Author Archives: Peter Ballantyne (ILRI)

Agriculture / Animal Feeding / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Ethiopia / Feeds / Fodder / Forages / HUMIDTROPICS / LIVESTOCKFISH / Project / Value Chains

Refining livestock feed assessment tools – ILRI’s work in 2012

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Feed is often cited as the first limiting constraint to livestock intensification in smallholder mixed-crop farming systems in developing countries. However attempts to deal with the feed constraint tend to focus on promotion of a fairly standard set of feed technologies with often disappointing results. Our experience is that feed intervention failures can be traced … Continue reading →

Africa / East Africa / Ethiopia / Livestock Systems / Livestock-Water / NRM / Project / Water / WLE

The ‘happy strategies’ game: Matching land and water interventions with community and landscape needs

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In mid 2011, Catherine Pfeifer, ILRI/IWMI researcher in the Nile Basin Development Challenge (NBDC), posed us a challenge: What kind of exercise could we do that would combine ‘expert’ knowledge of land and water practices with the needs of ‘landscapes’ and communities where these could be applied. The result should be some validated ‘best bet’ … Continue reading →

Animal Health / Animal Production / East Africa / Goats / Kenya / Livestock / Zoonotic Diseases

Livestock: Blessing or a burden?

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Writing in Footsteps – a magazine of Tearfund, Nigel Poole argues there is ‘no simple answer’ to the question: are livestock a blessing or a burden? He suggests that the ‘type of livestock production practised and the ecological context both matter. But think about one of the most common livestock problems, which is this: if … Continue reading →

ILRI / ILRIComms / Knowledge and Information

Making ILRI’s research ‘open’ and accessible

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This is open access week … which we mark in collaboration with CGIAR, FAO and other partners. What does it mean for ILRI? The work of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and its staff collectively results in a wide range of outputs that are ‘published’ in a number of formats or channels. These include, … Continue reading →

Animal Feeding / Asia / Crop residues / Crop-Livestock / Event / Feeds / Fodder / Research / South Asia

Using crop by-products to intensify and sustain food production: Livestock live talk at ILRI on 26 September 2012

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On  26 September 2012, animal nutritionist Michael Blümmel with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) presented an ‘livestock live talk’ on Using crop by-products to intensify and sustain food production at the ILRI campus in Nairobi. View the presentation:   ‘Livestock live talks’ is a seminar series at ILRI that aims to address livestock-related issues, mobilize … Continue reading →

Crop residues / Ethiopia / ILRI / ILRIComms / Intensification / Kenya / Presentation / Pro-Poor Livestock

New series of monthly high-level ‘livestock live talks’ begins in Nairobi and Addis Ababa

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‘Livestock live talks’ is a new series of high-level monthly institutional one-hour seminars hosted by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). The new seminar series aims to address livestock-related issues, mobilize external as well as in-house expertise and audiences and engage the livestock community around interdisciplinary conversations that ask hard questions and seek to refine … Continue reading →

Climate Change / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / Food Safety / Food Security / Livestock / Livestock Systems / Research / Zoonotic Diseases

Five grand challenges for animal science research – ASAS takes stock

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The American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) has released five ‘Grand Challenges documents‘ that advocate research priorities for the future of animal science. The issues covered are: Animal health: Support for animal health research would improve disease resistance, disease prevention and animal productivity. Climate change: A better understanding of climate change would keep animal agriculture … Continue reading →

Animal Diseases / Emerging Diseases / Policy / Zoonotic Diseases

How economics adds value to animal health policy-making

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A news item on The Pig Site argues that the risk of disease among farm animals and farm biosecurity are a public affair.” The August 2012 issue of EuroChoices, the Journal of the Agricultural Economics Society and European Association of Agricultural Economists, looks at the role of economics in animal health decision making and how … Continue reading →

A4NH / Agri-Health / Agriculture / Animal Production / Asia / Event / ILRI / Livestock / Zoonotic Diseases

Livestock challenges and opportunities in Asia discussed at regional policy forum

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Increasing livestock production to meet rapidly growing demands in a socially equitable and ecologically sustainable manner has become major challenge for the Asia-Pacific region. To discuss these challenges and to outline elements of a response, FAO, together with ILRI, IFPRI and other partners organized a Regional Policy Forum in Bangkok on 16-17 August 2012. Asia … Continue reading →

Africa / Australia / BecA / ILRI / Research

Africa Food Security Initiative – update on an Australia-Africa partnership at the BecA Hub

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To foster a long-term sustainable improvement in African food security, the Australian government has increased its investment into Africa via the Africa Food Security Initiative (AFSI). One of the AFSI partnerships is between the Biosciences eastern and central Africa Hub (BecA) Hub and  the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). The latest program update … Continue reading →