2016 Borlaug Field Award Ceremony
Andrew Mude
Andrew Mude, a senior economist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Nairobi, Kenya, received the 2016 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application, Endowed by the Rockefeller Foundation. Born in Kenya in 1977, Mude has spent years developing and leading a program in Kenya and Ethiopia that provides insurance for never-before-insured communities that depend upon herding cattle, goats, sheep, and camels in the remote, arid and drought-prone lowlands of the Horn of Africa. These vulnerable pastoralists can now more quickly recover from severe to catastrophic droughts, which account for 75 percent of livestock deaths in the Horn and have perennially left these communities destitute.
The research-into-development program that Mude spearheaded is titled “Index-Based Livestock Insurance (IBLI).” Like Dr. Norman Borlaug’s pioneering work, IBLI combines scientific research, policy, community outreach and education—all with a willingness to embrace unconventional solutions. This comprehensive approach was launched in 2008 by Mude and his team at ILRI, who were joined by colleagues from Cornell University and the U.S. Agency for International Development BASIS Collaborative Research Support Program.