Category Archives: Africa

Africa / Agriculture / East Africa / Ethiopia / ILRI / IPMS / Knowledge and Information / Participation

IPMS – Farm Radio Participatory Agricultural Radio Series in Ethiopia: Sidama

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In 2011, Farm Radio international conducted a Participatory Agricultural Radio Series (PARS) related to two of the commodity value chains of the Improving Productivity and Marketing Success (IPMS) project of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). The series focused on apiculture in the Tigray region and fruit tree production in Sidama region. The PARS was implemented … Continue reading →

A4NH / Africa / Agri-Health / Animal Diseases / Emerging Diseases / Environment / Epidemiology / Human Health / ILRI / Kenya / Opinion piece / RVF / Zoonotic Diseases

Animal-to-human diseases spreading with environmental changes–ILRI’s Delia Grace in The Guardian

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Villagers watch on as a team restrains a small pig for blood sampling in Luang Prabang, Laos (photo credit: ILRI/Kate Blaszak). Delia Grace, an Irish veterinary epidemiologist and public health expert at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), says shifts in forest cover, agricultural practices, mining and reservoirs are thought to be affecting the transmission … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Production / Asia / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / Event / Goats / ILRI / India / Innovation Systems / Knowledge and Information / Livestock / Mozambique / South Asia / Southern Africa

Innovation platforms: Documenting experiences from the imGoats project and beyond

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Innovation platforms are a complex and some would say a not-so-straightforward approach. Nevertheless, ILRI, other CGIAR centers and other partners are using this approach in various projects such as the Nile Basin Development Challenge, IMGoats and the recently-completed Fodder Adoption and Fodder Innovation projects. What are innovation platforms exactly? This poster gives some ideas.   … Continue reading →

Africa / Australia / BecA / ILRI / Research

Africa Food Security Initiative – update on an Australia-Africa partnership at the BecA Hub

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To foster a long-term sustainable improvement in African food security, the Australian government has increased its investment into Africa via the Africa Food Security Initiative (AFSI). One of the AFSI partnerships is between the Biosciences eastern and central Africa Hub (BecA) Hub and  the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). The latest program update … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Event / Livestock Systems / Research / Southern Africa

CGIAR Drylands Research Program sets directions for East and Southern Africa

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This week in Nairobi, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) hosts a ‘Regional Inception Workshop’ of the CGIAR Research Program ‘Integrated and Sustainable Agricultural Production Systems for Improved Food Security and Livelihoods in Dry Areas.’ The program is led by the International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA). The dry areas of the … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Diseases / ASF / Asia / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / Europe / Event / ILRI / North America / Pigs / Vaccines

African swine fever is growing threat to poor and rich countries alike

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Participants of an African swine fever workshop held in July 2011 at ILRI’s Nairobi headquarters: (From left) Raymond Rowland (Kansas State University), David Odongo (ILRI), Richard Bishop (ILRI), Maria-Jesus Munoz (Centro de Investigación en Sanidad Animal-Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agrarias) and Jose-Manuel Vizcaino (head of the World Animal Health Organisation’s African Swine Fever World Reference … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Diseases / Article / Cattle / CBPP / Genetics / Geodata / Goats / ILRI

Lethal family tree: ILRI research shows livestock bacterium is as old as the livestock it kills

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Aurochs were the ancestors of domestic cattle (photo on Flickr by Marcus Sümnick). Lucas Brouwers, in a blog on Scientific American, has picked up on an interesting genetics study conducted at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), in Nairobi, Kenya, which targets a cattle disease known as contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (or CBPP for short). The study … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Production / Climate Change / Drought / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Environment / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Livestock / Pastoralism / Project / Research

Coping with drought: Assessing the impacts of livestock insurance in Kenya

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In January 2010 the index-based livestock insurance (IBLI) pilot project was launched in Marsabit District of northern Kenya as an effort to help pastoralists manage drought risk, and its pernicious ex ante and ex post effects. A Brief from the I4 Index Insurance Innovation Initiative reports results based on the impact of insurance on households’ … Continue reading →

Africa / BecA / Cameroon / Congo-DR / Food Security / ILRI / Nutrition / South America / Tanzania

Guinea pigs for African tables? A ‘Cavy Innovation Platform’ is set up in Cameroon

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Cavies (aka guinea pigs) in a special pig pantry off the side of a kitchen in Peru (photo on Flickr by Emile Hardman/QuintanaRoo). Could guinea pigs be a new protein source in Africa? In a special report  on ‘Solutions for a hungry world’ by AlertNet, Emma Batha describes how the raising of guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus), also called … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Books and chapters / Innovation Systems / Research

Agricultural innovation platforms – reaching out to more stakeholders

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“By joining forces in innovation platforms, stakeholders can generate innovation by combining their indigenous knowledge, business interests and organisational skills” – Monty Jones of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa introduces a new book by the Royal Tropical Institute ‘Putting heads together: Agricultural Innovation platforms in practice.’ “This book is based on the premise … Continue reading →