Category Archives: Countries

Africa / Animal Feeding / ASSP / Capacity Strengthening / CapDev / Drylands / Event report / Farming Systems / Film and video / Fodder / ILRI / Innovation Systems / Intensification / Interview / Nigeria / Uganda / Vulnerability / Zimbabwe

Voices from the sixth Africa Agriculture Science Week 2013

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Change mindsets, embed policymaking, make efficient use of declining biomass, engage the private sector. These and other recommendations of four participants attending the ongoing sixth Africa Agriculture Science Week (AASW6) are captured in this short (2:40-minute) video. This science week, organized by the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), is being held in Accra, … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / CCAFS / Climate Change / East Africa / Ethiopia / Event / ILRIComms / Innovation Systems / Kenya / Knowledge and Information / Research / South Asia / Southern Africa / West Africa

Next steps for climate change social learning initiative – implementation, incubation, partnering, testing, scaling…

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Climate change is a wicked problem, it requires wicked solutions, not business-as-usual. The CGIAR research program on climate change, agriculture and food security (CCAFS) recognised this when they joined up with International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and other partners to look at the potential of social learning and communication approaches to support decision-making on climate change adaptation … Continue reading →

Directorate / East Africa / Environment / Event / Food Security / ILRI / Kenya / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock / Southern Africa

Invest in Africa’s fast-growing livestock sector: The time is now, says ILRI’s Jimmy Smith

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Florence Chepkirui, a blind dairy farmer in Saoset village in Kenya’s Bomet District (photo credit: ILRI/Paul Karaimu). The director general of the International Livestock Institute (ILRI) has called for significant investments in the development of Africa’s livestock sector, which he said is rapidly growing. Jimmy Smith told the told participants of a recent three-day Africa … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Production / BecA / Biodiversity / Cameroon / Central Africa / Congo-DR / East Africa / Genetics / ILRI / Innovation Systems / Livestock / LIVESTOCKFISH

Molecular study makes a difference to guinea pig producers in eastern Congo

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Domestic cavies (or guinea pigs) provide a high-quality meat source with high levels of protein in similar quantity as chicken meat. Here, Brigitte Maass explains how an innovation platform linking cavy producers and other organizations is helping to bridge molecular science with livestock production. An Africa Biosciences Challenge Fund (ACBF) project (led by the BecA-ILRI … Continue reading →

ASSP / Capacity Strengthening / East Africa / Ethiopia / Livestock / Project / Value Chains

Developing value chain action plans for the Ethiopia Livestock Master Plan

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Earlier this year, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) approved funds to support the development of value chain action plans for the Ethiopia Livestock Master Plan (LMP). The project began on Wednesday, May 1, with the hiring of Dr. Asfaw Negassa as Value Chain Expert and Ms. Hiwot Yerga, as Program Coordinator. ILRI is … Continue reading →

CGIAR / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / Geodata / HUMIDTROPICS / ILRI / Intensification / Livestock Systems / Markets / NRM / Pastoralism / PIL / Policy / Project / Senegal / Vulnerability / West Africa

Africa’s dryland agricultural systems research: When East meets West (and when it doesn’t)

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I have been working for nine months as an agricultural economist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) headquarters, in Nairobi, Kenya. I have come to realize that there are not enough bridges between West and East African agricultural research communities. Is it a problem of history? Different languages? Or perhaps inter-African communication links are … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / CCAFS / Climate Change / Food Security / Kenya / Opinion piece

‘Adapt to climate shifts now’ – New research report advice to Africa’s farmers and policymakers

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A failed maize crop in Ghana. A report by CCAFS is advising Africa’s farmers and policymakers to adapt to climate shifts now to ensure communities are protected from climate change devastations (photo credit: Neil Palmer/CIAT). The many adverse impacts of climate change on agriculture—from increasing droughts and floods, to more unpredictable and extreme weather patterns, … Continue reading →

Dairying / East Africa / Event / ILRI / Kenya / Livelihoods / Livestock / LIVESTOCKFISH / Rwanda / Uganda

Dairy hubs in East Africa — Lessons from the East Africa Dairy Development project: ‘Livestock live talk’ at ILRI, 26 Jun 2013

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On Wednesday 26 Jun 2013, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) hosts a ‘livestock live talk’ on Dairy hubs in East Africa: Lessons from the East Africa Dairy Development project. The talk by Isabelle Baltenweck, an agricultural economist at ILRI, and Gerald Mutinda, the East Africa Dairy Development (EADD) project’s regional manager in charge of … Continue reading →

Animal Breeding / Biodiversity / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / Film and video / FSZ / ILRI / Poultry / USA / Zoonotic Diseases

Heritage breed chickens: America’s new ‘gateway livestock’–Plus film on chicken boom in poor countries

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New 5-minute ILRI film, New approaches to chicken farming reduce poverty without adding to disease risks.  ‘. . . Before he got into chickens, Bradshaw had raised pork and cattle on Greenfire Farms, his plot of land 12 miles west of Tallahassee, FL. Now Bradshaw has stopped farming cattle and pork entirely, fully dedicating his operations … Continue reading →

Agriculture / Dairying / ILRI / Mali / Niger / PIL / PIM / Research / Togo / Value Chains / West Africa

Of platforms and tables, cows and chillies: Scrutinizing numbers in Togo opens worlds of new ideas to explore

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Early this month, Jo Cadilhon, an agricultural economist with ILRI’s research program on Policy, Trade and Value Chains, spent four days in Lomé, Togo, facilitating a workshop for a project on ‘Resilience of smallholder agriculture through dairy and market gardening value chains’. In this blog post, he tells how the analysis of data during the … Continue reading →