The Lesotho cattle industry is characterized by overstocking, range degradation, low marketed offtake, low fertility, and high mortality. The overstocking situation is paradoxically accompanied by an ownership pattern which leaves many households with an insufficient number of cattle for draught purposes, and the abscence of a large commercial beef sector. In this setting a number of analysis have suggested that the increased provision of market outlets would allow Basotho to sell surplus culled animals which would in turn promote reduced stocking and increased productivity.

The Systemwide Livestock Programme (SLP) of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) works to alleviate poverty, protect natural resources and achieve food security in developing countries. The SLP has completed two transregional projects designed to identify the common factors that drive crop-livestock intensification and determine access to markets for smallholders. Working across three continents, the first project looked at farming systems operating at different levels of intensity.

The 2015 program of work and budget of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) lays out the key activities and budget in 2015.

In October 2012 the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) held its third Independent Science Panel meeting in Burkina Faso.

This report reviews key issues in pastoral systems research in tropical areas of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia with the goal of identifying a ten-year research strategy for pastoral systems research for ILRI.

The CGIAR Research Program Climate Change, Agriculture, Food Security (CCAFS) is a 10-year research initiative launched by CGIAR and the Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP). CCAFS seeks to overcome the threats to agriculture and food security in a changing climate, exploring new ways of helping vulnerable rural communities adjust to global changes in climate.