Animal Production / Crop residues / Crop-Livestock / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / ILRI / Intensification / Livestock / Opinion piece / Research

ILRI – ICRISAT collaborating to meet food and feed security needs

For the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, William Dar, of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), reflects on ILRI-ICRISAT collaboration on crops-livestock integration in mixed systems … When Michael Blümmel and team organized the inauguration of ILRI’s experimental feed processing unit in their field office at ICRISAT headquarters in … Continue reading

Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Event / Film and video / Food Security / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Pastoralism / Vulnerability

Insuring the never before insured: Kenyan herders get first drought payouts

Sake Dabasso Halake stands proudly in front of Equity Bank‘s Marsabit branch, clutching an envelope of 16,000 Kenya shillings (USD165) that she received as a payout on an insurance policy she earlier took out for her cows; she lost ten cows in a drought just ending that has hurt the livelihoods of thousands of livestock herders … Continue reading

Animal Production / CCAFS / Climate Change / Environment / Ethiopia / ILRI / Livestock / Livestock Systems / Report / Research

Livestock and climate change

For the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, Philip Thornton, Mario Herrero and Polly Ericksen prepared an issue brief on the relations between climate change and livestock systems in developing countries … Livestock systems occupy 45% of the global surface area with a value of at least $1.4 trillion. Livestock industries and value chains … Continue reading

ILRI / Livestock / Livestock-Water / NRM / Opinion piece / Research / Water / WLE

Livestock and ILRI in the CGIAR’s Challenge Program on Water and Food

For the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, Larry Harrington, from the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF), reflects on livestock and ILRI in its programs … The CPWF was formed in the early 2000’s with a programmatic focus on water scarcity, food security and poverty. It finished its first research phase … Continue reading

A4NH / Agri-Health / Animal Diseases / Animal Health / Bird flu / Directorate / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / Epidemiology / Film and video / Human Health / ILRI / Zoonotic Diseases

ILRI scientists put livestock squarely on the (human) health table

For the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, Delia Grace will lead a one-hour session on some of the urgent, complex and fascinating issues at the interface of human and animal health … Watch this 3-minute photofilm with commentary by Delia Grace and small-scale butchers and consumers interviewed along Langata Road in Nairobi, Kenya. Dying … Continue reading

Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Event / Food Security / Geodata / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Pastoralism / Vulnerability

Satellite images trigger insurance payouts to poor livestock herders in Kenya’s northern dryland frontier

Andrew Mude (right), a scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), in Nairobi, Kenya, explains the livestock insurance payouts made last week to resource-poor livestock herders in Kenya’s Marsabit District in the wake of a great drought in the Horn of Africa that dried up the available forage on Marsabit’s rangelands and caused the … Continue reading

Agriculture / Directorate / Film and video / Kenya / Livestock / Livestock Systems / PIM / Policy / Research

Betting on modern sciences and technologies – and a more balanced approach to livestock research for development

For the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, John McDermott, the outgoing deputy director general and director of research, reflects on the evolution of ILRI’s research over the past eight years and the future of livestock research for development. ‘Some of what I’m most pleased about us doing in the past few years is … Continue reading

CCAFS / ILRI / Women

A late (great) start on gender work at the International Livestock Research Institute

For the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, Jemimah Njuki, sociologist and gender specialist at ILRI, reflects on ILRI’s fairly recent jump into gender research . . . How far have we come in integrating gender awareness, principles and ethics at ILRI? The first concerted efforts to look at gender issues in the International … Continue reading

Books and chapters / Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / Environment / Food Security / Geodata / Insurance / Livestock-Water / NRM / Pastoralism / Vulnerability / Water / Wildlife / WLE

Rethinking drylands: Time to unlock their (big, neglected) potential

A herd of livestock near Marsabit town, in Kenya’s remote northern pastoral drylands (image on Flickr by Neil Palmer/CIAT). It’s time to unlock the potential of the world’s drylands, which cover more than one-third of the earth and are home to a third of humanity, half of whom—one billion—live in poverty and hunger. The current famine … Continue reading

Africa / Animal Production / Burkina Faso / Crop-Livestock / Ghana / ILRI / Intensification / Livelihoods / Livestock / Livestock Systems / NRM / Opinion piece / Research / Water / West Africa / WLE

The triple challenge facing livestock research for development in Africa

For the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, Tim Williams – Africa Director at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) reflects on ILRI’s livestock work in West Africa … Two key questions Back in 2000, two key questions occupied the minds of those of us who worked on the development of the ILRI’s Strategy–Livestock: … Continue reading