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agrarias) and Jose-Manuel Vizcaino (head of the World Animal Health Organisation’s African Swine Fever World Reference Centre, in Madrid) on a visit to the new laboratories at ILRI and Biosciences eastern and central Africa (photo credit: ILRI/Edward Okoth).

‘Scientists from around the world came to Kansas State University’s Biosecurity Research Institute (BRI) May 15–17 to take a global look at the highly contagious viral disease, African swine fever (ASF). The researchers assembled to give updates on research and in some cases, the status of ASF in their countries.

‘ASF has not been found in the United States, but is a serious problem in Africa and outbreaks have occurred in other countries, including Spain, Italy, Russia and the Dominican Republic. There is no vaccine or treatment. Changes in production practices and increasing globalization have increased the risk of introducing ASF into North America and other parts of the world, according to the Center for Food Security and Public Health at Iowa State University. . . .

‘Humans are not susceptible to the African swine fever virus (ASFV), but when an outbreak occurs in any region or country, the financial and physical implications can be devastating to the swine industry and those related to it. During outbreaks in Malta and the Dominican Republic, for example, the swine herds of the entire countries were completely depopulated. . . .

Richard Bishop, senior molecular biologist with the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi, Kenya spoke of the importance of the swine herd in Africa, adding that even one pig can make a significant difference in a family’s income. He said that the pig population in Africa increased 284% from 1980 to 1999 and that pork consumption during the period almost doubled. . . .’

Read the whole article at National Hog Farmer (USA): African swine fever represents growing global threat, 18 May 2012.

 

Move our global food systems into a ‘safe space’–Memo to G8 from CGIAR’s Bruce Campbell

Watch this elegant 6-minute film: How to fed the world by 2050: Actions in a changing climate.

Film summary: To achieve food security in a changing climate, the global community must operate within three limits: the quantity of food that can be produced under a given climate; the quantity needed by a growing and changing population; and the effect of food production on the climate. At present the planet operates outside that safe space, as witnessed by the enormous number of people who are undernourished. If current trends in population growth, diets, crop yields and climate change continue, the world will still be outside this ‘safe operating space’ in 2050. Humanity must urgently work to enlarge the safe space and also move the planet into the safe space (film credit: Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change, an initiative of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security, in collaboration with University of Minnesota Global Landscapes Initiative).

The Huffington Post has run a series of blogs by leading non-governmental organizations to call attention to a range of issues that should be raised at the G8 summit at Camp David, which just took place in rural Maryland, 18–19 May 2012. One of these opinion pieces is by Bruce Campbell, who leads the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security, of which the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) is a part.

In his opinion piece, Campbell warns that ‘Our window of opportunity to avert a humanitarian, environmental and climate crisis is rapidly closing. Currently, the global food system contributes 19–29 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions and is seen as one of the main drivers of global climate change. There are currently 1 billion people hungry and in only 15 years’ time, there will be 1 billion more mouths to feed. Ironically, there are also 1.5 billion overweight people in the world. Consumer food waste in the developed world can be considerable (30 percent in the UK, for instance) while in the developing world, an equal percentage (or more) can be lost during and after harvests due to poor pest control, inadequate storage facilities as well as lack of access to markets for selling crops.

These simple facts tell us that not only that we must redouble our efforts to increase our overall food production, but that we must do this with a smaller impact on the climate while promoting sustainable diets and uncovering new methods for efficient distribution and waste prevention.

‘Fixing our food system is indeed a colossal task, but there are huge opportunities for transformation, should global leaders take heed. Agriculture accounts for almost 40 percent of employment around the world, as well as 70 percent of water use, and covers more land that any other human enterprise. In addition, 95 percent of the world’s farmers live in the developing world and produce the majority of the world’s food. They are also among the most vulnerable to climate change shocks such as floods or drought.

As such a vital part of the economy and of society, how can agriculture not be a top priority on the global political agenda? . . .’

Read the whole opinion piece by Bruce Campbell in the Huffington Post: Food security: A ripe opportunity for the G8, 18 May 2012.

About CCAFS: The CGIAR Research Program, Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), is a strategic partnership of the Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers (CGIAR) and the Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP). The Program’s lead center is the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). The program is funded by bilateral and multilateral donor agencies, and is staffed by people based at leading research institutions worldwide.

About Bruce Campbell: Director of CCAFS since 2009 and chair of Agriculture and Rural Development Day, a gathering on 18 June 2012 of the world’s leading agricultural scientists and food system thinkers at the Rio+20 sustainable development summit, Bruce Campbell is an ecologist who champions new approaches to applied research in managing natural resources. Campbell spent two decades working on social-ecological systems in southern Africa, covering small to large forestry, livestock, dryland and irrigated cropping production systems. For ten years, he directed a team of 50 scientists in a forests and livelihoods program at the Centre for International Forestry Research, based in Indonesia, and he spent time in northern Australia, working on natural resource management by Aboriginal communities.

 

ILRI hosts Ohio State University One Health Summer Institute

On 21 May, the Ohio State University- Eastern Africa Track II Certification training in collaboration with ILRI will commence in Addis Ababa, with courses also offered in other locations.  The training will run through July 27, 2012.

Read more

 

Market-oriented agricultural extension important for Ethiopia – ILRI tells BBC

Berhanu Gebremedhin, IPMS briefs BBC reporters

The Ethiopian economy is currently witnessing strong growth; however agricultural productivity in the smallholder sector, in dairying for example, is not as high as it could be.

The BBC reports on developments in the country, including from a dairy development project of the Dutch development organization SNV.

As part of the report, Berhanu Gebremedhin of the Improving Productivity and Market Success (IPMS) of Ethiopian Farmers project briefed BBC reporters on trends in Ethiopia’s agricultural development and reasons for increased attention in the sector. He calls for increased focus on market-oriented extension services – an area where IPMS has been working over the past 5 years.

Listen in! to the full interview (BBC – World Business Report) Berhanu talks from minute 7 of the interview.