A new report from ILRI and IIED reviews the effectiveness of training and certification schemes designed to give small-scale ‘informal’ sellers of ‘raw’ and/or boiled or informally pasteurized milk and (in India) milk sweets greater market access in East Africa and South Asia. The report reviews such schemes in Kenya and Tanzania and in the state of Assam, in northwestern India. In all three countries, the informal sector dominates dairy marketing and trade and informal milk production and trade contribute significantly to the employment, livelihoods and nutrition of many millions of poor people. Continue reading
Category Archives: East Africa
ILRI’s Kapiti Research Station to serve as conservancy and critical wildlife corridor for Nairobi National Park
ILRI and Swara Plains Conservancy declare their 32,000 and 15,000 acres of rangeland, respectively, in Kenya for wildlife conservation. Continue reading
The geometry of disease: A longitudinal calf cohort study in Kenya has yielded a unique database and biorepository
The IDEAL project, first attempt to study the complete pathogen landscape of any species, has generated a unique dataset and biorepository for researchers of infectious diseases of cattle in East Africa. Continue reading
Do Kenya’s camel handlers face a threat from MERS? What we found
In Kenya, camels are a very popular animal to keep as livestock. There’s value in their meat and milk products and as a result, there are now over three million camels in the country. But there is a danger that the people who come into contact with camels, and their products, face getting the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). MERS is a disease in people caused by a coronavirus (MERS-CoV) which was first identified in Saudia Arabia in 2012. Continue reading
CGIAR and Somali officials and donors come together at ICRAF to support agricultural development in Somalia
With livestock and cropping the backbone of the country, leaders from 11 of the 15 CGIAR centres met with Somali officials last month at ICRAF to map ways that CGIAR dryland agricultural research could accelerate and enhance Somalia’s development. Continue reading
Don’t believe the scare stories, Kenyan milk is a big success
We sent the following note to Parents Africa magazine, which published an unfortunately alarmist article recently based on research conducted by ILRI scientists. A recent article in Parents Africa magazine reaches some unduly alarming conclusions about the milk sold in Nairobi—and attributes them to research published by scientists here at the International Livestock Research Institute … Continue reading
Kenyan livestock sector to grow ‘exponentially’—Kenya National Bureau of Statistics
Kenya’s livestock sector is primed to grow exponentially over the next three decades and anchor the country’s food sufficiency amid a rapid rise in the human population, a new survey showed. Continue reading
Inoculating legume plants with nitrogen-fixing rhizobia bacteria improves yields in Ethiopia and could save USD28 million annually in fertilizer costs
A five-year project that promoted nitrogen fixation through the use of rhizobia bacteria in grain legumes in Ethiopia helped smallholder farmers increase their legume production by 20% and could help the country save over USD28 million annually in fertilizer costs. Continue reading
Guiding investments in climate-smart livestock systems in East Africa
New project aims to ensure that key actors in the livestock sector increase climate change adaptation and mitigation in farming practices, sector strategies and investment projects. Continue reading
Paving the way for collaboration: ILRI board members visit goat breeding program and Arba Minch University in Ethiopia
On 11 May 2019, two members of the ILRI Board of Trustees, Jing Zhu and Chanda Nimbkar; and scientists Olivier Hanotte and Aynalem Haile; from ILRI and the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), respectively, visited a community-based goat breeding program in Baide village of Konso in southern Ethiopia. Continue reading