This paper describes a novel effort at developing index-based insurance for locationaveraged livestock mortality as a means to fill an important void in the risk management instruments available to protect the main asset of pastoralists in the arid and semi-arid lands of Kenya, where insurance markets are effectively absent and uninsured risk exposure is a main cause of the existence of poverty traps.

This report describes an emergency drought mitigation program executed by the non-governmental organization (NGO) Vétérinaires Sans Frontières Belgium (VSF-Belgium) in Turkana District, northwestern Kenya, in early 2005. It consisted of purchasing drought-affected goats from pastoralists in the worse affected parts of the district and donating them to local schools and health centres, where the resulting meat was to be used to supplement the diet of students and in-patients.

Inadequate feed and nutrition are major constraints to livestock production in sub-Saharan Africa. National and international research agencies, including the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), have developed several feed production and utilisation technologies. However, adoption of these technologies has so far been low. Identification of the major socio-economic and policy factors influencing the adoption of improved feed technologies is required to help design policy and institutional interventions to improve adoption.

Outlines some of the work being done by ILCA in the field of agroecological zonation and the use of models to predict the effect of environment on pastoral and agricultural systems. Includes plans for future developments and the potential benefits of the work.

Indicates factors that must be considered when designing pastoral systems research, esp. the need to maintain complementantrity among various types of research; the need for policy orientation when carrying out research; and setting up of priorities & opportunities. Includes case examples from work carried out by the ILCA subhumid programme.

Outlines some of the work being done by ILCA in the field of agroecological zonation and the use of models to predict the effect of environment on pastoral and agricultural systems. Includes plans for future developments and the potential benefits of the work.

This article describes a novel index-based livestock insurance (IBLI) product piloted among pastoralists in Northern Kenya, where insurance markets are effectively absent and uninsured risk exposure is a main cause of poverty. We describe the methodology used to design the contract and its underlying index of predicted area-average livestock mortality, established statistically using longitudinal observations of household-level herd mortality fit to remotely sensed vegetation data.

Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP) is a highly contagious disease that affects cattle throughout most of sub Saharan Africa. It is one of the most serious livestock diseases with greatest impacts in pastoralist areas. Up to 15% of infected animals die: milk yields of infected cows drop by up to 90%: meat production is reduced, and infected draught oxen are less able to work. Existing vaccines have side effects and give limited protection. Research is underway at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) to develop a more effective vaccine.

This study develops an index-based livestock insurance (IBLI) product for managing key livestock asset risks of pastoralists in the arid and semi-arid lands of northern Kenya, where insurance markets are effectively absent and uninsured risk exposure is a main cause of persistent poverty.