Category Archives: Biotechnology

Enlarging on the EAT-Lancet planetary diet report—A fresh look by CSIRO’s Mario Herrero, one of the authors
Advocacy / Agriculture / Biotechnology / Consumption / Environment / Food Security / Human Health / Intensification / Nutrition / Policy / Presentation / Pro-Poor Livestock / Report

Enlarging on the EAT-Lancet planetary diet report—A fresh look by CSIRO’s Mario Herrero, one of the authors

Posted on by • Leave a comment

Mario Herrero, a scientist formerly with ILRI and now serving as chief research scientist of agriculture and food at Australia’s CSIRO, recently gave a seminar at the University of Edinburgh’s Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies. The title of Herrero’s 19 Sep 2019 seminar was ‘Can we feed the planet and stay within planetary boundaries’. He focused on the EAT-Lancet Report on healthy diets (Commission Food in The Anthropocene: The EAT-Lancet Commission on Healthy Diets From Sustainable Food Systems, 16 Jan 2019), to which he contributed, along with 36 other experts. Continue reading →

Overuse and misuse of antibiotics – a problem driven by the world’s poor and rich alike
A4NH / Africa / AMR / Biotechnology / CGIAR / ILRI / Kenya / News clipping / Research / USA

Overuse and misuse of antibiotics – a problem driven by the world’s poor and rich alike

Posted on by • Leave a comment

  As reported this week by Andrew Jacobs and Matt Richtel in the New York Times, ‘Kibera residents are prodigious consumers of antibiotics’. Kibera area, one of Africa’s largest urban slums, is located in Nairobi, Kenya, with a population of around one million. Most people in the slum lack access to running water, electricity and … Continue reading →

Drug resistance could make millions of people poorer
A4NH / AHH / AMR / Biotechnology / CGIAR / CRPs / Research

Drug resistance could make millions of people poorer

Posted on by • Leave a comment

As reported this week by Jacqueline Ogada, a journalist at SciDevNet, the director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) said recently that ‘reducing the use of antimicrobials in agriculture as well as medicine . . . can make a huge difference’ in protecting public health. ILRI director general Jimmy Smith said this at … Continue reading →

Why cows are getting a bad rap in lab-grown meat debate
Advocacy / Biotechnology / Climate Change / Consumption / Environment / News clipping / Nutrition / Opinion piece / Policy / Rangelands / USA / Water

Why cows are getting a bad rap in lab-grown meat debate

Posted on by • Leave a comment

The narrative posited by cultured meat proponents is that animal agriculture requires large amounts of land and water and produces high levels of greenhouse gases (GHG). The environmental impacts of a product, such as a beef hamburger, is then compared to the anticipatory ones for producing a cultured hamburger patty through tissue engineering-based cellular agriculture. While it is true that conventional meat production has a large environmental footprint, the problem with this dichotomous framing is that it overlooks the rest of the story. Continue reading →

The British High Commissioner to Kenya visits ILRI’s Nairobi livestock labs and campus
Animal Feeding / Animal Health / Animal Production / Biotechnology / Capacity Strengthening / CGIAR / Directorate / East Africa / Event report / ILRI / ILRIComms / Kenya / Pro-Poor Livestock / UK

The British High Commissioner to Kenya visits ILRI’s Nairobi livestock labs and campus

Posted on by • Leave a comment

The British High Commissioner to Kenya, His Excellency Mr Nic Hailey, made a courtesy visit to the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) on Tuesday, 31 July 2018. Continue reading →

​’If you care about agriculture, you care about livestock’—Bill Gates
ACGG / ADGG / Animal Breeding / Animal Health / Biotechnology / Cattle / Chickens / CTLGH / Dairying / Genetics / ILRI / Launch / LiveGene / News clipping / Pro-Poor Livestock / Research

​’If you care about agriculture, you care about livestock’—Bill Gates

Posted on by • 1 Comment

According to Reuters, the Gates Foundation will pump $40m into research for higher-yielding dairy cows, as well as chickens that lay better quality eggs, livestock vaccines and ‘supercrops’ that can withstand droughts or disease. Continue reading →

DFID/UKAid fund British, ILRI, African genetics research to advance African livestock development
Africa / Agri-Health / Animal Breeding / Animal Diseases / Animal Health / Biotechnology / Cattle / CGIAR / Climate Change / CTLGH / Dairying / East Africa / Europe / Genetics / Human Health / ILRI / Kenya / Launch / LiveGene / Poultry / Pro-Poor Livestock / Research / Trypanosomiasis / UK / Vaccines / Zoonotic Diseases

DFID/UKAid fund British, ILRI, African genetics research to advance African livestock development

Posted on by • Leave a comment

During the visit Ms Mordaunt also announced plans to develop the Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health, which is based in both Edinburgh and Nairobi. The centre uses the most recent scientific advances in genetics and genomics that are being used by farmers in the UK and apply these to help smallholder dairy and poultry farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. Continue reading →

ILRI biosciences hub and vaccine development named global public goods by heads of BMGF and DFID
Africa / Agriculture / Animal Diseases / Animal Health / Article / BecA / Biotechnology / Capacity Strengthening / Disease Control / ECF / ILRI / ILVAC / LIVESTOCKFISH / Opinion piece / Research

ILRI biosciences hub and vaccine development named global public goods by heads of BMGF and DFID

Posted on by • Leave a comment

Sue Desmond-Hellmann, CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), and Nick Hurd, international development minister for Britain’s Department for International Development (DFID), argue in the Guardian’s Global Development blog this month that the world needs to put science at the heart of development. Two of the examples of success that they cite are initiatives of ILRI. Continue reading →

Injection of new genetics funding to boost the health and productivity of Africa’s farm animals
Africa / Animal Breeding / Biodiversity / Biotechnology / Cattle / Chickens / Climate Change / Genetics / Goats / ILRI / Indigenous Breeds / LiveGene / LIVESTOCKFISH / Pro-Poor Livestock / Project / Research / Sheep / Small Ruminants / Southern Africa / UK

Injection of new genetics funding to boost the health and productivity of Africa’s farm animals

Posted on by • Leave a comment

Scientists will use funds from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to look at how genetic information can improve the health and productivity of farmed animals in tropical climates. The institutions in Scotland and Africa where the researchers are based are also making additional contributions, taking the total funding pot to £20 million over the next five years. Continue reading →