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
Category Archives: Forages
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
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
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?
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
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
Sunn hemp enhances crop and livestock yields in Zimbabwe
An online article in Africa Business Magazine explains how Zimbabwe’s small-scale mixed crop-livestock farmers are benefiting from cultivating sunn hemp. Continue reading
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
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
Guide to haymaking using tropical grasses and legumes
A new extension brief by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) explains the principles of haymaking using tropical grasses and legumes. Continue reading