This brief from the East Africa Dairy Development Project highlights key results of a baseline survey that was carried out to provide information on cattle production systems and current feeding practices in smallholder households in selected sites in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. Download the paper The East Africa Dairy Development (EADD) project is implemented by … Continue reading
A sheep grazing on grass in West Yorkshire (photo credit: Richard Carter’s Flickr Photostream). Reuters reports this week that research funded by the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) shows that changing the diets of the country’s cows and sheep could reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases, which cause global warming. ‘Feeding … Continue reading
Increasing human and livestock populations in Ethiopia are leading to a growing demand for food and feed. Cereal cropping is highly prioritized at the cost of the livestock subsector and the environment. Grazing land is decreasing, leading to overstocking and overgrazing of pastures, thus fueling conflicts over scarce resources and exacerbating further land degradation. The … Continue reading
FARM-Africa recently announced that it has received funding to develop the first franchise business model that will establish a chain of new veterinary stores to provide quality, accessible and affordable livestock services including clinical services, veterinary drugs, farm inputs, animal feeds and artificial insemination in Africa. Through a US$5m grant from the Bill & Melinda … Continue reading
This working paper by Tesfaye Desalew, Azage Tegegne, Lisanework Nigatu and Worku Teka on Rangeland condition and feed resources in Metema district, North Gondar Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia was released on 10 January, 2011. It focuses on a study conducted in 2006/07 in Metema district, North Gondar Zone of Amhara region, Ethiopia, with the objectives … Continue reading
A computer programme for feeding dairy cows has won the top prize in the 2009-2010 Africa-wide science competition held by CTA together with partner organisations. The Endiisa Decision Support Tool was developed by a team of scientists led by the National Livestock Resources Research Institute of Uganda. Team leader Dr Sarah Mubiru said the software … 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 boy works at peeling a mountain of cassava in Nigeria (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). The Alliance for a Green Revolution for Africa and its partners are committing US$42 million to a markets program that will connect smallholder farmers to local, regional, and international markets, this press release reports. The markets’ program is currently overseeing US$14 … Continue reading
Satellite images could soon be used in South Africa to quantify veld production, estimate livestock carrying capacity and help farmers plan fodder flow, reports Roelof Bezuidenhout. Read more … (Meat Trade News) Continue reading
The greenhouse gases that come from livestock are silent but deadly. Conventional wisdom, originating in a 2006 UN Food and Agriculture Organization report, says that livestock are responsible for 18 percent of global emissions, though a 2009 article by Robert Goodland and Jeff Anhang in World Watch magazine puts the number as high as 51 … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 