No mean feat: Putting reindeer and goat and chicken (and parts thereof) on Christmas tables in the Arctic and Africa. Continue reading
Vaccinating cattle in Kenya against East Coast fever sends more girls to school Continue reading
In Asia, milk production has almost tripled, from about 110 million tons in 1990 to nearly 300 million tons in 2013—accounting for more than 80 percent of the world’s increase in milk supplies during that time. Continue reading
Read and view the whole photoessay by Tess Riley in The Guardian: Using satellites to support Kenya’s drought-hit herders‚in pictures, 30 Nov 2016. Continue reading
A new artificial insemination (AI) technology, that could revolutionize livestock breeding and dairy production in Tanzania was launched on 9 November 2016. Continue reading
Phil Thornton leads CGIAR research on institutions and policies for climate-resilient food systems. He makes the case for better and closer scientist-citizen engagement in an opinion piece published this week in the wake of this year’s national political election results in Australia, the UK and the USA. Continue reading
The Athi-Kaputiei ecosystem covers about 2,200 square kilometres of Kenya’s Kajiado County, south of Nairobi. It is also home to Nairobi National Park—the world’s only game reserve within a major city. The ecosystem has experienced some dramatic changes since the late 19th century. The accounts of early writers paint a picture of a spectacular ecosystem teeming with diverse resident and migratory wildlife. Records describe abundant wildebeest that migrated seasonally with other wildlife species, livestock and pastoralists. In a recently published study my colleagues and I examined the impact of land fragmentation in the Athi-Kaputiei ecosystem between 1977 and 2014. Our study shows that urbanisation and development has put the ecosystem in distress. It has fragmented the landscape which has reduced the ability of animals to migrate as they used to. The result is that their numbers have plummeted. Continue reading
Emerging infectious diseases are a major concern to the global public health community, both in terms of disease burden and economic burden. Understanding the processes that lead to their emergence is therefore a scientific research priority. Over the last five years Eric Fevre has been working with a group of researchers to understand what leads to the introduction of pathogens in urban environments and how those then emerge in the human population. Continue reading
This video comes from the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and its many partners, including ILRI, which is proud to work with CCAFS and its lead centre, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). Continue reading
By unlocking carbon credit markets, first-of-its-kind methodology looks to boost financing for smallholder farms, green the livestock sector. The new dairy methodology, developed by FAO, ILRI, Kenya State Department of Livestock and the Gold Standard Foundation, is a key to allowing smallholder dairy operations to receive internationally-accepted carbon credits in exchange for emission reductions. Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 