Author Archives: Susan MacMillan

Africa / Animal Health / ASF / Asia / Cameroon / Chad / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / ILRI / Kenya / Pigs / Project / Uganda

Researchers in Kenya funded to start work on development of a vaccine against African swine fever

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Smallholder pig producer family in Kiboga, Uganda (photo credit: ILRI/Danilo Pezo). ‘Scientists in Kenya have launched research of a vaccine to be used against African swine fever. The study is still at an early stage where scientists at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) are identifying antigens and best-bet delivery systems to be used. ‘“Research … Continue reading →

Asia / CCAFS / CGIAR / China / Climate Change / Drylands / East Africa / Environment / Food Security / ILRI / India / Kenya / Pastoralism / Policy / Report / South Asia

Reframing the pastoral narrative: Ancient mobile herding strategies to make a comeback in a hotter world

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Fulani boy in Niger herds his family’s animals (photo credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann). Mobility to unlock scattered food, feed, water and other scarce and scattered essential resources is a human strategy as old as humankind itself—and one that remains key for pastoral livestock herders the world over. As the world warms and its natural resources become ever scarcer, it would … Continue reading →

Africa / Pro-Poor Livestock / Report / Research / South Asia

Huge scope for livestock sector to reduce world poverty–New research brief from Asia commission

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Distribution (density) of poor livestock keepers based on the international US$2.00/day poverty line in 2010 (published in a research brief by J Otte and R Leslie, Animal Health and Production Commission for Asia and the Pacific [APHCA], Jan 2013). ‘. . . [A]mong largely agrarian economies, which are home to the majority of the world’s … Continue reading →

Animal Diseases / Camels / Dairying / Disease Control / East Africa / Human Health / ILRI / Interview / Kenya / Pastoralism / Zoonotic Diseases

Keeping camels, and their keepers, free of disease in Kenya, where ‘raw’ camel milk is becoming popular

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Camels cover dozens of kilometres in search of water; average distances to watering points in the outskirts of Marsabit and Moyale, in the upper east corner of Kenya, run into dozens of kilometres (photo by Ann Weru/IRIN www.irinnews.org). ‘Camels are known for their ability to travel long distances across the desert without water. ‘But they’re also … Continue reading →

Environment / Event / ILRI / Livestock-Water / USA / Water

Water ‘hoofprint’ of farm animals differs greatly by region and livestock production system–and can be reduced

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Village women wash clothes and cattle are watered at a pond in Rajasthan, India (photo credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann). The fifth annual Water for Food Conference was held 5–8 May 2013 in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA, hosted by the University of Nebraska’s Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Institute and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and sponsored … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Production / Event / ILRI / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock / Project

Help Africa’s small-scale livestock producers tap growing markets for animal proteins—FAO livestock economists

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Saulosi Tchinga is a potato, maize, soya, sheep and chicken farmer in central Malawi (photo credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann). ‘The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on Friday called on African governments to implement policies that will help the continent’s small livestock producers to tap the growing demand for animal proteins. ‘FAO Livestock Economist Uga Pica-Ciamarra told journalists … Continue reading →

Agriculture / Biotechnology / CGIAR / Food Security / Livelihoods / Nutrition / Policy / Presentation / Research / USA

‘Nothing improves an economy as efficiently as agriculture’–Bill Gates to US Senate

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Bill Gates visits a site of the East African Dairy Development project, which is funded by his foundation; researchers based in Nairobi at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), a CGIAR centre, provide technical and other backstopping to this project, which is led by Heifer International (USA) (photo on Flickr by EADD). ‘Investing in agriculture … Continue reading →

Biotechnology / Environment / Food Security / Genetics / Opinion piece / Policy / USA

Greening our meat: A vegan conservationist speaks out, and considerately, on controversial food issues

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Vegan and conservationist Mark Tercek, president and CEO of The Nature Conservancy, the largest environmental non-profit organization in the Americas, had an interesting response this week to a question about eating meat and genetically modified foods—two of the most durable of the hot ‘foodie’ topics of the North, with vegetarian and carnivore consumers, organic and high-tech … Continue reading →

Drylands / Kenya

Kenya ministry asked to allocate greater resources to the livestock sector, particularly in arid areas

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Sheep and goats in northern Kenya (photo on Flickr by gordontour). ‘The Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (IBAR) is asking the [Kenya] Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (MALF) to reserve at least five per cent of the estimated funds its set to receive from the Treasury for the Department of Livestock. ‘These figures translate … Continue reading →

Biotechnology / East Africa / Food Security / Intensification / Kenya / Opinion piece / Policy

Kenya’s newly elected government advised to be bullish on agricultural biotechnology and genetically modified foods

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Cynthia Onzere, a staff member in the animal biotechnology laboratories of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), in Nairobi, Kenya (photo credit: ILRI/Evelyn Katingi). ‘A newly elected government provides a country with a rare opportunity for a fresh start—and President Uhuru Kenyatta’s nomination this week of Felix Kiptarus Kosgey to become Kenya’s next Cabinet Secretary … Continue reading →