Shortages in quality animal feed hinder availability of nutritious animal-source foods
Africa / Burkina Faso / Ethiopia / Feeds / FFD / Forages / ILRI / Livelihoods / LIVESTOCKCRP / Scaling

Shortages in quality animal feed hinder availability of nutritious animal-source foods

Driven by population growth, urbanization and rising incomes, demand for livestock products in Africa and Asia may increase by 200% by 2030. Increased availability of milk, meat and eggs offers huge opportunities to meet this demand, improve diets and decrease malnourishment, especially among millions of infants, school-age children and pregnant and lactating women. New livestock-related businesses could also enhance the incomes of poor people and enable them to purchase better food for their families. But the supply of livestock products in many developing countries is constrained by low animal productivity, largely due to shortages of quality animal feed. Continue reading

Green grass and greenhouse gas: Scientists are investigating the links between them
Africa / Animal Feeding / Cattle / Climate Change / Forages / ILRI / Kenya / LIVESTOCKCRP / Mazingira / News clipping

Green grass and greenhouse gas: Scientists are investigating the links between them

A team of researchers at International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) are testing Napier, Rhodes and Brachiaria grasses for cattle feed, and then physically measuring the emissions in a respiration chamber within the institute’s laboratory. Continue reading

Accelerating the development of agricultural value chains in Kenya—AVCD Conference Highlights
Agriculture / Animal Breeding / Animal Feeding / Animal Health / AVCD / Cattle / CGIAR / Climate Change / Crops / Dairying / Disease Control / East Africa / Event report / Extension / Food Security / Forages / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Markets / Nutrition / Policy / SLS / Value Chains

Accelerating the development of agricultural value chains in Kenya—AVCD Conference Highlights

Twitter Moment highlights of the Accelerated Value Chain Development Conference at ILRI on 26–27 Apr 2018. Continue reading

Investigating fodder as a cash crop—a micro-enterprise for Indian dairy women
Animal Feeding / Cattle / FFD / Fodder / Forages / Gender / India / Pro-Poor Livestock / Project / South Asia / Women

Investigating fodder as a cash crop—a micro-enterprise for Indian dairy women

ILRI is working with small-scale women dairy producers who are members of a large women’s dairy cooperative in the semi-arid Telengana state of India—the Mulkanoor Women’s Dairy Cooperative. The are growing sorghum for a cash fodder crop. Continue reading

Is climate change a risk to global grazing lands?
Article / Climate Change / Drought / Drylands / Forages / Pastoralism / Pro-Poor Livestock / Rangelands / Research / Science paper

Is climate change a risk to global grazing lands?

Published by the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota, Environment Reports is a collaboration between an international group of scientists, writers, and designers to combine incisive narratives about environmental challenges, backed up by cutting-edge data. Food Matters, the first report, focuses on the sustainability of our global food system. The article below—Is climate change a risk to global grazing lands?—is reproduced here by permission. Continue reading

Variability in rainfall is increasing on global pastures important for food access and economies—Nature Climate Change
Climate Change / Drought / Drylands / Forages / Pastoralism / Pro-Poor Livestock / Rangelands / Science paper

Variability in rainfall is increasing on global pastures important for food access and economies—Nature Climate Change

We found that areas where livestock grazing is an important part of local food availability (Fig. 3, dark red) and economies (dark blue) experience the highest levels of CVP (coefficient of variation of precipitation). Continue reading

Recent drought-induced livestock losses in East Africa mask deeper problem of animal feed scarcities
Animal Feeding / Brazil / Cattle / Dairying / East Africa / Feeds / Fodder / Forages / Kenya / LIVESTOCKCRP / LIVESTOCKFISH / Opinion piece / Pro-Poor Livestock / Seeds / Southern Africa / Thailand / Zambia

Recent drought-induced livestock losses in East Africa mask deeper problem of animal feed scarcities

The following excerpts are taken from an opinion piece on Brachiaria grass for livestock feed published by An Notenbaert, tropical forages coordinator for Africa at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), and published by Business Daily (Kenya) and the CIAT Blog. Continue reading

Climate-smart Brachiaria grass helps Kenyan farmers withstand global warming effects
Article / BecA / Climate Change / Drylands / East Africa / Fodder / Forages / Kenya / Livestock / Research / Soils

Climate-smart Brachiaria grass helps Kenyan farmers withstand global warming effects

A recent study by the Biosciences eastern and central Africa-International Livestock Research Institute Hub (BecA-ILRI Hub) and the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) shows that farmers in semi-arid region of Kenya could stall the adverse effects of climate change on their farms by planting drought-tolerant Brachiaria grass. Continue reading