The government of the state of Odisha, in eastern India, and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) will work together to provide improved feed and fodder to livestock in the state (formerly known as Orissa) in a new three-year project. Continue reading
On 13 October 2016, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the National Land Commission (NLC) in Kenya signed an agreement to initiate collaboration between the two institutions on land use planning and rangeland management. Continue reading
On 6 October 2016 the Ambassador of the United States to Burkina Faso, H E Tulinabo S Mushingi, visited Ziga in Yatenga Province, one of the implementation sites of the Feed the Future Sustainable Intensification Innovation Lab (SIIL) project in the country. Continue reading
The African Chicken Genetic Gains project is on a mission to bring ‘more productive chickens to African smallholders’. Led by ILRI, and backed by the deep pockets of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the African Chicken Genetic Gains project aims to improve the genetic makeup of African chickens. The initiative, which is initially being rolled out in Ethiopia, Nigeria and Tanzania, is part of what the Microsoft founder has called his ‘big bet’ on chickens, which also includes a promise to donate 100,000 of the birds to families and communities in the world’s poorest nations. . . . Continue reading
ILRI aflatoxin infographic, Nov 2013. ‘The rise of local agricultural industries (agro-industrialisation) has had both positive and negative effects on the economy. . . . ‘Prior to 2005, most studies were conducted after serious outbreaks of aflatoxin poisoning where several people died, especially in 2004. . . . ‘A 2006 study titled ‘‘Aflatoxin B1 and … Continue reading
This project is integrating sweetpotato feed into small-scale pig production systems, demonstrating to Uganda’s smallholder farmers three benefits of sweetpotato silage: increased pig productivity, affordable costs and labour savings. ILRI’s role in this project is to better understand pig feeding practices in Uganda, to investigate options for making sweetpotato silage, and to assess the economic viability of sweetpotato silage as pig feed, including the willingness of Ugandan farmers to pay for the silage. Continue reading
There have been disturbing declines in wildlife populations in Kenya in the past three decades, a study released this week revealed. Continue reading
A Cornell development economist and his partners in the USAID-funded BASIS Assets and Market Access Innovation Lab have won an international award for developing a form of livestock insurance that has already proved itself in pilot testing. Now that it is scaling up, the insurance could help hundreds of thousands of African herders stave off poverty in times of drought. Continue reading
Boran cattle in Yabello, Ethiopia (photo credit: ILRI/ Camille Hanotte). By Thumbi Mwangi, Washington State University A majority of rural households in Africa keep different livestock species. But only a small proportion can afford to keep good quality livestock. This is mainly due to a combination of low government funding and the poor policies of external … Continue reading
California has a lot of dairy cows, and all that belching and farting and decomposing poop accounts for 5 percent of the state’s total greenhouse gas output. If you want radical emissions cuts, you gotta go for the belches. Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 