In Kenya, low prices offered by the formal milk marketing channels are forcing farmers countrywide to seek alternatives to get better deals. Milk hawkers have continued to thrive even as restrictions are put on their way as concerns heighten over hygiene standards. Every morning more than 40,000 milk hawkers are out on their bicycles, motorcycles … Continue reading
A dairy cow on one of Kenya’s many smallholder farms consumes maize stover, an important supplementary feed in East Africa (photo credit: ILRI). Apropos the recently concluded AgKnowledge Africa Share Fair, held at the Addis Ababa campus of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), which highlighted local innovations and how to share them, is this … Continue reading
Boy in smallholder Kenyan dairy household drinking milk (credit: ILRI). ‘The Kenya dairy industry is making a turnover of over Ksh.17 billion (US$230 million), following a policy change six years ago. ‘A new report by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) suggests that the liberalization of informal milk markets has producers, vendors and consumers reaping … Continue reading
Baoshan Community Dairy Feeding Centre, Weishan County, Yunnan Province, China (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). ‘Forget all the tacky jokes about cow flatulence causing climate change. A new study reports that the dairy industry is responsible for only about 2.0 percent of all US greenhouse gas emissions. ‘The study, led by the University of Arkansas in association … Continue reading
Since 2003, the Pro-Poor Livestock Policy Initiative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the International Farm Comparison Network have been compiling and analyzing information on dairy sector development and dairy household economics over a wide range of countries across the globe. This book brings these studies together and provides a … Continue reading
Changing tropical farming methods could cut emissions of methane and carbon dioxide by up to 417 Mt of carbon dioxide-equivalent by 2030, around 12% of livestock-related worldwide emissions of the greenhouse gases. That’s according to a team from Copenhagen and Kenya, who believe that the most likely levels of emissions cuts could be worth $1.3 … Continue reading
Insuring livestock against risks and uncertainties is the only way that will boost Malawi’s dairy farming. Nico General Insurance, Marketing Manager Mr. Harry Mhone said this Tuesday when Land O’Lakes handed over a milk cooling tank for farmers in Mzuzu. The beneficiaries, Kapacha Milk Bulking Group, will use the tank to store milk before and … Continue reading
European Union health regulators in July cleared the United Arab Emirates to become the first major exporter of camel milk products to the 27-nation bloc. If onsite inspections and other EU tests pass muster, the first batches of powdered camel milk could be heading to European shelves next year — and at some point possibly … Continue reading
More than 115 million Bangladeshis live in rural villages. Those villagers don’t have much, but many do own a cow. In fact, Bangladesh has the third-largest cattle population in Asia (and the 12th-largest in the world). In theory, those bovines were the most valuable and profitable asset that poor Bangladeshis owned. The problem was that … Continue reading
The Right to Food Act, when it is implemented, may not ensure that people get a proper meal every day. For even if it manages to provide subsidised grain, dairy farmers would still find it hard to keep themselves and their cattle alive. A milch animal is often the only source of income in a … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 