New guidelines for the graduate fellowship program at ILRI are now in place that will enable the program to better serve the needs of graduate fellow researchers at ILRI. Continue reading
Category Archives: Kenya
Australia / Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Event / ILRI / ILRIComms / Insurance / Kenya / Launch / PIL / UK
Of cows, camels and ‘charity insurance’ on Kenya’s Somali frontier–The Economist
Insuring animals who range with semi-nomadic herders across some of the harshest terrain on earth had defeated all previous efforts. Eventually he came across the work of a Kenyan economist, Andrew Mude of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), based in Nairobi. Mr Mude has developed an insurance model that uses satellite images to assess the impact of drought on the vegetation that camels, cows and goats need to survive. . . . Continue reading
Australia / Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Event / ILRI / ILRIComms / Insurance / Kenya / Launch / Pastoralism / PIL / UK / USA
Shelter from the storm (literally): As remote herders get drought-related insurance payments, the heaven’s open
Livestock market in Wajir, where Kenya’s remote, never-before-insured livestock herders are getting their first protection from drought (photo credit: ILRI/Riccardo Gangale). ‘It was almost inevitable that the day chosen to make the first drought insurance payments in Wajir, in the arid north-east of Kenya, would be the same day the rains came. ‘Herders who lost sheep, cattle … Continue reading
A4NH / East Africa / Feeds / Finland / Food Safety / FSZ / Human Health / ILRI / ILRIComms / Kenya / Project
Kenya is hotspot for alfatoxin-related deaths–Report
‘The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) has commissioned a research project that will ascertain the levels of aflatoxins in the milk consumed in Kenya. ‘Kenyans consume more than 145 litres of milk per person annually increasing the risks associated with milk-related aflatoxins. Because of the higher milk consumption, especially by young children, pregnant and nursing … Continue reading
Australia / Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Event / ILRI / ILRIComms / Insurance / Kenya / Launch / Pastoralism / PIL / UK
Africa’s first Islamic insurance for herders
Hassan Bashir is an astute entrepreneur, developing Africa’s first livestock insurance scheme to make payouts compliant with Islamic law, by bringing together Muslim scholars and number-crunching agricultural experts using NASA weather satellites. Continue reading
Burundi / Cattle / Dairying / East Africa / Ethiopia / Event / ILRI / ILRIComms / Kenya / PIL / Rwanda / Tanzania / Uganda / Value Chains
East African dairy: Donors and stakeholders meet this week in Uganda to better coordinate their development work
ILRI scientist Steve Staal (in blue) and Gregg Bevier (right) of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), take a close look at a cowshed typical of Kenya’s smallholder dairy sector (photo credit: BMGF/Lee Klejtnot). In its wisdom, an Inter-Agency Donor Group (IADG) on pro-poor livestock research and development agreed in 2013 to explore ways … Continue reading
A4NH / Agri-Health / Animal Feeding / Animal Health / Animal Products / BecA / Burkina Faso / CGIAR / Dairying / Disease Control / Epidemiology / Film and video / Food Safety / FSZ / Ghana / Human Health / ILRI / ILRIComms / Kenya / Launch / Mali / Nigeria / Project / Senegal / Tanzania
Aflatoxins: New briefs disclose the threat to people and livestock and what research is doing about it
A damaged maize cob that, if harvested with clean cobs, can contaminate all the cobs with aflatoxins (photo credit: Joseph Atehnkeng/IITA). ‘The UN World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that billions of people in the developing world are chronically exposed to aflatoxin, a natural poison on food crops which causes cancer, impairs the immune system, inhibits … Continue reading
CCAFS / Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Event / ILRI / ILRIComms / Insurance / Kenya / Launch / Pastoralism / PIL
Takaful, ILRI payout ‘sharia-compliant’ insurance to drought-suffering livestock herders in Wajir
Shamsa Kosar, a beneficiary of Takaful livestock insurance payouts made in Wajir, northern Kenya, in March 2014. This novel insurance was made possible by an ILRI index-based livestock insurance research project in northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia (photo credit: ILRI/Riccardo Gangale). ‘Takaful Insurance will pay livestock farmers about Sh500,000 for losses incurred during the December … Continue reading
A4NH / Cattle / Dairying / Disease Control / East Africa / Feeds / Food Safety / FSZ / Human Health / ILRI / ILRIComms / Kenya / Value Chains
Are aflatoxins contaminating the milk you’re drinking in Kenya? New research to find out
The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) has commissioned research to ascertain the levels of aflatoxins in the milk consumed in Kenya. Studies say every Kenyan consumes over 145 litres annually-higher than other Africans – increasing the risk of milk-related aflatoxins. Continue reading
Agriculture / Animal Breeding / East Africa / Indigenous Breeds / Kenya / Livestock / LIVESTOCKFISH / Markets / PIL / Presentation / Sheep / Value Chains
Exotic sheep popular in Kenya, but better native animals are a better solution—New study
Exotic and crossbred Dorper sheep are in high demand in Kajiado’s livestock markets, but keeping these high-producing exotic breeds alive and productive in these dry, drought-ridden, rangelands is difficult. Continue reading
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