Feed News from Africa

Tunisia tenders to buy 25,000 T feed barley

Tunisian state grains agency Office des Cereales has issued a tender to purchase at least 25,000 tonnes of animal feed barley, European traders said on Wednesday.

• Continue reading • Comments (0)

Cassava turns into source of cash for small-scale farmers

Nicholas Olum has been running a fabricating business for many years but it is only recently that his patience paid off— he was contracted to fabricate cassava-processing machines by two organisations that plan to change the fortunes of cassava farmers.

• Continue reading • Comments (0)

New investments in agriculture likely to fail without sharp focus on small-scale 'mixed' f

Kenya - A new paper published today in Science warns that billions of dollars promised to fund programs to boost small-scale agriculture in developing countries are unlikely to succeed in feeding the world's increasing populations. This is due not only to increasing populations and changing environments, but also to little "intellectual commitment" to the ubiquitous small-scale "mixed" farmers who raise both crops and animals and are the source of much of today's food supplies and economic development.

The authors, who include scientists from the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and the World Bank, urge wealthy countries, which pledged US$20 billion for developing-country agriculture at the G8 summit in Italy last year, to look beyond "business as usual" investments.

• Continue reading • Comments (0)

African livestock can triumph in the face of climate change

Africa's livestock producers are proving resilient to climate change and generating huge economic benefits for their nations and regions, researchers said in a book publ ished Monday by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and SOS Sahel.

The book shows how pastoralism is a major economic player and contributor to many African economies and one whose importance is only set to grow as climate change takes hold.

'Pastoralists manage complex webs of profitable cross-border trade and draw huge economic benefits from rangelands ill-suited to other land use systems,' said Mahboub Maalim, Executive Secretary of the In ter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), writing in the book's preface. 'Their livestock feed our families an d grow our economies. And mobility is what allows them to do this.'

The book, â~Modern and Mobile', shows how livestock play a key role in the economic prosperity in African's drylands by supporting hundreds of millions of people, and a massive meat and leather industry.

• Continue reading • Comments (0)

Crisis for Kenyan Dairy Farmers as Famine Looms

In the country where I live, we have a passion for nation building. We struggle as a people to contribute to our nation as much as we possibly can, but sometimes, it all seems to go to waste. If you sit long enough with me, you will understand exactly what I am saying. I live in the capital city of Nairobi in Kenya, but I was born in the western region.

Just recently, I went on field work–funded by the organization where I work–on a project that encourages farmers who are frustrated by the ever falling prices of tea and coffee in the international market, to turn their hands to dairy farming for increased income. We encouraged the farmers to rear dairy animals, including dairy goats besides cattle, since milk prices had increased over the years thanks to a resurgent dairy sector. That was last year between July to September 2009.
Kenyan Dairy Farmers Face New Crisis

• Continue reading • Comments (0)