Ethiopian livestock-keeping family (photo credit: ILRI/Apollo Habtamu). Dan Murphy, a food industry journalist, has published a commentary on a Pork Network website about a livestock chapter in the State of the World 2011: Innovations That Nourish the Planet, published by the Worldwatch Institute, in the USA. ‘The book aims to provide a blueprint for coping with … Continue reading
Category Archives: Intensification
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)
Pathways for sustainable development of mixed crop-livestock systems in developing countries
On 3 November 2011, Shirley Tarawali presented ILRI work on crop-livestock systems at the Wageningen symposium ‘Assessment for sustainable development of animal production systems.’ Watch the video of her presentation (Tarawali starts 40 minutes into the video) View Tarawali’s presentation: Continue reading
Livestock market opportunities for the poor: Smallholders can be competitive
For the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, Steve Staal, Derek Baker, Karl Rich, Ayele Gelan, Acho Okike, Delia Grace, Mohammad Jabbar, Mohamadou Fadiga, Ranjitha Puskur, Lucy Lapar, Berhanu Gebremedhin, Amos Omore and Francis Wanyoike prepared a series of issue briefs on smallholder livestock producers, consumers, and development … View a presentation to the … Continue reading
Partnerships and participation key to effective research for development
For the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, Bill Thorpe, a former staff member, reflects on the key role of inclusive partnerships… … In his contribution to the ‘LiveSTOCK Exchange’ Tim Williams highlights “the triple challenge of improving food and nutrition security, reducing poverty and enhancing environmental sustainability” (and stresses the need to strengthen … Continue reading
Crop residues in smallholder systems: Pressures and trade-offs
For the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, Alan Duncan, Bruno Gérard, Diego Valbuena, Michael Blümmel, and Shirley Tarawali prepared an issue brief on the contributions of crop residues to mixed crop and livestock systems in developing countries … Contrary to the popular view that cereal crop residues are just a low quality by-product … Continue reading
ILRI – ICRISAT collaborating to meet food and feed security needs
For the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, William Dar, of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), reflects on ILRI-ICRISAT collaboration on crops-livestock integration in mixed systems … When Michael Blümmel and team organized the inauguration of ILRI’s experimental feed processing unit in their field office at ICRISAT headquarters in … Continue reading
Research on smallholder livestock development deserves attention
For the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, Antonio Rota from the International Fund on Agricultural Development (IFAD) reflects on the importance of smallholder livestock to achieving the Millennium Development Goals … The contribution of small dairy production units and small livestock (hereby defined as ‘smallholder livestock’) to the achievement of Millennium Development Goals … Continue reading
The triple challenge facing livestock research for development in Africa
For the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, Tim Williams – Africa Director at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) reflects on ILRI’s livestock work in West Africa … Two key questions Back in 2000, two key questions occupied the minds of those of us who worked on the development of the ILRI’s Strategy–Livestock: … Continue reading
India-developed poultry breed increases incomes in the country’s northeast state of Nagaland
‘A Hyderabad-developed poultry breed has brought about a sea change in the lives of farmers in Mon district of Nagaland. ‘Reduced mortality rates of Vanaraja-bred birds, developed by the project directorate on poultry, Hyderabad, and increased income, has resulted in farmers asking for more supplies of the breed from the Nairobi-headquartered International Livestock Research Institute … Continue reading
Sustainable development of animal production systems: Assessing options and strategies
The July 2011 issue of Livestock Science is a compilation of papers addressing different aspects of the sustainability of animal production systems. According to the editorial introduction, animal production systems are facing large challenges because of their effects on the environment, emerging zoonotic diseases, welfare issues and negative contribution to human health. Unfortunately these negative … Continue reading