It’s all about the customer right now. The insurance sector is grappling with the same sorts of cost pressures evident in other industries, and “outsourcing is a trend” among most players, says Haydn Pinnell, MD of Gallium. …The insurance sector in Africa only represented about 1.3 percent of the global insurance business in 2007, according to … Continue reading
Category Archives: Livestock
Africa / Animal Health / East Africa / Livestock / Uganda
Uganda: Transfer of vets to NAADS irks association
THE Uganda Veterinary Association has criticised the Government’s decision to transfer agricultural extension staff at sub-counties to the National Agriculture Advisory Services programme. Read more … (New Vision) Continue reading
Animal Breeding / Asia / Biodiversity / India / Indigenous Breeds / Livestock / South Asia
Biocultural protocols: empowering stewards of livestock diversity
Herders of camels, cattle, sheep and goats, the Raika pastoralists of North West India have an interesting account of their origins: created by Lord Shiva from the skin and sweat of the camel, they were charged with controlling the beast, whose stubborn behaviour was becoming a nuisance. But Raika guardianship extends beyond their livestock. In … Continue reading
Livestock, feed and food security
Tara Garnett of the FCRN examines “some of the arguments surrounding the relationship between what we feed and how we rear farm animals, and the availability and accessibility of food for human consumption. Does livestock production foster or hinder food security? In what ways are the contributions of intensive and extensive systems to food security … Continue reading
Smallholder farmers hold the key to global food security
Sustainably increasing production in mixed crop-livestock systems is essential to ensure food security, write M. Herrero and colleagues in Science. Mixed crop-livestock systems are home to two-thirds of the global population and produce almost half the world’s cereals and most of the staple crops, meat and milk consumed by poor people. But to cope with … Continue reading
Africa / Animal Feeding / Animal Products / Dairying / East Africa / Fodder / Kenya / Livestock
Fodder shrubs deliver dairy success in Kenya
In this pictorial essay, 10 farmers in Kenya explain how fodder shrubs have increased their incomes and enabled them to diversify their livelihoods. In addition to better earnings and increased milk production, fodder shrubs have helped to increase the confidence and status of women. Read more … (New Agriculturist) Continue reading
Non-market values of cattle ‘crucial’ to smallholder dairy farmers in Zimbabwe
When the smallholder dairy farmer looks at a cow, he sees more than just a simple economic asset whose value is reckoned in terms of the milk it produces. What he sees is an asset endowed with an assortment of attributes ranging from the production of milk, manure to fertilize crops, insurance against unforeseen contingencies … Continue reading
Africa / Animal Feeding / Dairying / Feeds / Livestock / South Africa
Feedlots can be environmentally friendly
Koos Coetzee of South Africa’s Milk Producers’ Organisation argues that intensive livestock-production systems can be sustainable for people and the environment. He argues: “It’s erroneously believed that low-input production systems hold the key to sustainable dairy production” “We need efficient high-input production systems that use technology to produce enough food for our growing population. Farmers … Continue reading
Drought / East Africa / ILRI / Innovation Systems / Insurance / Kenya / Livestock
Innovative livestock insurance program launched in Kenya
In the arid, dusty Marsabit region of northern Kenya, most people rely on livestock — for food, milk and income — to survive. So when a drought hits the already desertlike area and plants and animals begin to die, the entire population is at risk of famine. And because northern Kenya experiences drought about every … Continue reading
Cell phones and cattle: Mobile phones in agriculture
This thesis examines the impact of mobile telephony on productivity in developing nations. Previous studies have suggested that mobile phones have real impacts on economic outcomes in these countries. Using micro-data from Swaziland, Cambodia, and Honduras, this study looks to identify the effects of mobile phone ownership on household productive outcomes in a two-stage regression. … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 