Category Archives: Ethiopia

Animal Breeding / ASSP / Australia / Cattle / Dairying / East Africa / Ethiopia / Genetics / ILRI / ILRIComms / Indigenous Breeds / Kenya / LIVESTOCKFISH / Project / Tanzania / Uganda

Gates Foundation awards grant to improve dairy cattle breeds and reduce poverty in East Africa

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Staff of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) visited a field site of the Dairy Genetics East Africa (DGEA) project in June 2011 (photo credit: BMGF/Lee Klejtnot). The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded a USD1.3-million grant to researchers at the School of Environmental and Rural Science at the University of New England (UNE),  in Australia, … Continue reading →

Agri-Health / Animal Diseases / Animal Health / Disease Control / East Africa / Ethiopia / Food Security / ILRIComms / Insurance / Kenya / Pastoralism / Presentation / Scaling

Scaling up quality agro-vet livestock services with SIDAI. ‘Livestock live talk’ at ILRI, 5 September 2013

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Livestock farmers in Africa struggle to access good quality inputs, effective knowledge and fair markets. Regulation of the livestock input sector is very weak in Kenya, allowing unqualified people to open shops selling veterinary pharmaceuticals; many of which are counterfeit or under-strength. This leads to extensive misuse of drugs through poor diagnosis and administration of products. … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / CCAFS / Climate Change / East Africa / Ethiopia / Event / ILRIComms / Innovation Systems / Kenya / Knowledge and Information / Research / South Asia / Southern Africa / West Africa

Next steps for climate change social learning initiative – implementation, incubation, partnering, testing, scaling…

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Climate change is a wicked problem, it requires wicked solutions, not business-as-usual. The CGIAR research program on climate change, agriculture and food security (CCAFS) recognised this when they joined up with International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and other partners to look at the potential of social learning and communication approaches to support decision-making on climate change adaptation … Continue reading →

ASSP / Capacity Strengthening / East Africa / Ethiopia / Livestock / Project / Value Chains

Developing value chain action plans for the Ethiopia Livestock Master Plan

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Earlier this year, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) approved funds to support the development of value chain action plans for the Ethiopia Livestock Master Plan (LMP). The project began on Wednesday, May 1, with the hiring of Dr. Asfaw Negassa as Value Chain Expert and Ms. Hiwot Yerga, as Program Coordinator. ILRI is … Continue reading →

Animal Breeding / BecA / Biodiversity / Data / East Africa / Ethiopia / Goats / LIVESTOCKFISH

ILRI-BecA goat project harnessing ODK on smartphones for data collection and analysis

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To harness genetic diversity to improve goat productivity in Africa, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) is testing the open data kit (ODK) in Ethiopia as a tool to collect baseline data on production systems and phenotypic characterization of goats. It will also be tested in Cameroon. The project is led by the Biosciences eastern … Continue reading →

Biodiversity / Drylands / East Africa / Environment / Ethiopia / ILRI / Kenya / Pastoralism / Tanzania / Vulnerability / Wildlife

‘Green land grabs’: Livestock herders access to rangelands is being lost for conservation purposes

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Serengeti tree (photo credit: Jeff Haskins). ‘In the great plains of northern Tanzania, close to the world-famous Serengeti National Park, a bitter row has broken out over an attempt to designate 1,500sqkm of Loliondo District as a game-controlled area. ‘The Maasai herdsmen in the area say their cattle cannot survive without access to traditional dry-season … Continue reading →

Agriculture / East Africa / Ethiopia / Event / Food Security

Bioscientists meet to boost Africa’s food production

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Seyoum Leta, Bio-Innovate Program Manager. The first Bio-Innovate Regional Scientific Conference was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia  25-27  February 2013 (photo credit: ILRI/Apollo Habtamu). View more conference pictures. SciDev.Net reports on a ‘Bio-Innovate’ conference held 25-27 Feb 2013 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to discuss ways of improving Africa’s agricultural production. The ‘1st Bio-Innovate Regional Scientific … Continue reading →

Article / Drylands / East Africa / Environment / Ethiopia / Pastoralism / Policy / Vulnerability

Cash crops vs cattle pastures: Converting pastoral lands into irrigated croplands in Africa benefits few

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Ethiopian rangeland (photo credit: ILRI/Dave Elsworth). ‘Cotton, sugar, palm oil… you name it. Most governments in the developing world believe such plantation cash crops must be a better use of land, and must deliver greater economic returns, than cattle pastures. That’s what most of the current land grabs in Africa are about. That’s why the … Continue reading →

Agriculture / Animal Production / Capacity Strengthening / Crop-Livestock / East Africa / Ethiopia / Event / Extension / HUMIDTROPICS / Innovation Systems / Intensification / IPMS / Livestock / LIVESTOCKFISH / Markets / Research / Value Chains

Commodities, innovation and action research in Ethiopia: Livestock live talk at ILRI on 27 March 2013

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The Improving Productivity and Market Success (IPMS) of Ethiopian Farmers project is coming to an end. IPMS aimed to transform agricultural productivity and rural development in Ethiopia through market-oriented agricultural development. Project staff worked with the Ethiopian Government to try new and innovative approaches and technologies. The team worked to achieve this objective through four main … Continue reading →

East Africa / Ethiopia / ILRI / IPMS / Livestock / Research

ILRI projects in Ethiopia: Getting the science right

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Taking advantage of the presence of John McIntire, Deputy Director General for Integrated Sciences on the ILRI Addis campus, a group of ILRI scientists and program managers (Iain Wright, Dirk Hoekstra, Azage Tegegne, Peter Thorne, Alan Duncan, Barry Shapiro and John McIntire) recently discussed the suite of projects that involve ILRI in Ethiopia: Improving the … Continue reading →