An effective vaccine that languished, underused, for 30 years after its invention has finally been released commercially as a result of a new scheme for getting innovation into practice. The vaccine protects cattle against the deadly East Coast Fever (ECF), which kills two cows every minute — one million a year — causing economic losses … Continue reading
Cows. (No, really.) Kenya’s International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) recently cracked the code on a formula that could change cattle-herders’ lives — or at least line their pockets. The single biggest risk cattlemen in Kenya’s dry north face is drought. If seasonal rains fail, grasses don’t grow. And if nothing green grows, the hundreds of … Continue reading
In this podcast from the London International Development Centre, four vets describe the challenges affecting livestock within pastoralist communities in East Africa and explain an exciting project to monitor disease by using mobile phones. Dr Ezra Saitoti and Dr Paul Chacha, both field vets for the charity Vetaid, discuss how this innovative technology will help … Continue reading
Climate change in Africa and the world at large has impacted on many fronts resulting in drought and floods hence resulting in food shortage. Consequently, poverty levels have increased leading to low development among many developing nations. It is against this backdrop that leading agriculture and climate scientists, policymakers, farmers, and development experts from around … Continue reading
Insurance is about protection against loss — and so, in many ways, is conservation. The similarities between these two industries mean both could gain from a closer relationship. The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) recently announced the trial of an innovative insurance scheme for traditional herders in northern Kenya. There’s a severe need for such … Continue reading
A new piece of kit in the form of a backpack could help small farmers in Kenya increase yields, profits and agricultural know-how in a sustainable way. The backpacks, weighing 15-42 kg, contain things which help farmers bring a crop to harvest, including tools, a training manual and, in some versions, a collapsible water tank. … Continue reading
To expand cooperation and exchanges with African countries on tropical agricultural technology, experts of livestock, vegetable and cassava from Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (CATAS) recently visited the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the University of Nairobi in Kenya, and signed a cooperation memorandum of understanding with the ILRI, marking a new start … Continue reading
Kenya is vulnerable to avian flu given its position along migratory bird routes and proximity to other high risk countries. This raises concern about the effect an outbreak could have on economic development. We use a dynamic computable general equilibrium model of Kenya to simulate potential outbreaks of different severities, durations and geographic spreads. Results … Continue reading
The Marsabit district in rugged northern Kenya is the size of Ireland. It has ten tribes and seven languages but only 160,000 people. The manager of the local branch of Equity Bank says it takes two crunching days of driving his jeep through burning deserts to reach some of his customers. Marsabit depends on cattle, … Continue reading
The annual spectacular migration of over one million wildebeest across the Serengeti and Masai Mara in Kenya and Tanzania, presents two sides of the coin, in that this migration is a beautiful sight to behold, but with it comes disease and death to the pastoralist livestock. …Malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) is transmitted from wildebeest to … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 