Africa / Article / Ethiopia / Intensification / Markets / Nigeria / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock / Tanzania

Where wealth and opportunity walk on four legs—AFKInsider

with a growing number of firms gobbling up arable land in Africa—not solely for crop production but also for livestock and cattle—investment shops are slowly redirecting capital to this agricultural subsector. Investing in this segment of African economies can be transformative, as a significant portion of African wealth and growth opportunity is walking on four legs on the African continent. Continue reading

Local wars and bad water—the real killers threatening 20 million people in not 1 but 4 drought-hit countries
Burundi / Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Ethiopia / Food Security / Human Health / Kenya / Middle East / News clipping / Nigeria / Rwanda / Somalia / South Sudan / Tanzania / Uganda / West Africa

Local wars and bad water—the real killers threatening 20 million people in not 1 but 4 drought-hit countries

For the first time since anyone can remember, there is a very real possibility of four famines—in Somalia, South Sudan, Nigeria and Yemen—breaking out at once, endangering more than 20 million lives. Continue reading

AHH / Animal Health / Disease Control / East Africa / Event / Extension / Kenya / Livestock / Livestock Systems / LIVESTOCKCRP / Participation / Pastoralism / Research

Leveraging cross-sector partnerships to deliver animal health services in extensive livestock systems

ILRI and TechnoServe jointly convened a stakeholders’ workshop to deliberate on how best to achieve sustainable livestock services in extensive production systems in Africa. Continue reading

Bacteria pose bigger risk than chemical contamination of Vietnamese pork—New research
A4NH / Agri-Health / AHH / Consumption / Disease Control / Food Safety / FSZ / Human Health / ILRI / Markets / News clipping / Pigs / Policy / Science paper / Southeast Asia / Vietnam

Bacteria pose bigger risk than chemical contamination of Vietnamese pork—New research

‘Forty eight out of 108 (44 per cent) cut pork meat samples collected at wet markets in Hưng Yên Province were found to contain the disease-causing bacteria Salmonella. . . .

‘The researchers determined that the probability of pork eaters in northern Hưng Yên Province becoming ill with salmonellosis from consuming infected pork in a given year is 18 per cent. . . .. However, this risk can be avoided,” Nguyễn Việt Hùng, representative for East and Southeast Asia and a senior scientist in eco-health and food safety at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) told Việt Nam News. Continue reading

No exit strategy: More than 100 Somali’s, mostly young and old, have died of hunger and disease
Article / Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Food Security / Nigeria / Somalia / South Sudan / Vulnerability

No exit strategy: More than 100 Somali’s, mostly young and old, have died of hunger and disease

More than one hundred vulnerable people of the South—most of them old and young—have died from lack of food and water-borne diseases in a 48-hour period in the rural Bay administrative region of southwestern Somalia. This hot and semi-arid southern region is devastated by drought as well as by the operations of a militant Islamist group known as Al-Shabaab. Continue reading

Kenya’s leading role in ‘One Health’ strategies controlling diseases transmitted between animals and people
A4NH / Agri-Health / AHH / Animal Health / Article / Bird flu / Disease Control / East Africa / Emerging Diseases / Epidemiology / ILRI / Kenya / MERS / RVF / Uganda / Zoonotic Diseases

Kenya’s leading role in ‘One Health’ strategies controlling diseases transmitted between animals and people

‘Prof Eric Fèvre, a researcher of veterinary infectious diseases at the Institute of Infection and Global Health at the University of Liverpool and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Nairobi told the Business Daily the close interaction between people and animals worsened the situation. Continue reading

Transforming pastoral pursuits into profitable livestock enterprises in southern Africa
Animal Feeding / Cattle / Event report / Feeds / ILRI / Intensification / PIL / PIM / Pro-Poor Livestock / Scaling / Southern Africa / Value Chains / Zimbabwe

Transforming pastoral pursuits into profitable livestock enterprises in southern Africa

At the Ezwilini Conference, experts were trying to find ways to unlock the livestock value chain, finances and access to credit for rural farmers. They probed issues to do with improving the livelihoods of livestock smallholder farmers and other value chain actors through value addition and marketing. Continue reading

New USAID grant to asses projects aiming to reduce poverty and the need for food aid in Kenya’s drylands
Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Food Security / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / News clipping / Pastoralism / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock / Rangelands / Resilience / SLS / Vulnerability

New USAID grant to asses projects aiming to reduce poverty and the need for food aid in Kenya’s drylands

A new grant funds a project, recently launched by UC Davis researchers in northern Kenya, that will use a randomized, controlled trial to evaluate the impacts of combining programs that offer training, support and aid with affordable insurance to reduce chronic poverty.

The new project is led by Michael Carter, a professor of agricultural and resource economics and director of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Assets and Market Access at UCD, and Andrew Mude from the International Livestock Research Institute, or ILRI, in Kenya. The researchers hope the project will help create a pathway out of poverty and reduce the need for aid, which Kenya’s government provides each year, even without drought. Continue reading