For the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Oumar Diall, of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), reflects on ILRI’s animal health work in West Africa … In past years, most livestock research centered on three pillars: Animal health, animal reproduction and genetics, and animal nutrition. Fewer … Continue reading
Category Archives: Livestock
Climate change, food security and growth: Ethiopia’s complex relationship with livestock
Brighter Green has just published a study on Ethiopia’s complex relationship with livestock. It uses climate change as entry point to explore the effects of the expansion and intensification of the livestock sector in Ethiopia for the country’s food security, resource use, and issues of equity and sustainability. In this policy brief, Brighter Green questions whether … Continue reading
Water scarcity limits crop-livestock production in the Volta Basin
For the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, Sabine Douxchamps reflects on her livestock-water work in West Africa … Rainwater management strategies (RMS) have been extensively studied and promoted in the Volta Basin during the last decades. However, water scarcity still limits the agricultural production of most of the smallholder crop-livestock farms of the … Continue reading
Building capacities – building bridges
For the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, Purvi Mehta-Bhatt reflects on capacity strengthening at ILRI … ‘ILRI was the only place in Africa, where I could get the international level training in livestock research’; ‘I may now be an African policy maker, but one of the greatest contributing factors to my ability to … Continue reading
Livestock presentations at Asian Society of Agricultural Economics Conference in Hanoi
From 13–15 October 2011, several staff of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) attended the 7th International Conference of the Asian Society of Agricultural Economists, in Hanoi, Vietnam. ILRI organized two parallel sessions: (1) Food safety policy in a developing-country context: Examples from case studies in livestock value chains (2) Assessing the impact of livestock research … Continue reading
Evolution de la recherche en élevage tropical
Dans le cadre du ‘LiveSTOCK Exchange’ organisé par l’ILRI, Mathieu Lesnoff du CIRAD discute des enjeux de la recherche liés à la demande croissante des produits animaux des pays du sud. Par rapport à l’approche « productiviste » classique des années passées (e.g. « une intervention – une réponse sur la production »), trois évolutions … Continue reading
Successful collaboration key to achieve livestock research impact
For the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, CIMMYT’s Bruno Gérard reflects on crop-livestock systems research at ILRI … There has been a long presence of ILRI (then ILCA) in West Africa, focusing both on Sudanian and Sahelian mixed crop livestock systems. A turning point for ILRI research in West Africa was the concentration … Continue reading
Canadian parliamentarians see how markets work for Ethiopian farmers
Members of the Canada-Africa Parliament Association on their visit to Ethiopia (photo credit: ILRI/Zerihun Sewunet). On 10–11 October 2011, six members of the Canada-Africa Parliament Association (4 parliamentarians and 2 senators) visited Ethiopia. At the request of the Canadian Embassy, the CIDA-funded IPMS project at ILRI organized a field visit to Ada’a District—one of the project’s … Continue reading
Fodder adoption to enhance the livelihoods of poor livestock keepers: Lessons from a three-country study
Feed scarcity in smallholder systems is a key constraint to improved livestock production in developing countries. However, development efforts which have taken a narrow technology-focused approach to dealing with feed scarcity have had limited success. The IFAD-supported ‘Fodder Adoption Project’ ran between 2007 and 2010 and aimed to address issues around inadequate livestock fodder at … Continue reading
Innovation platforms as spaces for change and transformation in rural communities
This week’s Rome AgriKnowledge ‘share fair’ included a session on ‘innovation platforms’ as vehicles for rural change. It highlighted some experiences of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), the International Crops Research Institute for the Tropics (ICRISAT), and the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF). The innovation platforms discussed in the session grew … Continue reading