Category Archives: Ethiopia

Africa / Agriculture / Animal Breeding / Animal Diseases / Animal Production / ASSP / East Africa / Ethiopia / ILRI / LIVESTOCKFISH / Poultry / Report

Characterizing and improving village chicken production in Ethiopia

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This ILRI project report describes the characteristics of village chicken production and marketing, analyses its contributions to farmers’ livelihoods, and presents options for improving the traditional village breeding practices in Horro and Ada’a woredas in the central and western highlands of Ethiopia. For the survey, a participatory rural appraisal (PRA) technique was used which includes … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Feeding / ASSP / Crop-Livestock / East Africa / Ethiopia / HUMIDTROPICS / Project / Research / Soils

N2Africa project putting nitrogen fixation to work for smallholder farmers in Ethiopia

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On 27 and 28 February, the N2Africa project was officially launched in Ethiopia. More than 70 people attended the workshop, representing project partners, the private sector, universities, government and researchers. Continue reading →

A4NH / Dairying / East Africa / Ethiopia / Nutrition

Cows, missing milk markets and nutrition in rural Ethiopia

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In rural economies encumbered by significant market imperfections, farming decisions may partly be motivated by nutritional considerations, in addition to income and risk factors. These imperfections create the potential for farm assets to have direct dietary impacts on nutrition in addition to any indirect effects via income. This working paper from IFPRI tests this hypothesis for the dairy sector in rural Ethiopia, a context in which markets are very thin, own-consumption shares are very high, and milk is an important source of animal-based proteins and micronutrients for young children. Continue reading →

ASSP / Ethiopia / HUMIDTROPICS / ILRI / Innovation Systems / Report / Research

Understanding power dynamics essential to ensure impact of innovation platforms

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Innovation platforms are widely used in agricultural research to connect different stakeholders to achieve common goals. To help document recent experiences and insights, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) recently published a series of short innovation platform ‘practice briefs’ to help guide the design and implementation of innovation platforms in agricultural research for development. This … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Feeding / Biodiversity / Crop residues / East Africa / Ethiopia / Event / Feeds / Forages / Genebank

ILRI upgrades its nutrition analysis laboratories in Addis Ababa

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On 10 January, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) inaugurated new nutrition laboratories at its Addis Ababa campus. Feed quality is in good hands again. The importance of feed quality Feed quality reflects the ability of a given feed to meet the daily nutrient needs of animals consuming the feed. Tremendous variation exists in nutrient … Continue reading →

Biodiversity / Ethiopia / FFD / Forages / Genebank / ILRI

ILRI’s forage genebank achieves good harvest of seeds in Ethiopia

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Every year International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)’s forage genebank plants about 900 accessions of forage germplasm to be regenerated (to produce new and more viable seeds) or multiplied (to increase the amount of seeds to make them available for distribution). Four field sites across Ethiopia are used to grow the 1500 different accessions (they needs … Continue reading →

Biodiversity / East Africa / Ethiopia / FFD / Forages / Genebank / ILRI / Seeds

Collaboration with Brazil expands Napier grass diversity in ILRI’s forage genebank

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From May 2011 to May 2013, the Africa-Brazil Marketplace sponsored a project to introduce Napier grass elite lines for screening for stunt resistance to provide feed for improved smallholder dairy productivity. The project was a partnership between the Forage genebank of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and EMBRAPA Dairy Cattle … Continue reading →

Biodiversity / Ethiopia / FFD / Forages / Genebank / Germany / Seeds

German SES expert supports ILRI Addis Ababa genebank

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In 2012, ILRI’s Forage Diversity team hosted Senior Experten Service – SES scientist Evelyn Möller. Since then, she has visited Addis Ababa 3 times (Nov-Dec 2012; April – May 2013 and Nov-Dec 2013). Her assignment was to help ILRI improve the quality control of its genebank laboratories, more specifically regarding plant health diagnostic techniques and … Continue reading →

CCAFS / Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Ethiopia / ILRI / ILRIComms / Insurance / Kenya / Pastoralism / PIL / Project / Vulnerability

First insurance for pastoralist herders in Kenya now available in Isiolo and Wajir

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Goat herds return home at sunset in northern Kenya (photo credit: USAID/Donatella Lorch). ‘[Hussein] Ahmed, a pastoralist in Marsabit district in arid and semi-arid northern Kenya, lost all his animals in 2011 during one of the worst droughts in the region for over 60 years. . . .  “Before that [I lost my animals] to cattle rustlers … Continue reading →