This August issue of ‘Livestock Matter(s) presents a round-up of livestock development news, publications, presentations, images and upcoming events from ILRI and its partners. Download a print version – or sign up to get Livestock Matter(s) in your mailbox each month. Corporate news Ethiopian State Minister for Livestock Development visits ILRI Gebregziabher Gebreyohannes, newly appointed State Minister for Livestock Development … Continue reading
Author Archives: Susan MacMillan
Agri-Health / Animal Diseases / Animal Health / Disease Control / East Africa / Ethiopia / Food Security / ILRIComms / Insurance / Kenya / Pastoralism / Presentation / Scaling
Scaling up quality agro-vet livestock services with SIDAI. ‘Livestock live talk’ at ILRI, 5 September 2013
Livestock farmers in Africa struggle to access good quality inputs, effective knowledge and fair markets. Regulation of the livestock input sector is very weak in Kenya, allowing unqualified people to open shops selling veterinary pharmaceuticals; many of which are counterfeit or under-strength. This leads to extensive misuse of drugs through poor diagnosis and administration of products. … Continue reading
Agriculture / BecA / Environment / ILRIComms / Project
Draft report on sustainable agriculture and food systems available for public comment
The Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), a global initiative for the United Nations, is looking for feedback on their draft report ‘Solutions for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems’ from organizations, academics, researchers, civil society, the private sector, government officials and the general public. The SDSN’s Thematic Group on Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems released a … Continue reading
ILRI’s blog coverage of Africa Agriculture Science Week, in Accra: A look back
A look back at ILRI’s blog coverage of the sixth Africa Agriculture Science Week (AASW6), organized by the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), and held in Accra, Ghana, 15-20 July 2013. Don’t underestimate the African farmer I am greatly impressed by what I see as I walk from booth to booth at the … Continue reading
Agriculture / ASSP / CCAFS / Climate Change / ILRI / ILRIComms / Presentation
Can smallholders mitigate global warming? ‘Livestock live talk’ at ILRI, 14 Aug 2013
Smallholder food producers in the developing world are most at risk of global warming. A World Bank report, Turn down the heat, released 19 Jun 2013, says Africa and Asia, home to most of the world’s poorest of the poor, will bear the brunt of widespread food shortages, unprecedented heat waves and more intense cyclones if … Continue reading
Overheard at Africa Agriculture Science Week, in Accra
Entrance to FARA’s 6th Africa Agriculture Science Week (AASW6), in Accra, Ghana, 15-20 Jul 2013 (photo credit: ILRI/Paul Karaimu). The following remarks were noted by members of the delegation of 22 staff of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) who participated in the sixth Africa Agriculture Science Week (AASW6), ‘Africa Feeding Africa’, organized by the … Continue reading
Cattle / Forages / Goats / ILRIComms / India / Intensification / Pro-Poor Livestock / South Asia / Vulnerability
Nepal’s livestock sector: In demand and in decline?
Livestock fodder on road between Chitwan District and Pokhara, Nepal. An ILRI-CSISA (Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia) project on the Indo-Gangetic Plains of Chitwan District, in south-central Nepal, began in Sep 2010. Project staff are introducing residue-based feeding strategies supplemented with green fodder and concentrates to increase cattle and buffalo milk production (photo credit: ILRI/Susan … Continue reading
Agriculture / Article / Dairying / Europe / ILRIComms / Nutrition / Pastoralism
Europe’s ‘milk revolution’: First Neolithic cheese-making, then a genetic mutation allowing lactose persistence
Oscypek, a ‘must taste’ when visiting Polish mountains, is the most famous cheese in Poland today; it is made from salted sheep milk, smoked and formed in traditional wooden forms (photo credit: Tom Karas/PolishFoodInfo.com). In 2011, Mélanie Roffet-Salque, a geochemist at the University of Bristol, UK, found signatures of abundant milk fats — evidence that early farmers, … Continue reading
Africa / Agriculture / Event / Food Security / Gender / Presentation / Research / Women
African women feeding Africa
Below are some highlighted remarks made by Vicki Wilde, director of African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD), based in Nairobi, Kenya, at a presentation she made at the sixth Africa Agriculture Science Week (AASW6), organized by the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), in Accra, Ghana, 15-20 July 2013. A full transcript of … Continue reading
Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Geodata / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Pastoralism / PIL / Vulnerability
Livestock keepers in Kenya’s northern Isiolo District to get livestock-drought insurance for first time
Livestock farmers and herders in Kenya’s northern Isiolo District will soon be able to insure their animals against drought using an index-based insurance product (photo credit: Raimond Duijsens/NLRC). Three institutions have agreed to a Sh1.15-billion deal to reduce the effects of drought on pastoralists in Isiolo, in northern Kenya, where livestock farmers and herders have … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 