Category Archives: CRPs

CGIAR Research Programs

Animal Production / Article / CCAFS / Climate Change / Environment / Geodata / ILRI / ILRIComms / Intensification / Livestock Systems / Policy / SLS

Research shows vast differences in livestock systems, diets and emissions–FCRN on PNAS paper

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Tara Garnet, of the Food Climate Research Network (FCRN), at Oxford University, recently highlighted a paper published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The paper, Biomass use, production, feed efficiencies, and greenhouse gas emissions from global livestock systems, is written by livestock scientists at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI, Kenya) and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO, Australia). Continue reading →

Asia / HUMIDTROPICS / Markets / PIL / Southeast Asia / Value Chains / Vietnam

Linking smallholder farmers to markets in Northwest Vietnam

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A value chain assessment on four agricultural products in Son La Province of Vietnam provides insights into business models linking smallholder farmers to dynamic markets. These are helping us suggest future Humidtropics research-for-development interventions on policies, institutions and markets. Continue reading →

Australia / Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Event / ILRI / ILRIComms / Insurance / Kenya / Launch / Pastoralism / PIL / UK / USA

Shelter from the storm (literally): As remote herders get drought-related insurance payments, the heaven’s open

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Livestock market in Wajir, where Kenya’s remote, never-before-insured livestock herders are getting their first protection from drought (photo credit: ILRI/Riccardo Gangale). ‘It was almost inevitable that the day chosen to make the first drought insurance payments in Wajir, in the arid north-east of Kenya, would be the same day the rains came. ‘Herders who lost sheep, cattle … Continue reading →

A4NH / East Africa / Feeds / Finland / Food Safety / FSZ / Human Health / ILRI / ILRIComms / Kenya / Project

Kenya is hotspot for alfatoxin-related deaths–Report

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‘The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) has commissioned a research project that will ascertain the levels of aflatoxins in the milk consumed in Kenya. ‘Kenyans consume more than 145 litres of milk per person annually increasing the risks associated with milk-related aflatoxins. Because of the higher milk consumption, especially by young children, pregnant and nursing … Continue reading →

Australia / Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Event / ILRI / ILRIComms / Insurance / Kenya / Launch / Pastoralism / PIL / UK

Africa’s first Islamic insurance for herders

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Hassan Bashir is an astute entrepreneur, developing Africa’s first livestock insurance scheme to make payouts compliant with Islamic law, by bringing together Muslim scholars and number-crunching agricultural experts using NASA weather satellites. Continue reading →

A4NH / Agri-Health / Emerging Diseases / RVF / Zoonotic Diseases

HEALTHY FUTURES project benefits from valuable inputs from stakeholders

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ILRI recently hosted a stakeholder meeting for the HEALTHY FUTURES project that aims to assist in mitigating the risk of outbreaks and transmission of three water-related vector-borne diseases (VBDs) in eastern Africa: malaria, schistosomiasis and Rift Valley fever (RVF). Continue reading →

A4NH / Agri-Health / Animal Feeding / Animal Health / Animal Products / BecA / Burkina Faso / CGIAR / Dairying / Disease Control / Epidemiology / Film and video / Food Safety / FSZ / Ghana / Human Health / ILRI / ILRIComms / Kenya / Launch / Mali / Nigeria / Project / Senegal / Tanzania

Aflatoxins: New briefs disclose the threat to people and livestock and what research is doing about it

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A damaged maize cob that, if harvested with clean cobs, can contaminate all the cobs with aflatoxins (photo credit: Joseph Atehnkeng/IITA). ‘The UN World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that billions of people in the developing world are chronically exposed to aflatoxin, a natural poison on food crops which causes cancer, impairs the immune system, inhibits … Continue reading →

A4NH / ASSP / East Africa / Food Safety / FSZ / ILRI / ILRIComms / LIVESTOCKFISH / Pigs / Uganda / Value Chains

Uganda: Where a pig in the backyard is a piggybank for one million households–and rising

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Uganda is the leading consumer of pork in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). Over 2.3 million pigs are kept by one million households in Uganda for consumption, says the institute which further indicates that the majority of pigs are kept by women in smallholder households. Continue reading →

Agriculture / Animal Feeding / Cattle / CCAFS / Climate Change / ILRI / Livestock / Pastoralism / SLS

Supporting agropastoralists to adapt to climate change in West and Southern Africa

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The world’s climate is changing rapidly and Africa will be severely affected by this, not only because of the effects on ecosystems but also because of the low adaptive capacity of communities due to poverty and lack of infrastructure, services, and appropriate policies to support adaptation strategies. A large share of Africa’s poor are dependent … Continue reading →

CCAFS / Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Event / ILRI / ILRIComms / Insurance / Kenya / Launch / Pastoralism / PIL

Takaful, ILRI payout ‘sharia-compliant’ insurance to drought-suffering livestock herders in Wajir

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Shamsa Kosar, a beneficiary of Takaful livestock insurance payouts made in Wajir, northern Kenya, in March 2014. This novel insurance was made possible by an ILRI index-based livestock insurance research project in northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia (photo credit: ILRI/Riccardo Gangale). ‘Takaful Insurance will pay livestock farmers about Sh500,000 for losses incurred during the December … Continue reading →