Category Archives: Africa

Africa / Agriculture / Crop-Livestock / East Africa / Ethiopia / ILRI / IPMS / Livestock / Livestock Systems / Markets / Report / Research

Interdependence of smallholders’ net market positions in crop and livestock markets: Evidence from Ethiopia

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A working paper by Moti Jaleta and Berhanu Gebremedhin on ‘Interdependence of smallholders’ net market positions in crop and livestock markets: Evidence from Ethiopia was released on 12 April 2011. Using simultaneous-equation models, this paper examines whether there is interdependence between smallholders’ net market positions in crop and live animal markets under mixed crop-and-livestock production systems. Data … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Diseases / Buffalo / Cattle / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / Livestock / Wildlife

FAO hosts meeting on buffalo and livestock diseases in Africa

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In June 2011, the European Commission for the Control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (EuFMD) hosted a meeting on buffalo in Africa. Presentations from the meeting are online, and include: Mapping African buffalo distributions, in relation to livestock disease risk Ecology and social organization of forest buffalo Spatiotemporal dynamics of forage and water resources shape space use … Continue reading →

Africa / East Africa / Film and video / ILRI / Knowledge and Information / Livestock / Niger / PIM / Policy / Project / Research / Tanzania / Uganda / West Africa

Improving livestock data in Africa–Policy perspectives

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The ‘Livestock Data Innovation Project’ is a three-year project to pilot and develop ways to identify, collect and analyze livestock data in three countries: Uganda, Tanzania and Niger. In its second year, representatives of several partners in the organization share their video perspectives on livestock data and its management. Here Kristin Grote from the Bill … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Diseases / Article / Biotechnology / Cattle / Disease Control / Film and video / Genetics / ILRI / Zoonotic Diseases

Livestock genes identified to unlock protection from animal plagues

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West Africa’s ancient (humpless) N’Dama cattle (white) are genetically resistant to the disease trypanosomosis while East Africa’s Improved Boran (humped) cattle are susceptible to this tsetse-transmitted disease (photo credit ILRI/Elsworth). Xinhuanet, the Chinese Xinhua News Agency online service, reports on an international research team that used a new combination of approaches to find two genes … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Feeding / Dairying / Ethiopia / Livestock / Markets

Feed- and dairy-processing plants to improve food security in Ethiopia

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As part of the Feed Enhancement for Ethiopian Development (FEED) project, ACDI/VOCA reports that Ethiopian cooperatives and consumers are fighting food insecurity and benefiting from new feed and dairy plants. In the project, ACDI/VOCA partnered with the Selale Dairy Producers Cooperative Union to make investments in local agricultural production to fill market gaps and improve … Continue reading →

A4NH / Africa / Agri-Health / Animal Diseases / Article / Cattle / Disease Control / Genetics / Human Health / ILRI / Indigenous Breeds

An African cattle disease, disease-resistant cow and disease control solution

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The tsetse fly, which spreads the livestock disease trypanosomosis (photo credit: ILRI/Elsworth). Aid Netherlands has picked up news of a paper published last month in a leading scientific journal about a breakthrough in determining the genes responsible for controlling a tsetse fly-transmitted disease of livestock that has devastated Africa, and held back farming on the … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / CCAFS / CGIAR / Climate Change / Event report / Food Security / Geodata / ILRI / Livelihoods / Report / Vulnerability

Climate change could devastate lives and livelihoods strongly linked to crop and livestock yields–Polly Ericksen

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ILRI scientist Polly Ericksen says that areas that will be hit hardest by climate change are areas where farmers are already struggling due to new weather patterns (image credit: ILRI/Anita Ghosh). Julio Godoy reported yesterday in Inter Press Service Africa (IPS) on the climate change meeting in Bonn, saying that climate change is putting African … Continue reading →

Africa / Biodiversity / Botswana / East Africa / Environment / ILRI / Kenya / Report / Southern Africa / Wildlife

Wildlife populations reported to be crashing in Africa’s renowned Mara and Okavango wildlife refuges

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The African Cape buffalo (photo credit: ILRI/Elsworth). Is conservation of wild mammals and their environments in Africa at a crisis point? Are wildlife populations “crashing” in Africa’s most renowned wildlife reserves? Two new reports suggest that may be the case. The following was reported in the Guardian today. ‘The Okavango delta in Botswana has suffered … Continue reading →

Africa / Asia / Books and chapters / Caribbean / CCAFS / Crop-Livestock / ILRI / Impact Assessment / Innovation Systems / Knowledge and Information / Latin America / Livestock Systems / PIM / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock / Research / Staff

HOW livestock researchers do science, and with WHOM, determines WHAT their science achieves

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Agricultural economist and livestock and climate specialist Patti Kristjanson argues for innovation in livestock-research-for development; the image is ‘My mind-map from Thore & Andy’s “Research Impact” workshop at MSRC’ (image credit: dumbledad’s Flickr photostream). How livestock researchers engage with partners, and how they do and communicate their science, matter even more in developing countries than they do … Continue reading →

Africa / Asia / Caribbean / Impact Assessment / Latin America / Research / USA

Signs of an American shift from development aid to development investment

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Agriculture and Rural Development Day 2010, a side event at the COP16 climate change conference in Cancun, Mexico (photo credit: Neil Palmer/CIAT). Huffpost Business this week investigates ‘an intriguing dynamic developing in our nation’s capital among the three major influences that could end up changing the future of American aid to developing countries. ‘One is … Continue reading →