Dr. Bukar Ali USMAN, mni

Somali woman, Jul 2011 (via Flickr/IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation).

821 million people—one in nine people—are now hungry and over 150 million children are stunted, putting the ‘Zero Hunger’ SDG #2 at risk.

‘New evidence continues to signal that the number of hungry people in the world is growing, reaching 821 million in 2017 or one in every nine people, according to The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2018 released today. Limited progress is also being made in addressing the multiple forms of malnutrition, ranging from child stunting to adult obesity, putting the health of hundreds of millions of people at risk.

Hunger has been on the rise over the past three years, returning to levels from a decade ago.

This reversal in progress sends a clear warning that more must be done and urgently if the Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger is to be achieved…

‘A key priority for Africa over the next decade should be to address a deteriorating food security situation that is compounded by the effects of climate change, declining agricultural productivity, and rapid population and urbanization growth.

Despite several commitments, ‘progress has been modest with only 9 out of 55 African countries currently on track to reduce under-nutrition to 5 percent or less by 2025. . . .

Going forward, policy priorities centered around leveraging science and digital technology and addressing fragility hold the greatest promise.

‘Climate change is already affecting agricultural production in Africa, and future projections suggest even worse outcomes. The frequency of droughts has dramatically increased, from an average of once every 12.5 years over 1982–2006 to once every 2.5 years over 2007–2016. These droughts have also become more severe and prolonged, diminishing the productive capacity of the land. Farmers face other climate risks, including lower and erratic…

Illustration by Hiroko Yoshimoto.

A new paper by scientists at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Tufts University analyses the costs of adopting the ‘universal reference diet’ recommended for both human and planetary health by the EAT-Lancet Commission (Willett et al.,Food in the Anthropocene: The EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems, 16 Jan 2019). Such a diet, report the paper’s authors, is beyond the means—indeed, it exceeds the total household per capita incomes—of more than one and a half billion people today.

Commenting on the paper, veterinary epidemiologist Delia Grace Randolph, of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), says:

‘These findings make a strong case for significantly increasing the availability and accessibility of livestock products, which will require “sustainable intensification”, which means better access to livestock markets and inputs and better livestock feeds, genetics, health services and husbandry.

‘The good news…

A new scientific article from the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Livestock Systems judiciously pushes back against some of the on-going anti-livestock rhetoric appearing in Western media.

The new paper has four big messages:

• Meat, offal, milk, eggs and fish are vital to—and missing from—the diets of nearly 800 million people.
• ‘Animal-sourced foods’ are the best sources of high-quality nutrient-rich food for toddlers 6–23-months old.
• The harms caused by livestock and animal-sourced foods to human and planetary health are overstated.
• Sustainable development must address the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world.

The Innovation Lab for Livestock Systems is a joint initiative of the University of Florida and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). Based at the University of Florida, it is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF

Photo credit: UN NEWS CENTRE

Attacks by Boko Haram and counter-insurgency measures in the Lake Chad Basin have displaced more than 2.5 million people in four countries. Credit: OCHA/Ivo Brandau

Seven million people in Lake Chad basin ‘living on the edge’ – UN relief official

Spotlighting the desperate plight of millions in Africa’s Lake Chad basin, the top United Nations humanitarian official for the Sahel region called today for international solidarity with the people in urgent need.

“I wish I had good news, but I don’t,” Toby Lanzer, the Humanitarian Coordinator for the Sahel, told a news conference at the UN Headquarters, in New York that was largely focused on the crisis affecting Lake Chad basin countries, which include Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria.

“11 million people are in desperate need of humanitarian aid, 7.1 million of them are severely food insecure. [They are] living on the edge – surviving…

The design of strategies for uptake of livestock vaccines by communities in East Africa should take into account that male and female farmers face different barriers in the uptake of the vaccines, a new research study says.

These barriers include the cost of the vaccines, distances to vaccination points, access to information on vaccination campaigns and decision-making processes at household level. Some constraints affect both men and women while others affect one gender group only, based on prevailing gender norms and division of labour.

The study, published in the journal Vaccines (8 Aug 2019), was undertaken by a team of scientists from the International Livestock Research Institute, Uganda’s Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries and the United States Agency for International Development Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance.

The work was carried out in purposively selected sites, namely, Kwale and Murang’a counties in Kenya and Arua and Ibanda districts…

World Zoonoses Day is
marked annually on 6 July to commemorate the day in 1885 when Louis Pasteur
successfully administered the first vaccine against a zoonotic disease when he
treated a young boy who had been mauled by a rabid dog. The day is also an opportunity
to raise awareness of the risk of zoonoses, infectious diseases that are spread
between animals and people.

Scientists estimate
that 60% of known infectious diseases in people and 75% of new or emerging
infectious diseases in people are transmitted from animals. Neglected zoonoses
associated with livestock, such as brucellosis and cysticercosis, impose a huge
health burden on poor people and reduce the value of their livestock assets.

Through its Animal and Human Health program, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) carries out research with national and international partners towards…

The CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH) has published its 2018 annual report, highlighting program activities and research results from across A4NH’s five research flagships and five focus countries. These include:

• research into consumer choices, motives and barriers through the lens of vegetable consumption in urban Nigeria;
• building the evidence base with newly-published research that shows biofortified high-iron pearl millet can significantly improve nutrition and cognitive performance;
• significant research contributions to help policymakers and consumers understand food safety issues and risks;
• how agriculture and nutrition interventions delivered through community-based childcare centres can impact nutrient intake, dietary diversity and nutritional status;
• improving hospital diagnostics for human brucellosis; and
• an exploration of gender research projects being conducted under A4NH.

A slaughterhouse in Maputo, Mozambique (photo credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann).

The Economist reports that the future of food lies in Africa. And why that’s a good thing. Read on to find out why.

As Africans get richer, they will eat more meat and live longer, healthier lives

‘. . . Between 1961 and 2013 the average Chinese person went from eating 4kg of meat a year to 62kg. Half of the world’s pork is eaten in the country. More liberal agricultural policies have allowed farms to produce more—in 1961 China was suffering under the awful experiment in collectivisation known as the “great leap forward”. But the main reason the Chinese are eating more meat is simply that they are wealthier.

In rich countries people go vegan for January and pour oat milk over their breakfast cereal. In the world as a whole, the trend is the other way.

‘In the decade…

Donor investment in food safety in sub-Saharan Africa should have greater focus on the needs of consumers in Africa, according to a new report by the Global Food Safety Partnership.

The report, Food safety in Africa: Past endeavors and future directions, analysed donor investment in over 500 food safety projects undertaken in sub-Saharan Africa since 2010. It found that more than half of these projects were focused on overseas markets and less than half on consumers in sub-Saharan Africa, most of whom rely on informal food markets and bear the greatest health burden of unsafe food.

According to estimates from the World Health Organization, foodborne disease in Africa results in 137,000 deaths and 91 million cases of illness a year. Globally, foodborne disease has a public health burden similar to…

Foodborne disease is a major public health problem in poor countries, but we lack effective, sustainable and scalable approaches that work in the traditional, informal markets where most fresh, risky food is sold.

A promising intervention is working with informal sector vendors to provide training and technologies, an enabling environment, and motivation for behaviour change.

A case study published in the March 2019 issue of the journal Infection Ecology & Epidemiology presents a long-term follow-up of a pilot project to improve food safety in Bodija abattoir and meat market, one of the largest markets in Nigeria.

An evaluation shortly after implementation found the intervention was acceptable, cost-effective and resulted in safer meat. The follow-up nine years later used qualitative surveys and microbiological tests.

The policy environment had become disabling, partly because of attempts by the authorities to move butchers to…

Tanzania minister for livestock and fisheries, Luhaga Mpina (right), receives a copy of the Tanzania livestock master plan from Barry Shapiro, senior livestock development advisor at ILRI (photo credit: Eveline Massam/IITA).

Tanzania’s livestock sector is set for a major boost following the official launch of a TZS1.4 trillion (USD596 million) Tanzania livestock master plan (TLMP). The TLMP is a five-year plan geared towards addressing major challenges facing the sector and transforming it by guiding investments in major subsectors. To realize the TLMP, at the request of the Government of Tanzania, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) provided technical assistance and training to the Tanzania Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries in a project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

A livestock master plan is a vision-driven, evidence-based road map with investment plans that seeks to improve animal productivity and production, as well as increase the value addition of key…

Kibera slum alley (photo via Flickr/Ninara)

As reported this week by Andrew Jacobs and Matt Richtel in the New York Times, ‘Kibera residents are prodigious consumers of antibiotics’.

Kibera area, one of Africa’s largest urban slums, is located in Nairobi, Kenya, with a population of around one million. Most people in the sl

um lack access to running water, electricity and medical care. Diseases caused by poor hygiene are prevalent.

Antibiotic resistance isn’t just a rich-country problem; it’s a global threat to us all. And the overuse and misuse of antibiotics that is helping to fuel resistance to antibiotic treatments is also not just a rich-country problem.

Consider Sharon Mbone, the Kibera resident described in the New York Times article. With no money to see a doctor to help her 22-month-old son recover from a fever, diarrhea and vomiting, she did what most mothers would do in her circumstance—she…

People in developing countries know that livestock are critical for sustainable development. The world’s cows, sheep, goats, pigs, poultry and other farm animals are the mainstay of livelihoods across the developing world. And the energy and nutrient-dense milk, meat and eggs these animals produce provide peopl with basic livelihoods, incomes, food and nutrition.

Yet, it is difficult to successfully make the case for greater investment in sustainable livestock. People worry that livestock are bad for our health and environment. Investors say they don’t see enough convincing evidence and data that demonstrates the returns livestock interventions offer. Hard evidence is scattered and recommendations are complex due to the multiple roles livestock play in development.

The whylivestockmatter web site brings together evidence showing why increased and improved investments in sustainable livestock development are necessary. As we compiled this evidence, we observed that  many rich experiences and lessons from practice are not captured…

Some of the livestock sector’s numerous roles (credit: ILRI).

The World Economic Forum’s Shaping the Future initiative published a white paper prepared by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) on livestock’s role in the developing world

The World Economic Forum (WEF) invited ILRI to prepare a white paper on the future of livestock. Published under the auspices of the WEF’s Shaping the Future of Food initiative, which focuses on how to develop inclusive, sustainable and nutritious food systems, ILRI’s paper addresses opportunities for the livestock sector to sustainably meet the growing demand for animal source foods in developing and emerging economies to 2030 and beyond.

The paper focuses on four critical issues related to livestock in the developing world: First, the continuing rapid growth of demand for animal-sourced foods, especially in Africa and Asia; second, the multiple roles that livestock play, not just as food but as ‘living animal assets,’…

Antibiotics and other antimicrobial drugs are among the most important tools available to medical and veterinary professionals for curing human and animal diseases and improving their welfare, yet these drugs are increasingly failing. Development of resistance to these drugs in disease-causing bacteria and other microbes poses a major threat…

To tackle a growing problem of rising antimicrobial resistance in low- and middle-income countries, CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future, is forming an international hub to help integrate and channel research and development efforts.

The hub, launched on 21–22 February 2019, in Nairobi, Kenya, will be led and hosted by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI).

Antibiotics and other antimicrobial drugs are among the most important tools available to medical and veterinary professionals for curing human and animal diseases and improving their welfare, yet these drugs are increasingly failing. Development of resistance to these drugs in disease-causing bacteria and other microbes poses a major threat to global development; the World Bank estimates that annual global gross domestic product could fall by more than 1 trillion United States dollars (USD) by 2030 because of it.

While the…

According to The State of the Food Security and Nutrition in the World released last year (SOFI 2018), global hunger and malnutrition has increased considerably since 2016, reaching 821 million undernourished people – approximately one person out of every nine in the world. This means that the number of people suffering from hunger has returned to levels from almost a decade ago.

The increased number of people suffering from hunger and malnutrition has been the result of climate variability and exposure to complex, frequent and intense climate extremes. Climate variability and extreme climatic conditions have repercussions for food utilization as they harm agricultural productivity and food production and cropping patterns. This leads to food availability shortfalls and negative repercussions on nutrient quality and safety of food.

SOFI 2018 noted that hunger is worse in those countries facing excessive rainfall and drought, and where the livelihood of the majority of the…

Cow Jar, by Jean Dubuffet, 1943.

As the media frenzy caused by a ‘planetary health diet’ proposed in a new report from an EAT-Lancet commission this month continues, it is perhaps timely to recall that the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has set the record straight regarding not just the level of greenhouse gases that livestock emit (see yesterday’s posting on this blog) but also incorrect information about how much food (crops eatable by humans) is consumed by livestock. It’s not a lot.

The EAT-Lancet report summarizes scientific evidence for a global food system transition towards healthy diets from sustainable agriculture. The report concludes that a global shift towards a diet made up of high quantities of fruits, vegetables and plant-based protein and low quantities of animal protein could catalyze the achievement of both the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement to…

Broken Record Alert:

People WILL NOT change their diets for environmental reasons.

No matter how often we hear “EAT LESS MEAT”

we eat more meat when we can afford it, because we like it.

@HannahRitchie02 reports.

—@TamarHaspel on Twitter, 4 Feb 2019

The following excerpts are taken from a BBC analysis piece published yesterday that was commissioned by the BBC from Hannah Ritchie, an expert from the Oxford Martin School and the non-profit organization Global Change Data Lab.

‘Rising incomes
‘. . . [G]lobal meat consumption has increased rapidly over the past 50 years. Meat production today is nearly five times higher than in the early 1960s—from 70 million tonnes to more than 330 million tonnes in 2017.

‘A big reason for this is that there are many more people to feed. Over that period the world population more than doubled. In the early 1960s there were around three billion of…

Standing Child (Stehendes Kind) by Erich Heckel, 1910.

‘Coinciding with the launch of the EAT-Lancet “Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems” report, Dr Colin Chartres, the [Crawford] Fund’s CEO, . . . discusses the importance of ‘smart foods’ and smart people for a healthy population and planet.

‘In late January the Eat-Lancet Foundation released its Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems report. Its headline message is:

“Transformation to healthy diets by 2050 will require substantial dietary shifts. Global consumption of fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes will have to double, and consumption of foods such as red meat and sugar will have to be reduced by more than 50%. A diet rich in plant-based foods and with fewer animal source foods confers both improved health and environmental benefits.”

‘Whilst this message is not exactly new—the late Professor Tony McMichael from ANU [Australian National University] had been a long-time advocate of the…

2018 was a great year for Food Tank. We hosted ground-breaking Summits, innovative events, and global discussions about the food system in Senegal, Italy, Russia, and across the United States. We published the book Nourished Planet, and met many of our members and readers in person! And we started the Food Talk podcast.

We’re excited about 2019! Our plans are amazing, starting our greatest expansion ever—including new Summits, more podcasts, special events, and an off-Broadway play. If you are not already, it’s not too late to become a member this year and support our mission of bringing all sides to the table.

To start off the year, we’ve compiled a list of 119 organizations to keep an eye on in 2019 that are working towards a more sustainable food system. Happy New Year!

1. Acre Venture Partners

Acre Venture Partners is a venture capital fund investing in the future…

Illustration by Remy Charlip via Pinterest: Cover of Four Fur Feet, written by Margaret Wise Brown.

Livestock provide ecological services too great to warrant their complete removal from the landscape.

‘. . . Sequestering carbon has become a topic essential to the broader conversation about how our planet might survive the escalating effects of climate change. Livestock are frequently demonized as the enemy of this process. That’s partly because raising animals for meat and dairy accounts for 5 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions; unsurprisingly, study after study—including the United Nations’ most recent, bleak climate report—affirms that humans need to reduce consumption of animal-based products in order to fend off planetary disaster. This has led to the advent of a booming industry centered on plant-based “meats” and “milks,” buoyed by a rallying cry from some quarters to abolish meat and cheese and butter and eggs from our diets wholesale. …

A robust, sustainable global agriculture and food production sector is critical to the future of a growing world population. It will take farms of varying types and sizes to address food insecurity and hunger, and to stabilize local communities and big cities alike. With a history that dates back to 1947, Nuffield International Farming Scholars is a global scheme that is focused on growing the most critical resources the agriculture industry has: people.

We at Nuffield International Farming Scholars are pleased to have recently entered into partnership with the Global Forum on Agricultural Research and Innovation (GFAR). Like the Partners in GFAR, we strive to inspire people to make a difference in the world of agriculture, and this can only happen when people, especially youth, are empowered to turn their knowledge into opportunity and enterprise.

Through the Nuffield experience, individual farmers, ranchers, fishers, and agri-professionals expand their own capacity…

Derek Headey, a senior research fellow at the CGIAR’s International Food Policy Research Institute, yesterday published an opinion piece in The Telegraph on the importance of using milk, meat and eggs to fight malnutrition and stunting in the developing world. But, Headey warns, these ‘animal-sourced foods’, particularly fresh milk and eggs, are prohibitively expensive for poor households.

When poorly nourished children in developing countries fall behind in their physical growth and become stunted relative to their healthier peers, they tend to fall behind in a lot of other things too: their health, cognitive development, schooling, and eventually, their productivity and income as adults.

The high social and economic costs mean that there are high returns to preventing stunting, provided these actions happen early.

‘In poor countries most growth faltering takes place from six months of age until a child’s second birthday. . . .

‘When children are fed…

Smallholder dairying in Kenya (photo credit: Accelerated Value Chain Development/Sophie Mbugua).

‘Once again, the debate on sustainable diets and in particular on (not) eating animal-derived products is resurfacing in the media, as illustrated most recently by an article in The Guardian. The paper reported on a study by J. Poore and T. Nemecek entitled ‘Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers’, published in the latest edition of Science magazine. The article concludes that ‘avoiding meat and dairy products is the single biggest way to reduce your environmental impact on the planet’. Both the study and the article recognize the ‘large variability in environmental impact from different farms’ and the need to deal with the most harmful ones. Still, they seem to overlook the evidence from the 1.3 billion smallholder farmers and livestock keepers for whom livestock is an important source of income and food security.

Family goat keeping in…