Capacity building helps Ethiopia’s pastoral women transform their impoverished, drought-ravaged communities

Posted on 11 Dec 2011 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

Borana girl (photo on Flickr by Gustavo Jeronimo). Layne Coppock, of Utah State University, and Solomon Desta, Seyoum Tezera and Getachew Gebru, of Managing Risk for Improved Livelihoods, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, report in the journal Science this month on a project they conducted in southern pastoral Ethiopia that indicates that capacity building can, and should, ‘set … Continue reading →

A4NH / Agri-Health / Animal Diseases / East Africa / Emerging Diseases / Event report / Human Health / ILRI / Livestock / Research / Zoonotic Diseases

Livestock and human health – directions for ILRI

Posted on 7 Dec 2011 by Peter Ballantyne (ILRI) • Leave a comment

As part of a session on ‘livestock and human health’ at the recent ‘LiveSTOCK Exchange’ event, Brian Perry interviewed a panel of ILRI staff on future research in this area as part of the new CGIAR Research Program (CRP4) on Agriculture for Improved Nutrition and Health. Topics addressed by Delia Grace include the topical and … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Breeding / Animal Diseases / Disease Control / East Africa / Epidemiology / Ethiopia / ILRI / Indigenous Breeds / Livestock / Poultry / Project / Research

Tackling poultry diseases in Ethiopia

Posted on 5 Dec 2011 by Peter Ballantyne (ILRI) • 2 Comments

Developing countries such as Ethiopia have many indigenous chicken varieties which are well adapted to local environments as they are excellent foragers, better able to avoid predator attacks and demonstrate better immunity to common diseases. However, due to relatively low genetic potential and poor levels of husbandry, most of these indigenous chicken breeds grow slowly … Continue reading →

Drought / East Africa / Kenya / Knowledge and Information / Opinion piece / Pastoralism

Obsession with a bull, and related matters

Posted on 2 Dec 2011 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

A Dinka cattle camp at sunset in Abyei, Sudan (photo credit: UN photo/Tim McKulka). Here’s an interesting essay on the nature of human-livestock relations. It starts with a story of Emong, a Turkana herder, and his obsession with a bull, and quickly moves on to the ravages of drought in pastoral regions, Western concepts of nature … Continue reading →

Drought / East Africa / Ethiopia / Event / Food Security / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Pastoralism / Vulnerability

Pioneering insurance for remote livestock herders taking hold in drought-prone areas of Kenya and Ethiopia

Posted on 1 Dec 2011 by Susan MacMillan • 1 Comment

Sake Dabasso Halake with her recent livestock insurance payout, which was made in northern Kenya’s Marsabit District following the great drought that afflicted the Horn of Africa in the latter half of 2011 (photo credit: Jeff Haskins/Burness Communications). Laurie Goering, a reporter for AlertNet writing from the United Nations climate change meetings in Durban this … Continue reading →

Animal Breeding / Animal Production / Biotechnology / East Africa / Event report / Genetics / ILRI / Livestock / Livestock Systems / Research

Livestock research directions for ILRI – systems, health, genetics, impacts?

Posted on 29 Nov 2011 by Peter Ballantyne (ILRI) • Leave a comment

During the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, we video recorded reports back from group discussions in three of the sessions: Animal health and genetics – issues and controversies for ILRI research. This session discussed significant or controversial developments; the next big thing in animal genetics, breeding, health, genomics, and feeding. Livestock … Continue reading →

Aflatoxins / Africa / BecA / Biotechnology / East Africa / Genetics / ILRI / Interview / Research / Staff

Segenet Kelemu: On the LiveSTOCK Exchange ‘hard seat’

Posted on 18 Nov 2011 by Peter Ballantyne (ILRI) • Leave a comment

During the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, Brian Perry interviewed Segenet Kelemu, Director of the Biosciences eastern and central Africa (BecA) Hub. Watch the video: On 9 and 10 November 2011, the ILRI Board of Trustees hosted a 2-day ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ to discuss and reflect on livestock research for development. The event … Continue reading →

Drought / East Africa / Event / Food Security / Geodata / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Pastoralism / Vulnerability

New insurance program in Kenya covers cattle lost to drought

Posted on 16 Nov 2011 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

A blind pastoral herder in Kenya’s Marsabit District awaits payout of an insurance premium he bought to protect his livestock against drought (photo on Flickr by Jeff Haskins). Tristan McConnell, reporting from Nairobi, writes in the GlobalPost (Boston) yesterday of a new insurance program set up to protect a group of pastoral livestock herders in … Continue reading →

Agriculture / BecA / Biotechnology / CGIAR / Directorate / East Africa / Food Security / ILRI / Interview / Kenya / Nutrition / Pro-Poor Livestock / Research

‘Livestock is the Cinderella of agricultural development’–An interview with Jimmy Smith

Posted on 15 Nov 2011 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

A lengthy interview with ILRI’s new director general Jimmy Smith is the leading post on the home page of the Syngenta Foundation website in Nov 2011 (image credit: Syngenta Foundation; credit for photo of Jimmy Smith: ILRI/Apollo Habtamu). ‘Jimmy Smith is the new Director General of [the International Livestock Research Institute] in Nairobi. He recently … Continue reading →

Africa / Capacity Strengthening / East Africa / Ethiopia / ILRI / IPMS / Livestock

Livestock capacity development approaches: IPMS project experiences

Posted on 12 Nov 2011 by ILRI Communications • Leave a comment

For the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, Dirk Hoekstra, Azage Tegegne and Berhanu Gebremedhin prepared an issue brief on capacity development approaches in the ‘Improving the Productivity and Market Success of Ethiopian farmers’ (IPMS) project … ‘Capacity to innovate’ by value chain actors was identified as a key factor for a participatory smallholder … Continue reading →