Three years after Kenya got its first test-tube babies, the Daily Nation can reveal another first from the world of test tubes – a healthy calf. The calf, which the Daily Nation has named Bully, is one of two test tube calves born three weeks ago in an experiment by veterinary scientists from the University … Continue reading
Category Archives: Countries
Cattle / East Africa / ILRI / Kenya / Livelihoods / Livestock / Livestock Systems / Research
In Kenya, better cows for better health
A parasite researcher in NYU is hoping totackle African Sleeping Sickness by creating genetically enhanced cows that cannot catch or transmit the disease. She’s been planning the project since 2006, when she attended a workshop in Nairobi. At the meeting, local farmers explained how they need cattle to survive. Most of them can’t afford to … Continue reading
Africa / Agriculture / Animal Diseases / Climate Change / Crop-Livestock / Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / ECF / Environment / Food Security / ILRI / Kenya / Livestock Systems / Pastoralism / Research / Vulnerability
Livestock research addresses issues underlying the pastoral crisis in the Horn of Africa
Things Fall Apart Things have quickly fallen apart in this particular drought in the Horn’s vast drylands because of a toxic mix of underlying factors. Land Use Among the things not being redressed are land-use policies and practices that fail to account for population increases and thus are restricting herders to ever smaller, drier and … Continue reading
Foot and mouth disease not such a big deal—in Namibia
Farmers in nothern Namibia are kept from accessing international markets because of an irrational fear surrounding foot and mouth disease (FMD), said Dr Gavin Thomson, representative of the SADC FMD project in Botswana. Speaking at the 46th annual Livestock Producers’ Organisation (LPO) Congress, Thomson said foot and mouth disease is a manufactured plague. Read more: (Namibia … Continue reading
Africa / Animal Diseases / Cattle / East Africa / ECF / Livestock / Tanzania
Fighting East Coast Fever in cattle in Tanzania
Thousands of Tanzanian families could be saved from poverty thanks to a much-needed vaccine being mass-produced in a bid to protect cattle from the deadly East Coast fever. East Coast Fever is a tick-transmitted disease that kills one cow every 30 seconds with one million a year dying of the disease in Africa. Calves are … Continue reading
Africa / Animal Diseases / Cattle / ECF / Tanzania
Tanzanian cattle to be protected from killer disease
THOUSANDS of Tanzanian families could be saved from destitution thanks to a much-needed vaccine being mass-produced in a bid to protect cattle from the deadly East Coast fever. This is a tick-transmitted disease that kills one cow every 30 seconds with one million a year dying of the disease in Africa. Calves are particularly susceptible … Continue reading
Drought / East Africa / Food Security / Kenya
A profile of what could become the country’s irreversible tragedy
A profile of what could become the country’s irreversible tragedy Kenya’s worst drought in living memory has been overshadowed by political and economic crises and the destruction of the Mau Forest. Now, with 10 million people short of food, the drought has captured national attention. Read more (Daily Nation) Continue reading
Improving smallholder farmers’ marketed supply and market access for dairy products in Arsi zone, Ethiopia
This report by Asfaw Negassa formerly with ILRI now with IFPRI on Improving smallholder farmers’; marketed supply and market access for dairy products in Arsi Zone, Ethiopia was released on 8 October, 2009. Presents study carried out on improving smallholder farmers’; marketed supply and market access for dairy products in Arsi Zone, Ethiopia. The main … Continue reading
Africa / Agriculture / Animal Diseases / Cattle / East Africa / ECF / ILRI / Livestock / Tanzania
Firm takes private route to fight cattle deaths
A private charity has renewed the fight against cattle deaths with the introduction of a new distribution channel for vaccine in the Kenyan market. Commercialisation of the vaccine is targeted at combating East Coast Fever, a livestock disease that kills millions of animals every year. “We are exploring ways of transferring the production and distribution … Continue reading
Drought / East Africa / Environment / Kenya
A catastrophe is looming
The drought cycle in east Africa has been contracting sharply. Rains used to fail every nine or ten years. Then the cycle seemed to go down to five years. Now, it seems, the region faces drought every two or three years. The production of Kenyan maize, the country’s staple, is likely to drop by one-third, … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 