Category Archives: ILRI

Africa / Agriculture / Animal Production / Ethiopia / ILRI / IPMS / Livestock / Markets

Commercialization of smallholders: Does market orientation translate into market participation?

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This working paper by Berhanu Gebremedhin and Moti Jaleta on Commercialization of smallholders: Does market orientation translate into market participation? was released on 15 December, 2010. It makes little distinction between market orientation (production decision based on market signals) and market participation (sale of output).  It analyses the determinants of market orientation and market participation … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Diseases / Disease Control / East Africa / ILRI / Kenya / Knowledge and Information / Livestock / RVF / Tanzania

Traditional knowledge key to managing Rift Valley fever

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By assessing key risk factors and symptoms, such as an increase in rainfall and high abortion rates, Somali and Maasai herders accurately predicted the outbreak of Rift Valley fever in 2006/07 long before veterinary and public health interventions began, researchers have discovered. “Timely outbreak response requires effective early warning and surveillance systems,” say authors of … Continue reading →

Agriculture / Drought / East Africa / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Rwanda

Index insurance pushes farmers closer to cover

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The development of the financial services sector is emerging as potential boon to agriculture in East Africa, with up to 40,000 farmers in Kenya and Rwanda set to gain from a new insurance scheme targeting losses to bad weather. The scheme comes at a time when Kenya is recovering from a prolonged drought in 2009 … Continue reading →

Agriculture / East Africa / Genetics / ILRI / Kenya / Livestock / Research / USA

Now men can make babies without women

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Now men may be able to make babies without women, through a technology that could for the first time allow same sex couples to have their own genetic children. In a technology developed to help in preserving endangered species and improving livestock breeds, scientists have, for the first time, developed an offspring from two males. … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Products / Dairying / East Africa / ICT / Kenya / Knowledge and Information / Livestock / Value Chains

Kenya dairy farming set to go high tech

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The local dairy industry is set for a major revolution with the planned migration of services to a single digital platform next week. This will put Kenya among few countries with a digitalised dairy value-chain globally, according to the Kenya Dairy Board managing director Machira Gichohi. Various new technologies covering the entire dairy value chain … Continue reading →

Animal Production / Asia / Capacity Strengthening / CapDev / ILRI / Livestock / Research / South Asia

Status of postgraduate training in the livestock sector in South Asia and priorities for ILRI’s support

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This Status Report on the status of postgraduate training in the livestock sector in South Asia and priorities for ILRI’s support was released on 15 September, 2010. In order to establish the priorities for collaborative capacity strengthening activities of the learning institutes in the areas of animal production and veterinary services, ILRI commissioned five studies … Continue reading →

Animal Production / Crop-Livestock / ILRI / Livestock Systems / Livestock-Water

International Symposium on Sustainable Animal Production in the Tropics–ILRI papers

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The November 2010 issue of Advances in Animal Biosciences contains papers from the ‘International Symposium on Sustainable Animal Production in the Tropics: Farming in a Changing World,’ held in Guadeloupe 15-18 November 2010. Five papers are included from ILRI authors: Mario Herrero and Philip K. Thornton: Mixed crop livestock systems in the developing world: present … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Production / Ethiopia / ILRI / Indigenous Breeds / IPMS / Livestock / Markets / Poultry

Indigenous chicken production and marketing systems in Ethiopia

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This working paper by Fisseha Moges, Azage Tegegne and Tadelle Dessie on Indigenous chicken production and marketing systems in Ethiopia: Characteristics and opportunities for market-oriented development was released on 2 December, 2010. This working paper presents a synthesis of research findings undertaken in three woredas or districts  in Ethiopia. These woredas are Pilot Learning Woredas … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Climate Change / Directorate / ILRI

How Africa can adapt to climate change – ILRI Director General Carlos Seré interviewed on VOA

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In this short (4 minutes 30 seconds) audio interview, the director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Carlos Seré, speaks on why Africa must, and how it can, adapt to climate change. Listen to the podcast Seré says Africa must learn to adapt to shorter growing seasons following findings of a new ILRI study … Continue reading →

Africa / Climate Change / Food Security / ILRI

Challenges and potential for food security in Africa

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Livestocks such as goats illustrate the complex vulnerabilities of farmers’ incomes during climate crises. Family farmers and their children are especially vulnerable to hunger (photo credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann). As of September 2010, there were 925 million people in the world going hungry, and 98% of them lived in developing countries. Chronic deficiencies of carbohydrates, proteins and … Continue reading →