Under Sustainable intensification in smallholder crop/livestock systems, we work to improve system efficiency through better feed quality, health and animal performance – in a context of increasing competition for land and other resources (eg biofuels)
While the world’s attention is focused on controlling COVID-19, evidence points at the biodiversity crisis as a leading factor in its emergence. At first glance, the two issues might seem unrelated, but disease outbreaks and degraded ecosystems are deeply connected. Continue reading
Mario Herrero, a scientist formerly with ILRI and now serving as chief research scientist of agriculture and food at Australia’s CSIRO, recently gave a seminar at the University of Edinburgh’s Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies. The title of Herrero’s 19 Sep 2019 seminar was ‘Can we feed the planet and stay within planetary boundaries’. He focused on the EAT-Lancet Report on healthy diets (Commission Food in The Anthropocene: The EAT-Lancet Commission on Healthy Diets From Sustainable Food Systems, 16 Jan 2019), to which he contributed, along with 36 other experts. Continue reading
Kenya’s livestock sector is primed to grow exponentially over the next three decades and anchor the country’s food sufficiency amid a rapid rise in the human population, a new survey showed. Continue reading
The Economist reports that the future of food lies in Africa. And why that’s a good thing. As Africans get richer, they will eat more meat and live longer, healthier lives. Continue reading
New findings suggest that more intensive agriculture might be the “least bad” option for feeding the world while saving its species—provided use of such “land-efficient” systems prevents further conversion of wilderness to farmland. Continue reading
Bihar is gearing up for a ‘livestock master plan’ being prepared for it by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). ‘It is almost ready and ILRI experts will present its draft to the government here on July 4. The master plan, which will be for a 15–year period, will emphasise on various steps to give a push to dairy, goat-rearing, poultry, piggery and other allied sectors with an aim to improving food security and reducing poverty through better and more sustainable use of livestock. Continue reading
A new report from Africa RISING—Footprints of Africa RISING Phase I (2011–2016)—summarizes the achievements of the project’s first phase. Continue reading
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
The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) recently launched a National Learning Alliance (NLA) aiming at developing equitable Sustainable Agricultural Intensification (SAI) in Ethiopia. Continue reading
with a growing number of firms gobbling up arable land in Africa—not solely for crop production but also for livestock and cattle—investment shops are slowly redirecting capital to this agricultural subsector. Investing in this segment of African economies can be transformative, as a significant portion of African wealth and growth opportunity is walking on four legs on the African continent. Continue reading
