Vincent Ngari and Richard Githaiga of the Departments of Livestock and Agriculture, while making presentations during the Technical Workshop on Agriculture Index Insurance at the College of Insurance, Nairobi, on Friday, advised farmers to take up the new Kenya Livestock Insurance Programme (KLIP). Continue reading
Category Archives: Kenya
Local greenhouse gas estimates needed for local adaptation to climate change, say Kenya and Uganda
On 3–4 May 2016, policymakers from climate change departments of Kenya and Uganda met with scientists from CCAFS and ILRI for discussions on development of regional greenhouse gas inventories. Continue reading
On more rigorous informed consent in One Health cross-cultural livestock research
This paper outlines two studies on informed consent, for research identifying diseases of animal and human importance, within smallholder livestock value chains. Continue reading
Insurance helps Kenyan livestock herders cope with drought
‘The index-based insurance program is run by the Kenya-based International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), and funded by the British, U.S. and Australian governments and the European Union. The donors subsidize the cover to make it affordable for pastoralists. Continue reading
First non-travel-associated MERS in Africa–Researchers report past MERS-CoV infections in two Kenyans
Researchers at the Nairobi, Kenya-based International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and at the University of Bonn Medical Center in Germany have found evidence of MERS-CoV antibodies in archived blood samples from two of 1,122 Kenyan livestock handlers, collected between 2013 and 2014. Continue reading
Lions and people and livestock (‘Oh, my!’): New research shows they can coexist within community conservancies
Humans and lions can coexist through the creation of community conservancies—privately protected areas that engage local people in conservation and ecotourism. These conservancies can help stem the unrelenting loss of lions, whose population has been in decline across Africa, and pose a viable solution to an old problem. Continue reading
American agricultural economist Steve Staal leads livestock policy, trade and value chain research at ILRI
Steve Staal, who for the past 15 months has served the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Los Baños, the Philippines, as regional representative for East and South Asia, this month takes up leadership of ILRI’s Policy, Trade and Value Chains program and is now based in Nairobi. Continue reading
Kenya veterinary scientific conference in April – call for papers
Kenya Veterinary Association welcome you to submit your abstracts for the Annual Scientific Conference to be held in Meru from 27- 30 April, 2016. Continue reading
African camels could hold a key to controlling the spread of the MERS virus
African camels could hold important clues to controlling the potential spread of a respiratory disease transmitted by the animals. For many years African camels have lived with the disease and the risk of it spreading to humans is still low. But more research is necessary to understand the disease better. This is even more important given the confirmation that the chains of transmission of the human Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection originated from contact with camels. Continue reading
Slum farming and superbugs—An ‘Urban Zoo’ science project tracks bacterial routes in complex environments
The Urban Zoo project is visiting 99 households across Nairobi, rich and poor, with livestock and without. They’re taking samples from people, their animals, and whatever wildlife they can find nearby (and catch): storks, mice, bats, et cetera. They’re sampling the ground around homes, yards and livestock pens with white paper booties. ‘The aim, says University of Liverpool veterinarian Judy Bettridge, is “to try and understand on a small scale how those bacteria are shared” among each household’s people, livestock and environment. “And then when we scale it up, are the bacteria here being shared with the household that’s 50 meters over there? Or 100 meters over there? So, how far can they actually spread?” . . . Continue reading