Feeds / Forages / Goats / Markets / Small Ruminants / Southern Africa / Value Chains / Zimbabwe

Small stock connections lead to better business for goat keepers in Zimbabwe

Feed is scarce for livestock in the dry season, farmers can lose up to 30% of their herds in these three months (photo on Flickr by ICRISAT/Swathi Sridharan). Willie Dar, director general of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), highlights the success of taking a ‘value chain’ approach to improving goat … Continue reading

Agriculture / Animal Production / Capacity Strengthening / Crop-Livestock / East Africa / Ethiopia / Event / Extension / HUMIDTROPICS / Innovation Systems / Intensification / IPMS / Livestock / LIVESTOCKFISH / Markets / Research / Value Chains

Commodities, innovation and action research in Ethiopia: Livestock live talk at ILRI on 27 March 2013

The Improving Productivity and Market Success (IPMS) of Ethiopian Farmers project is coming to an end. IPMS aimed to transform agricultural productivity and rural development in Ethiopia through market-oriented agricultural development. Project staff worked with the Ethiopian Government to try new and innovative approaches and technologies. The team worked to achieve this objective through four main … Continue reading

Dairying / East Africa / ILRI / Launch / LIVESTOCKFISH / Markets / Project / Tanzania / Value Chains

Dairy market hubs giving Tanzanian farmers better access to services given funding boost

Irish Minister of State for Trade and Development, Joe Costello, signs the guest book at the MoreMikIT office launch in Morogoro, Tanzania, 12 Mar 2013; witnessing the event are ILRI’s Amos Omore and Stuart Worsley (second and third from left) (photo credit: ILRI/Amos Omore). ‘Ireland’s minister of state for Development and Trade Joe Costello earlier this … Continue reading

Africa / Agriculture / ILRI / Markets / Report

Africa’s food market could reach trillion dollars by 2030–World Bank

The Butcher Shop by Ferdnand Leger, 1921 (via WikiPaintings). ‘A World Bank report launched last week has suggested that Africa’s farmers and agribusinesses could create a trillion-dollar food market by 2030. ‘However, the pre-condition for such a development would be for agri-business SMEs to expand their access to more capital, electricity, better technology and irrigated … Continue reading

Animal Production / Animal Products / Buffalo / ILRI / India / Markets / South Asia / Value Chains

Small-scale buffalo-keeping in India goes big time–With exports a quarter of world’s beef market

Buffalo in a village homestead in the Himalayan foothills of northern India (photo credit: ILRI/Susan MacMillan). ‘Alas for the sacred cow: Beef exports from India are expected to surge 30 per cent this year, giving this country a quarter of the world market. ‘This is a good-news story in a lurching economy. Livestock industries, from eggs … Continue reading

Event report / ILRI / Livestock / Markets / PIM / Research / Value Chains

CTA ‘Making the Connection Conference’: Lessons for livestock value chains in developing countries

The Niamana Livestock Market in Bamako, the largest in Mali (photo credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann). This post is written by Jo Cadilhon, an agro-economist in ILRI’s Changing Demand and Market Institutions team. It’s been three weeks now since I attended the conference on Making the connection: Value chains for transforming smallholder agriculture organized by CTA in … Continue reading

Dairying / East Africa / ILRI / IPMS / Markets / Value Chains

Dairy value chains in Ethiopia: First-hand experience–what works and doesn’t–gained in field tours

On 9 November 2012, a group of value chain practitioners, consultants, advisors and professionals visited one of the dairy value chain sites of the Improving Productivity and Market Success of Ethiopian Farmers Project (IPMS) in Ada District, Ethiopia. The group comprised participants of an international conference on Making Connections: Value chains for transforming smallholder agriculture. The … Continue reading

Crop-Livestock / Directorate / Event / ILRI / India / Markets / PPR / South Asia

Lessons from India’s smallholder dairy successes can help developing world–ILRI’s Jimmy Smith

On 4 Nov 2012, an ILRI delegation of 28 visited the village of Araipura, in the Karnal District in the Indian state of Haryana, where they held discussions with dairy farm families. The ILRI management team and board of trustees also visited the National Dairy Research Institute. (Photo credit: ILRI) ‘Operation Flood in Gujarat is … Continue reading

Africa / Agriculture / Dairying / East Africa / Ethiopia / IPMS / Markets / Participation / Value Chains

Participatory smallholder dairy value chain development in Ethiopia

This case study on Participatory smallholder dairy value chain development in Fogera woreda, Ethiopia: Experiences from IPMS project interventions by Tilahun Gebey, Tesfaye Lemma, Dirk Hoekstra, Azage Tegegne and Bogale Alemu was released by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in July 2012. Market-oriented smallholder dairy in Fogera has an opportunity for growth because of … Continue reading

Dairying / East Africa / ILRI / LIVESTOCKFISH / Markets / PIM / Presentation / Tanzania / Uganda / Value Chains

Interpreting trader networks as value chains: Experience with Business Development Services in smallholder dairy in Tanzania and Uganda

Today in Nairobi, Derek Baker, Amos Omore and David Guillemois reported on a project to analyze the impact of business development services. It took a preliminary look at the use of network approaches to trade in smallholder livestock systems, and some initial results using data collected in Uganda and Tanzania. View the presentation: Continue reading