Of plagues and livestock–The Economist reports on ILRI research at the animal-human interface

Posted on 10 Feb 2011 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

A pig scavenges for food in trash outside a poor household in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). The Economist today (10 February 2011) reports on news from the International Livestock Research Institute, being discussed this week at an international conference on agriculture, nutrition and health in New Delhi, India, of the critical need … Continue reading →

Animal Breeding / Animal Diseases / Animal Feeding / Animal Health / Animal Production / Asia / India / Livestock / Livestock Systems / South Asia

Demand led transformation of the livestock sector in India

Posted on 17 Dec 2010 by Peter Ballantyne (ILRI) • Leave a comment

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 →

Animal Production / Asia / Goats / India / Livestock / Small Ruminants / South Asia

India’s goat gamble

Posted on 4 Dec 2010 by Peter Ballantyne (ILRI) • Leave a comment

It has been a slow and steady shift over decades. Forced by declining returns from farming in ecologically fragile areas, small farmers have been taking to goat rearing. Today, goats ensure income to five million households in India. It is now bonanza time, with demand for goat meat projected to shoot up. India will have … Continue reading →

Animal Feeding / Asia / Crop residues / India / South Asia

India’s new sorghum varieties feed animals as well as people

Posted on 22 Nov 2010 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

‘Throughout the tropics, a lack of feed keeps farm animals underweight and underproductive, thereby preventing some 600 million poor farmers and herders from meeting fast-rising global demand for milk and meat. But thanks to a partnership between India’s National Research Centre for Sorghum (NRCS), the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and … Continue reading →

Agriculture / Asia / Climate Change / India / Knowledge and Information / Research / South Asia

Dependence on borrowed research has cost India

Posted on 21 Nov 2010 by Peter Ballantyne (ILRI) • Leave a comment

Even as the Indian Network for Climate Change Assessment — dubbed “the Indian Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)” — released its first report on the impact of climate change in four regions of the country, it admitted that significant research gaps and lack of extensive databases were hampering Indian climate science. Long-term localised data … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Feeding / Asia / Fodder / Forages / India / Innovation Systems / Insurance / Livestock Systems / Nigeria / South Asia / West Africa

Improving smallholder fodder through better knowledge as well as technologies

Posted on 15 Nov 2010 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

Busy fodder market in Hyderabad, India; farmers transport their fodder to this market, where it is bought by urban dairies (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). The magazine Farming Matters ran a feature on a Fodder Innovation Project funded by the UK Department for International Development and conducted since 2003 by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) with … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Production / Animal Products / Asia / Biodiversity / India / Indigenous Breeds / Latin America / Livestock / Markets / Somalia / South Africa

Marketing local breeds to improve livestock diversity and livelihoods

Posted on 24 Sep 2010 by Peter Ballantyne (ILRI) • 3 Comments

Throughout the world and over centuries, small-scale livestock keepers and pastoralists have developed animal breeds that are well suited to their local conditions. These breeds are hardy and disease-resistant; they can survive on little water and scant vegetation. They can continue producing meat and milk in areas where modern, imported breeds succumb without expensive housing, … Continue reading →

Animal Production / Asia / India / Insurance / Livestock / South Asia

Iffco-Tokio, OLRDS in pact for insuring cattle

Posted on 1 Sep 2010 by Peter Ballantyne (ILRI) • Leave a comment

Iffco-Tokio General Insurance (ITGI), a general insurance providing company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Orissa Livestock Resources Development Society in India. The pact is to implementa the company’s newly launched Pasudhan Bima Yojana on a pilot basis to insure the cattle. Read more … (Business Standard) Continue reading →

Animal Production / Asia / Climate Change / India / Livestock / South Asia

Proper livestock management can reduce global warming – Narayan Hegde

Posted on 31 Aug 2010 by Peter Ballantyne (ILRI) • Leave a comment

Livestock (cattle) the world over release about 18 per cent of carbon dioxide equivalent of methane through digestive and respiratory systems. Pune-based BAIF Development Research Foundation has published a concept paper taking note of this significant and dangerous contribution to global warming and how to cut down emission of methane by these animals using proper … Continue reading →

Animal Breeding / Asia / Biodiversity / India / Indigenous Breeds / Knowledge and Information / Livestock / South Asia

Genetic documentation battling livestock extinction in India

Posted on 30 Aug 2010 by Peter Ballantyne (ILRI) • Leave a comment

With the country’s rich pool of livestock resources facing threat from extinction due to loss of habitat and shortage of green fodder, a unique initiative to retain and register genetic characteristics through documentation has helped in reviving many breed. Read more … (Financial Express) National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources Continue reading →