This proceeding report is divided in three sessions. In the first session papers on African forage plant genetic resources in Zimbabwe, Botswana, Malawi and the PANESA region are presented. The second session discusses forage germplasm evaluation. In this session experiences of ILCA, Tanzania, Mauritius, Uganda, Malawi, Ethiopia and Kenya are presented. Species involved in the studies included Brachiaria, Cynodon, Trifolium, Lablab, Zornia, Stylosanthes and Crotalaria. The third session deals with extensive livestock production systems.

This paper synthesizes knowledge within CGIAR and its partners on agricultural practices and technologies to enhance food security, resilience and productivity in a sustainable manner. A number of agricultural practices and technologies which contribute to these objectives were identified and assessed to generate four key lessons.

This sourcebook entitled “Addressing water,food and poverty problems together: Methods,tools and lessons” is part of a wider process to capitalize on results from the Phase 1 of CPWF (2004-2008).

Phase 1 of CPWF cast its net widely. Sixty-eight individual research projects were carried out in ten river basins around the world. The learning was immense. Unfortunately, many Phase 1 lessons and experiences are locked away in people’s minds or hidden in long technical and scientific reports that are difficult to access, particularly for non-researchers.

More than 400 million people in the developing world depend on dryland agriculture for their livelihoods. Dryland agriculture involves a complex combination of productive components: staple crops, vegetables, livestock, trees and fish interacting principally with rangeland, cultivated areas and watercourses. Managing risk and enhancing productivity through diversification and sustainable intensification is critical to securing and improving rural livelihoods.

The contemporary concern about anthropogenic release of greenhouse gas (GHG) into the

environment and the contribution of livestock to this phenomenon have sparked animal

scientists’ interest in predicting methane (CH4) emissions by ruminants. Focusing on milk

production, we address six basic nutrition models or feeding standards (mostly empirical

systems) and five complex nutrition models (mostly mechanistic systems), describe their key

characteristics, and highlight their similarities and differences. Four models were selected to