The livelihood of the Himalayan people depends on rangeland-based livestock farming in Nepal. Above 2500 m altitude, the contribution of rangelands to livestock feed supply is more than 65%. Rangeland comprises about 11.5% of the total land resources of Nepal and over 98% are located in high mountains and Himalayan regions. Nepal is rich in biodiversity, with over 6500 species of flowering plants, including 180 species of grasses and legumes.

The Nile basin experiences wide spread poverty, lack of food and land and water

degradation. Because poverty is linked to access to water for crop, fish and

livestock based livelihoods, improving access to water and increasing agricultural

water productivity can potentially contribute substantially to poverty reduction.

The major goal of the Nile Basin Focal project is to identify high potential

investments that reduce poverty yet reverse trends in land and water

degradation. This is done through the implementation of six interlinked work

Sheep have multiple roles in the livelihood of resource poor farmers as source of income, meat, skin, manure, strong wool or long hairy fleece, and as buffer resources during crop failures. These important services and products of the sheep production sub-sector justify comprehensive look into the way sheep are marketed, as the services and products are the quality attributes that characterize sheep as such. Nonetheless, very few studies have been conducted so far to identify the determinants of indigenous sheep prices and performance of the marketing system.

Rainfed agriculture is and will remain the dominant source of staple food production for the majority of the rural poor in Eastern and Central Africa (ECA). It is clear that larger investments in agriculture by a broad range of stakeholders will be required if this sector is to meet the food

Challenge Program Water and Food: Basin Focal Project NIGER

Faced with increasing food and water insecurity as a result of climatic and

anthropogenic (demography, land use) changes, the CGIAR Challenge Program

for Water and Food commissioned research in 10 river basins to study the links

between water, food and poverty. Looking at the Niger river basin, we carry out

a diagnosis of the hydrologic and agronomic potential, before attempting to

identify how good agricultural water management may reduce vulnerability in the

The Basin Focal Project Volta (BFP Volta) was developed along three main steps:

Assessment of present conditions of the distribution of rural poverty, of farming

systems with their productivity and water productivity;

Analysis of opportunities and risks, especially under the double pressure of demography

and possible climate change, and modeling of water resources to identify sensitivity of

water allocation to development and climate scenarios; and

Identification of research gaps and implementation plan.

Worldwide, agriculture both contributes to and is threatened by climate change. This corporate report focuses on the millions of people in developing countries for whom climate change represents a direct threat to their food security and livestock-based livelihoods.

The Agriculture Strategic Development Plan is a national policy with a multi-sectoral approach. The Timeframe of this Plan is 3 years between 2010 and 2012.

This guidelines booklet is addressed to the LADA partner countries and, more in general, to the increasing number of countries which are expressing their interest in implementing the LADA approach for mapping Land Degradation. The specific objective is to provide guidelines for the identification, selection and description of nationally based indicators of land degradation. The LADA approach is well defined by a range of specific documents and manuals. The National indicators common to all countries are based on the LADA-Wocat QM manual.

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of a new index-based livestock insurance (IBLI)

product designed to compensate for area average predicted livestock mortality loss in

northern Kenya, where previous work has established the presence of poverty traps. We

simulate household-specific wealth dynamics based on a model parameterized using rich

panel and experimental data from the region. The simulations allow us to investigate

patterns of willingness to pay for asset index insurance that is imperfectly correlated with

Raising and selling farm animals allows more than 1 billion people to make a daily subsistence living. But as essential as they are for food, income and health, these tropical livestock systems can damage as well as enhance land and water resources, and, like all livestock systems, they generate greenhouse gases that cause global warming. Research is helping poor livestock communities adapt to climate change, find sustainable ways to intensify their production, and, where possible, adopt methods to mitigate livestock-induced climate change.