South Africa must build bottom-up needs-based policies for communal livestock grazing. ‘Nothing about us without us!’ It’s a popular slogan in development work and one that agricultural policymakers should embrace to ensure their decisions address rural communities’ needs. Recent experience with communal cattle keeping in South Africa is again providing valuable lessons on why and … Continue reading
Category Archives: Regions
Africa / Animal Diseases / Capacity Strengthening / Disease Control / East Africa / Emerging Diseases / Kenya / Livestock / Wildlife / Zoonotic Diseases
Kenya Wildlife Service hosts training on wildlife capture and sampling techniques for disease surveillance
Emerging and re-emerging diseases some of them pandemic in proportions, pose great threat to biodiversity conservation, public health and livestock industry. The African Union’s Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) and other international agencies such as Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has started training on wildlife capture and sampling techniques for disease surveillance in collaboration … Continue reading
Africa / Agriculture / Ethiopia / ILRI / Innovation Systems / IPMS / Markets / Women
Opportunities for promoting gender equality in rural Ethiopia through the commercialization of agriculture
This working paper by Lemlem Aregu, Clare Bishop-Sambrook, Ranjitha Puskur and Ephrem Tesema on Opportunities for promoting gender equality in rural Ethiopia through the commercialization of agriculture was released on 31 May, 2010 This paper discusses gender issues in the context of the Improving Productivity and Market Success (IPMS) of Ethiopian Farmers’ Project being implemented … Continue reading
Africa / Animal Diseases / East Africa / Livestock / Uganda
Animal diseases on the rise in Uganda: Audit exposes the vices
Delays to report the outbreak of livestock diseases has contributed to increased disease prevalence countrywide. The effects of these range from loss of household income, increase of prices of animals and animal products, loss of revenue from exports and total misery. A report on the prevention and control of livestock health, and entomology (study of … Continue reading
Animal Products / Asia / Livestock / Malaysia / Markets / Southeast Asia
To attain self-sufficiency in meat, Malaysia needs to rein in the cost
The creation of many more “beef valleys” nationwide can be seen as the right step toward attaining self-sufficiency for meat. However, while waiting for the beef valley projects to fully take off, Malaysia’s self-sufficiency for both beef and mutton meat are still alarmingly low, at about 25% and 10% respectively. Read more … (The Star) Continue reading
Africa / Animal Diseases / Asia / Disease Control / Eritrea / India / Indonesia / Philippines / Vaccines
Perry: Let’s celebrate the eradication of rinderpest this year, but let’s not get carried away by the ‘E’ word
Brian Perry, a former scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and a continuing collaborator with ILRI, now a visiting Professor at the University of Oxford, writes a column, ‘Our Man in Africa’, for the Dick Vet News, of the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies at the University of Edinburgh. Perry’s column in the … Continue reading
Africa / Drought / East Africa / Environment / Kenya / Livestock Systems / Pastoralism
Maasai pastoralists adopt new habits to cope with climate change
As they recover from the worst drought in many years, Maasai pastoralists in Kenya’s south Rift Valley are adopting new habits to help them overcome future disasters. As the recent drought tested the coping ability of Maasai communities, the leaders of “group ranches” – large communal grazing areas, each with their own government-appointed chief – … Continue reading
Africa / Animal Production / Biodiversity / East Africa / Indigenous Breeds / Livestock Systems / Pastoralism
Using livestock to rebuild and preserve communities
For pastoralist communities like the well-known Maasai in Kenya, livestock keeping is more than just an important source of food and income; it’s a way of life that has been a part of their culture and traditions for hundreds of years. But, in the face of drought, loss of traditional grazing grounds, and pressure from … Continue reading
Africa / Animal Production / Climate Change / Drought / Food Security / Livestock / Niger / Pastoralism / West Africa
Millions face hunger in arid belt of Africa
At this time of year, the Gadabeji Reserve in Niger should be refuge for the nomadic tribes who travel across a moonscape on the edge of the Sahara to graze their cattle. But the grass is meager after a drought killed off the last year’s crops. Now the cattle are too weak to stand and … Continue reading
Animal Diseases / Animal Production / Animal Products / Asia / Markets / Pigs / Southeast Asia / Vietnam
Pig disease drives Vietnamese farmers, firms to the wall
Large numbers of farmers and enterprises are now on the edge of bankruptcy as blue-ear pig disease ravages 15 cities and provinces across the country, a senior livestock breeding expert said yesterday. “A considerable number of consumers have turned their backs on pork, including ‘clean products”, said deputy director of the Livestock Breeding Department Nguyen … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 