SciDevNet this week carries a dairy genetics story. ‘Dairy farmers in East Africa could soon benefit from superior, affordable cattle breeds through a US$1 million research project. ‘The Dairy Genetics East Africa (DGEA) initiative aims to help smallholders take full advantage of the region’s booming dairy sector and improve their incomes by giving them access … Continue reading
This Research report by Girma T. Kassie, Awudu Abdulai, Clemens Wollny, Workneh Ayalew, Tadelle Dessie, Markos Tibbo, Aynalem Haile, and Okeyo Mwai on Implicit prices of indigenous cattle traits in central Ethiopia: Application of revealed and stated preference approaches was released on 26 February, 2011. The diversity of animal genetic resources has a quasi-public good … Continue reading
This working paper by Aynalem Haile, Workneh Ayalew, Noah Kebede, Tadelle Dessie, and Azage Tegegne on Breeding strategy to improve Ethiopian Boran cattle for meat and milk production was released on 3 February, 2011. This working paper is prepared to develop breeding plans for the Ethiopian Boran cattle and is based on: 1) secondary data … Continue reading
Pig breeding on a farm in Dimapur, Nagaland, India (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). The Telegraph in Calcutta ran a story this week on why pigs—and pig breeding—matters to the marginalized indigenous communities of India’s northeast. ‘For the 600-odd villagers of two districts of Mon lying on either side of the [Nagaland] border, pig breeding has now … Continue reading
The ‘hairless’ (non-wool-producing), native and worm-resistant red Maasai sheep of East Africa (photo credit: ILRI). An article this week in InterPress Service tells of Samburu pastoral herders working to bring back their native Red Maasai sheep because it does better than other, exotic, breeds, in the increasingly variable climate of northern Kenya. ‘. . . … Continue reading
The South Asia Agriculture and Rural Development Department of the World Bank has produced its first assessment of the livestock sector in India since 1996. According to the report, a ‘livestock revolution’ has occurred on a large scale in India over the last couple of decades. Demand for all major livestock commodities (milk, eggs, meat) … Continue reading
A growing number of countries are taking steps to catalogue, conserve and better manage the genetic diversity of livestock in order to help safeguard the resilience of the world’s food production systems, says an informal survey released recently by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. Read more … (Stackyard.com) Continue reading
‘The International Livestock Research Institute is calling for immediate, practical steps to preserve developing countries’ dwindling animal genetic diversity. The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization says almost 10 percent of the world’s livestock breeds have become extinct in the last six years. Twenty percent of the 7,616 breeds documented in the FAO’s Global Databank … Continue reading
ICARDA-ILRI-BOKU project workshop – Dr. Azage Tegegne (group discussion report) On 29 October 2010, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) hosted a workshop as part of a project entitled ‘designing community-based breeding strategies for indigenous sheep breeds of smallholders in Ethiopia.’ The main objectives of the event were: share the achievement of the completed project … Continue reading
A dairy cow on one of Kenya’s many smallholder farms consumes maize stover, an important supplementary feed in East Africa (photo credit: ILRI). Apropos the recently concluded AgKnowledge Africa Share Fair, held at the Addis Ababa campus of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), which highlighted local innovations and how to share them, is this … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 