Animal Feeding / Buffalo / Cattle / Crop residues / Crop-Livestock / East Africa / Fodder / ILRI / India / Intensification / South Asia / Tanzania

Dual-purpose groundnut, pigeonpea, millet and sorghum raise milk yields in dairy-intensive India

Groundnuts (photo on Flickr by Stephen Eustace). Jerome Bossuet, of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), based in Pantancheru, India, has an interesting article in the New Agriculturist last month about fodder innovations helping Indian dairy farmers. Feed matters are big matters in this intensive dairy-producing country, because ‘Feed represents around 70 … Continue reading

Africa / Agriculture / Books and chapters / Drought / Food Security / ILRI / Markets / Opinion piece

To market, to market–but where is the market? Jimmy Smith and Namanga Ngongi say agricultural markets could be the engines of Africa’s development

Three diapered goats in the trunk of a car, bought at the local livestock market, await the drive in Mali (photo on Flickr by Romel Jacinto). The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) recently released a book of case studies illustrating ‘high- payoff/low-cost’ initiatives that could help … Continue reading

A4NH / Canada / East Africa / Epidemiology / Event report / Farming Systems / Food Security / Geodata / ICT / Livestock / Poultry / RVF / Seeds / Uganda / Zambia / Zimbabwe

New consortium to investigate environmental changes spreading diseases between animals and people in Africa

Malawi crop-and-livestock farmer (photo credit: ILRI/Susan MacMillan). One of the drivers of disease in Africa, a continent with a particularly heavy disease burden, are environmental changes that help to spread infectious pathogens between animals (both wild and domestic) and people. That is why the start of a new research program, in which the International Livestock … Continue reading

Africa / Directorate / Drylands / Environment / ILRI / Pastoralism / Vulnerability

Livestock herding and resource management: Good (natural, rangeland) bedfellows

Livestock herding in Niger (photo credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann). Pastoralism—herding cattle, sheep, goats and other ruminant animals to find new grazing grounds—should be recognized as a key sector in resource management, said experts meeting at a Brussels Development Briefing on Pastoralism held on 22 Feb 2012. ‘Recurring drought and land disputes have recently placed nomadic pastoralists … Continue reading

CCAFS / Climate Change / Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Food Security / ILRI / Kenya / Opinion piece

Are ILRI warnings of continued maize failure in Kenya’s drylands coming true?

Maize plants in Kenya (photo on Flickr by Vanessa Meadu). ‘There has been a lot of talk, research, and policy documents on climate change and what this portends for the country’s food and even national security. ‘However, not much has been done on the ground to mitigate the effects of climate variability despite the knowledge. … Continue reading

Bangladesh / CCAFS / Climate Change / Geodata / ILRI / India / Pakistan / Report

Climate models need to shift focus from global to regional

(Picture on Flickr by Zoriah.) A new report focusing on eastern and western Africa and the South Asian Indo-Gangetic Plains, which span parts of Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan, on the ability of global climate models to predict regional climate events such as monsoon rains and temperatures—and found mixed results. ‘The models have a reasonable capability in … Continue reading

Africa / Agriculture / Amharic / Capacity Strengthening / East Africa / Ethiopia / Extension / Film and video / Gender / ILRI / IPMS / Women

ጉብኝት ለመልካም ተሞክሮ ከ ሴቶች ጋር [Amharic]

This blog post is in Amharic, if you are seeing boxes download fonts here. ይህ ዶኪመንቴሽን በግብርናው ዘርፍ የሴቶች መብትና ተሳትፎ እንዲሁም ተጠቃሚነት ተግባራዊ ለማድርግ የ IPMS (በኢትዮጵያ ምርታማነትና የገበያ ስኬት ማሻሻያ) ፕሮጄክትን እንቅስቃሴዎች አካቶ ይዟል። IPMS ሴቶችን ከወንዶች እኩል የፕሮጀክቱ ድገፍ ተጠቃሚ በማድረግ የስርዐተ ፆታ እኩልነትን ለማስፈን የበኩሉን አስተዋፆ አድርጓል። ይህ ዶኪመንቴሽን በአደኣ ወረዳ … Continue reading

Animal Breeding / Animal Diseases / Animal Health / BecA / Biodiversity / Chickens / Disease Control / East Africa / Event / Genetics / ILRI / Indigenous Breeds / Kenya / Poultry / Vaccines / Women

Small livestock, big impact

Kenyan geneticist and new PhD Sheila Ommeh (right) works at the Biosciences eastern and central Africa Hub (BecA Hub) and ILRI’s animal health laboratories in Nairobi, Kenya, studying Africa’s native chicken breeds (photo credit: ILRI/Susan MacMillan). ‘Sheila Ommeh, a poultry geneticist at the International Livestock Research Centre in Nairobi, hopes to introduce a disease-resistant chicken … Continue reading

Africa / Agriculture / Amharic / East Africa / Ethiopia / Extension / Film and video / ILRI / IPMS / Value Chains

የፍራፍሬ ልማት በዳሌ ወረዳ [Amharic]

This blog post is in Amharic, if you are seeing boxes download fonts here. ይህ ዶኪመንቴሽን በዳሌ ወረዳ በፍራፍሬ ማዳቀልና የችግኝ አቅርቦት ኤክስቴንሽን ይዞ የቀረበ ነው፡፡ በዳሌ ወረዳ ያሉ አርሶ አደሮችና የወረዳው ግብርና ከመልካሳ የግብርና ምርምር ጣቢያ እና ከ IPMS (በኢትዮጵያ ምርታማነትና የገበያ ስኬት ማሻሻያ) ፕሮጄክት ጋር በመሆን የአቮካዶ፣ የማንጎና ሌሎች የፍራፍሬ ዝርያዎችን ለማልማትና ምርታማነትን … Continue reading

Agriculture / CCAFS / CGIAR / Climate Change / Food Security / Geodata / ILRI / Report / Vulnerability

Worldwatch Institute project highlights CGIAR report on farm regions on collision course with climate change

Mali women collect firewood for cooking on the dry bed of the Niger River (photo on Flickr by United Nations). The Worldwatch Institute’s ‘Nourishing the Planet’ project this week highlights a report illustrating food-insecure regions where climate change is likely to exacerbate hunger and malnutrition. The report was published in 2011 by the International Livestock … Continue reading