A monthly round-up of recent articles, blog postings and tweets about livestock, aid and other topics that may be of interest to ILRI staff and partners, compiled by David Aronson. Continue reading
Category Archives: Crop residues
Research and awareness raising increase demand for cassava peel-based chicken feeds in Nigeria
Hundreds of Nigerian chicken farmers in the southwestern state of Oyo have expressed interest in using cassava mash in poultry feeds. In two meetings of the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) in late March 2018, many farmers said they feel they may have found a viable low-cost high-quality alternative in the cassava mash. Continue reading
Innovative cassava peels processing factories launched in Nigeria
New factories that will transform cassava peels into high-quality feed for livestock have been launched in Nigeria. A prototype cassava peel processing plant was launched in in Ojakpata community of Kogi State in March 2017. A month later (April 2017) a similar factory was launched in Benue State. Continue reading
USAID supports the commercial potential of cassava peel for livestock feed in Nigeria
“Niji Foods, with the International Livestock Research Institute, with USAID support, is establishing three cassava peel processing centers to address this market gap. Continue reading
Sweet success: Sweetpotato (and sweet livestock feed) take the limelight today at Iowa’s World Food Prize ceremony
This project is integrating sweetpotato feed into small-scale pig production systems, demonstrating to Uganda’s smallholder farmers three benefits of sweetpotato silage: increased pig productivity, affordable costs and labour savings. ILRI’s role in this project is to better understand pig feeding practices in Uganda, to investigate options for making sweetpotato silage, and to assess the economic viability of sweetpotato silage as pig feed, including the willingness of Ugandan farmers to pay for the silage. Continue reading
Farmers coping with on-going drought in southern Africa need better weather advice and insurance
A new regional push, focused on promoting four key actions to adapt agriculture and curb growing hunger, could help, Ajayi said. The best ways to assist southern Africa’s farmers, agricultural experts said, are by increasing their access to insurance for crop failure and livestock deaths, and giving them better weather advice via mobile phone. Continue reading
ILRI promotes use of cassava peels as animal feed to DR Congo officials
The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) recently promoted the use of cassava peels as animal feed to senior government officials from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Continue reading
Cassava processors visit ILRI cassava peel processing unit in Nigeria
International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) research in Nigeria has resulted in shorter drying times of cassava peels from 3 days to about six sunshine hours. Two new products (feed ingredients) have been developed and are being standardized. Continue reading
Breeding legumes for livestock feed (biomass) as well as human food (grain)
Cowpea fodder bundles stacked in Niger for livestock feed (photo credit: ILRI). ‘Of the many virtues of grain legumes, one is little recognized. Visitors to the livestock fodder markets of West Africa are always surprised to see groundnut and cowpea haulms (stalks and stems of legume plants) sold at prices that exceed that of cereal … Continue reading
ILRI upgrades its nutrition analysis laboratories in Addis Ababa
On 10 January, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) inaugurated new nutrition laboratories at its Addis Ababa campus. Feed quality is in good hands again. The importance of feed quality Feed quality reflects the ability of a given feed to meet the daily nutrient needs of animals consuming the feed. Tremendous variation exists in nutrient … Continue reading