February 17, 2010

Job Announcements: Post-Doctoral Fellow (Agro-Ecosystem Specialist), Post-Doctoral Fellow (Field Hydrologist), IWMI

Posted by brugerard under IWMI, Job opportunity
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1) Post Doctoral Fellow – Agro-ecosystem specialist (Ethiopia)

IWMI seeks to recruit a well qualified Post Doctoral Fellow with skills in ecosystem analysis to participate in a Challenge Program on Water and Food project located in the Nile Basin that focuses on integrated rainwater management strategies, technologies, institutions and policies. S/he will work in an inter-disciplinary team that will consider the impact of rain water management technologies and strategies on catchment hydrology, livelihoods and landscape functioning at different locations within the Nile Basin, with the ultimate aim of upgrading water and system productivity in mixed farming landscapes.

Job Description

2) Post Doctoral Fellow – FIELD HYDROLOGY (Ethiopia)

IWMI seeks to recruit a well qualified Post Doctoral Fellow in Field Hydrology to participate in a Challenge Program on Water and Food project located in the Nile Basin that focuses on integrated rainwater management strategies, technologies, institutions and policies. S/he will work in an inter-disciplinary team that will consider the impact of rain water management technologies and strategies on catchment hydrology – the downstream and groundwater impacts as well as evaporation and transpiration – at different locations within the Nile Basin, with the ultimate aim of evaluating water allocation and water productivity implications.

Job Description

Deadline for application: 31 March 2010

For further information visit IWMI – http://www.iwmi.org

 

February 16, 2010

Livestock, feed and food security

Posted by brugerard under Crop Residues, Crop-Livestock, Food security, Forages, Intensification, News, Pastoralism, Publication
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From the Food Climate Research Network

This briefing paper explores some of the arguments surrounding the relationship between what we feed and how we rear farm animals, and the availability and accessibility of food for human consumption. Does livestock production foster or hinder food security? In what ways are the contributions of intensive and extensive systems to food security different?

Link to PDF

 

February 16, 2010

Intensive versus extensive livestock systems and greenhouse gas emissions

Posted by brugerard under Climate Change, Crop-Livestock, Global, Intensification, Publication
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From the Food Climate Research Network

The purpose of this briefing paper is to explore the different ways in which one might view the contributions that livestock in intensive and extensive systems make to greenhouse gas emissions. Why do people draw different conclusions about intensive versus extensive systems? How far do these conclusions reflect differing approaches to quantifying emissions, to considering land use, and to accepting future demand for animal source foods?

Link to PDF

 

February 16, 2010

International Consultation on Integrated Crop-Livestock Systems for Development – Summary of week 2

Posted by brugerard under Conservation Agriculture, Crop Residues, Crop-Livestock, FAO, News
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Documents related to the consultation can be found on the FAO web site.

BriefSummary-Theme2-15-02-10Preview

 

February 12, 2010

ILRI-led, SLP-funded study published today in Science Special Issue on Food Security

Posted by brugerard under Climate Change, Crop-Livestock, Food security, Global, Intensification, News
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Smart Investments in Sustainable Food Production: Revisiting Mixed Crop-Livestock Systems

M. Herrero P. K. Thornton, A. M. Notenbaert, S. Wood, S. Msangi, H. A. Freeman, D. Bossio, J. Dixon, M. Peters, J. van de Steeg, J. Lynam,  P. Parthasarathy Rao, S. Macmillan, B. Gerard, J. McDermott, C. Seré, M. Rosegrant

Farmers in mixed crop-livestock systems produce about half of the world’s food. In small holdings around the world, livestock are reared mostly on grass, browse, and nonfood biomass from maize, millet, rice, and sorghum crops and in their turn supply manure and traction for future crops. Animals act as insurance against hard times and supply farmers with a source of regular income from sales of milk, eggs, and other products. Thus, faced with population growth and climate change, small-holder farmers should be the first target for policies to intensify production by carefully managed inputs of fertilizer, water, and feed to minimize waste and environmental impact, supported by improved access to markets, new varieties, and technologies.

Read the full text

 

February 10, 2010

Special Issue, European Journal of Agronomy – Cropping Systems Design : new methods for new challenges

Posted by brugerard under Crop-Livestock, Modelling, Publication
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Volume 32, Issue 1, Pages 1-120 (January 2010)

This special issue is the product of the First International Symposium on Farming Systems Design organized in September 2007 in Catania, Italy by the European and American Societies for Agronomy (ESA and ASA), the International Environmental Modelling and Software Society and the International Farming Systems Association.

The challenge is ‘to produce methods and tools that can be used locally by applied researchers and extension specialists to adapt cropping systems in collaboration with farmers…
• From mono-criteria to multi-criteria design. Even if the production function of cropping systems remains a major pillar of sustainability in many regions of the world, it has to be combined with an increasing number of other assessment criteria related to the negative externalities, environmental and social services of agriculture.
• From field scale to multi-scale design. For several of the processes to be manipulated in the design of these multi-functional cropping systems, the proper scale at which they operate is often larger than field scale. Examples are the landscape scale for disease management or the farm scale for socio-economics. The challenge of agronomic research is to keep the field as the biophysical unit of crop management, while developing methods and knowledge for up- and down-scaling with the traditional (farm) and new (landscape, watershed, natural ecosystems) embedding and contextual aspects of cropping systems.
• From stable to unstable environment. Designing new cropping systems is a long process and it occurs in a rapidly changing environment. This is exemplified by climate but also by the economy (prices and policies) and the changing demands and functions that society assigns to agricultural systems. The design process has therefore to integrate objectives of the resilience and flexibility of cropping systems in an unpredictable environment.’ J. Wery,  and J.W.A. Langeveld, guest editors

 

February 10, 2010

International Consultation on Integrated Crop-Livestock Systems for Development – Summary of week 1

Posted by brugerard under Conservation Agriculture, Crop-Livestock, FAO, News
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Documents related to first week contributions to the consultation can be found on the FAO web site.

For a brief summary of week 1: Brief_Summary_Theme1

 

February 8, 2010

One Billion are Hungry – Can we reduce hunger now and by 2050? New Special Issue of Agricultural Water Management addresses question

Posted by brugerard under Intensification, Livestock-Water, News, Publication
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Based on work completed in 2007, as part of the Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture, the articles in this special issue of ‘Agricultural Water Management’ (April 2010) provide an updated perspective on the investments and interventions needed to improve both irrigated and rainfed agriculture, and to achieve global food security goals. Furthermore, the authors shed light on the challenges and opportunities we must seize without delay, if we are to feed the world successfully by 2050 and beyond.

See the table of content of this special issue

 

February 4, 2010

Integration or specialization: Vietnam livestock and poultry industry under review

Posted by brugerard under Animal Feeding, Crop-Livestock, Food security, News, South East Asia
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The animal husbandry and poultry sectors in Vietnam will be reviewed and restructured so that they develop in a sustainable and competitive manner, an official said at a conference in HCM City.

Hoang Kim Giao, head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Animal Husbandry Department, said under the Livestock Development Strategy, the country would increase the ratio of livestock production to 38% of the total agricultural output by 2015 and 42% by 2020 from the current 30%.

By 2020 the livestock industry targets production of 5.5 mln t of meat, 14 bln eggs, and more than 1 mln t of milk. This translates into 56 kg of meat, 140 eggs, and more than 10 kg of milk per capita per year.

By then the populations of pigs, chicken, and dairy cattle are expected to increase respectively by 2%, 5%, and 11% to 35 mln pigs, 300 mln chicken and 500,000 dairy cattle.

Apart from meeting the domestic demand, the livestock industry also would target overseas markets in the future, Giao said.

Shift to industrial farming

To achieve these targets and to meet the increasing food demand, the country would modernise its animal husbandry and poultry sectors, shifting from household-based to industrial farming, he said.

It would also focus on breeding hygiene and safety and reducing diseases to improve productivity and quality, he said. Slaughterhouses and meat processing plants would be required to install waste treatment systems.

Improving the quality of animal strains and developing the animal feed industry were also vital to the sector’s development, Giao said.

Education

Courses providing farmers information on farming techniques and food safety and hygiene would be organised, he added.

The livestock sector plays an important role in Vietnam since 72% of its population lives in rural areas. However, the small scale of its operations and outdated production techniques have led to high costs, rendering the country’s livestock produce less competitive than that of other countries.

The volatility in animal feed prices and high risk of disease are also causing difficulties for animal breeders.

 

January 27, 2010

Job opportunity CIAT- Forage and Livestock Systems Specialist Asia

Posted by brugerard under Animal Feeding, Crop-Livestock, Forages, Job opportunity
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CIAT is seeking applications for the position of a Forage and Livestock Systems Specialist. The position will be based at the Regional Office of CIAT in Asia, in Vientiane, Lao PDR, and will be housed within the Tropical Forages Program of CIAT.

CIAT in Asia has worked for more than two decades in Asia using multipurpose tropical forages to Improve farmer’s livelihood through more efficient and sustainable agriculture and livestock production systems while increasingly giving attention to reducing the ecological footprint in the framework of CIAT’s concept of ‘Ecoefficient agriculture for the poor’ ( for more information, please visit http://www.ciat.cgiar.org). Current project activities are implemented in Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand. The appointee will be responsible for the execution of these on-going projects and for the development of new research for development proposals. The forage specialist will also be expected – in collaboration with the Tropical Forages and Asia teams – to contribute to the adaptation of the vision and strategy on tropical forage research in a thematic and regional context.

CIAT is one of the 15 not-for-profit research institutions that make up the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) funded by various countries, private foundations, international and regional organizations. CIAT conducts socially, economically, and environmentally progressive agricultural research aimed at reducing hunger and poverty, and preserving natural resources in developing countries.

Role and responsibilities
The incumbent will report to the Tropical Forages Program leader and the Regional Research Coordinator Asia.
In coordination with the CIAT’s Tropical Forages and Asia teams the appointee will:

  • Develop and undertake research in forage based crop-livestock systems.
  • Develop and participate in capacity-strengthening programs related to the above work.
    Specific activities include
    Overseeing the implementation of on-going CIAT research projects in the fields of forages and livestock systems in southeast Asia.
  • Providing support in the area of forages and livestock to CIAT programs in Asia.
  • Contributing to capacity building of research and development practitioners including governmental and
    non-governmental institutions and other research and development partners in the area of forage based livestock-crop systems directed at improving smallholder livelihoods with reduced environmental
    impacts.
  • Developing new research for development proposals in the fields of forages and livestock systems in
    Asia that build on the outcomes of previous research and network of partners.
  • Maintaining and strengthening the network of forage related research and development in the region and with advanced research institutions from within and outside the region, with a particular emphasis on mentoring, capacity building, and collaborative activities with regional research for development institutions. Collaboration with sister centers from the CGIAR, in particular ILRI (www.ilri.cgiar.org) are sought.
  • Strengthening the link between CIAT’s Asia, Africa and Latin America programs in the fields of forages
    and livestock systems, and develop joint and complementary projects, where possible.
  • Contributing to CIAT’s regional activities through management and strategic planning activities.
  • Contributing to the representation of CIAT in research, donor, partnership and other fora, including
    research publications and external communications.

Requirements
The candidate shall have the following competencies, skills and experience:

  • PhD, preferably in Agronomy or Livestock production, with good knowledge of Tropical Forages.
  • At least 5 years of relevant and successful experience in agricultural research.
  • Demonstrated understanding of the interface between social, economic, and environmental impacts of agriculture.
  • Demonstrated capacity in developing and implementing innovative research, contributing to the
    advance of knowledge related to the above.
  • Demonstrated participation in resource mobilization efforts.
  • Capacity in working in teams representing diverse range of nationalities, cultures and scientific
    disciplines, including strengthening of strategic partnerships based on mutual respect and efficient
    collaboration.
  • Experience in management of projects will be advantageous.
  • Excellent English, both written and spoken.

Terms of employment
The position is internationally recruited. The contract will be for a two-year period, renewable depending on
performance in research outputs and resource mobilization. CIAT offers internationally competitive salary
packages. CIAT is an equal opportunity employer, and strives for staff diversity in gender and nationality.
Women and candidates from Asia are particularly encouraged to apply.

Applications
Applicants are invited to send a cover letter illustrating their suitability for the above position against the listed qualifications, competencies, and skills, together with a detailed curriculum vitae, including names and addresses of three referees knowledgeable about the candidate’s professional qualifications and work experience. Applications should be addressed to the Leader of CIATs Tropical Forages Program, Michael Peters (m.peters-ciat), with copies to the Regional Coordinator, CIAT Asia, Rod Lefroy (r.lefroy) and CIATs Human Resources (j.c.novoa). (add @cgiar.org for email addresses) . Applications should clearly indicate `Application for Forage Resource Specialist Asia both in letters or email submissions.

All applications will be acknowledged, only short listed candidates will be contacted.

Closing date for applications: February 22, 2010.

To learn more about CIAT,  CIAT’s program in Asia and CIAT’s forages work

 

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