Category Archives: Regions

Brussels roundtable this week on mitigating aflatoxin contamination of food and feed in Africa
Africa / Agri-Health / Animal Feeding / Animal Products / Consumption / Event / Feeds / Food Safety / Human Health

Brussels roundtable this week on mitigating aflatoxin contamination of food and feed in Africa

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PAEPARD [the Platform for Africa-European Partnership in Agricultural Research for Development] is organising with the Directorate General Sante of the European Commission and the East African Farmer Federation (EAFF), and in collaboration with the Partnership for Aflatoxin Control in Africa (PACA) and the African Society of Mycotoxicology (ASM), a roundtable meeting of key aflatoxin experts (not only research experts) on the mitigation of aflatoxin in food and feed in Africa on Monday 25th January 2015 in Brussels (by invitation only). Continue reading →

Food and food systems thinkers advocate a national ‘food policy’ for the US–and maybe the rest of us?
Agri-Health / Agriculture / Consumption / Environment / Human Health / North America / Opinion piece / Policy / USA

Food and food systems thinkers advocate a national ‘food policy’ for the US–and maybe the rest of us?

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Did you miss this call for a US national food policy by Mark Bittman, New York Times columnist and lead food writer; Michael Pollan, leading food, food systems and food science author; Ricardo Salvador, director of food and environment at the Union of Concerned Scientists; and Olivier de Schutter, former UN special rapporteur on the right to food. Continue reading →

PRIME(ing) resilience among Ethiopia’s pastoral communities
Animal Health / Article / Disease Control / East Africa / Ethiopia / Extension / Livestock / Markets / Pastoralism / Pro-Poor Livestock / Project / Resilience

PRIME(ing) resilience among Ethiopia’s pastoral communities

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PRIME helps farmers with livestock become more resilient to shocks. It also supports better management of existing water resources through more efficient rain harvesting techniques, better early warning systems and information sharing, and improved governance of communal lands and water spots. By improving linkages in the livestock value chain, PRIME also helps ensure profitable outlets for livestock sales when there is not enough feed available to support existing herd sizes. Continue reading →

African camels could hold a key to controlling the spread of the MERS virus
A4NH / Agri-Health / Article / Camels / CBPP / Diagnostics / Disease Control / East Africa / Emerging Diseases / Epidemiology / FSZ / Human Health / ILRI / Kenya / MERS / Middle East / Zoonotic Diseases

African camels could hold a key to controlling the spread of the MERS virus

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African camels could hold important clues to controlling the potential spread of a respiratory disease transmitted by the animals. For many years African camels have lived with the disease and the risk of it spreading to humans is still low. But more research is necessary to understand the disease better. This is even more important given the confirmation that the chains of transmission of the human Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection originated from contact with camels. Continue reading →

A bovine wealth-creating portfolio for Africa—Investing in cows remotely (like diamonds and gold)
Animal Production / Article / Cattle / Markets / South Africa / Southern Africa

A bovine wealth-creating portfolio for Africa—Investing in cows remotely (like diamonds and gold)

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Livestock Wealth was born out of the need to design wealth creation investment opportunities for Africans in an unpretentious way that the intended beneficiaries could understand. Livestock Wealth is a digital, trademarked “crowd-farming” platform officially launched in October this year that allows wannabe farmers–who don’t know the first thing about farming, let alone owning land, to establish a farm–to invest in cows remotely. Continue reading →

New Tanzania project launched to curb disease transmission from consumption of bushmeat
A4NH / Agri-Health / Article / Disease Control / East Africa / Emerging Diseases / Epidemiology / FSZ / ILRI / Southern Africa / Tanzania / Zoonotic Diseases

New Tanzania project launched to curb disease transmission from consumption of bushmeat

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‘Members of communities that live in forests and depend on hunting for survival have been reported to be at risk because bush meat, widely used as their source of food, can be a source of deadly pathogens from wild animals to humans. The Arusha-based, Nelson Mandela University and the US Centre[s] for Disease Control have now entered into a project aimed at curbing the transmission of diseases from wild animals to human beings.’ Continue reading →

‘The Abundant Herds’ and the poetry of Zulu cattle naming
Animal Breeding / Books and chapters / Cattle / Indigenous Breeds / Livestock / South Africa / Southern Africa

‘The Abundant Herds’ and the poetry of Zulu cattle naming

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A new edition of a stunning coffee table book about one of Africa’s livestock treasures—the indigenous Nguni cattle of South Africa—has been published. ‘Long the mainstay of traditional Zulu culture, [the Nguni] are possibly the most beautiful cattle in the world, with their variously patterned and multicoloured hides everywhere in demand. . . . Continue reading →

Slum farming and superbugs—An ‘Urban Zoo’ science project tracks bacterial routes in complex environments
A4NH / Agri-Health / Article / Disease Control / East Africa / Emerging Diseases / Epidemiology / Food Safety / FSZ / Human Health / ILRI / Kenya / Zoonotic Diseases

Slum farming and superbugs—An ‘Urban Zoo’ science project tracks bacterial routes in complex environments

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The Urban Zoo project is visiting 99 households across Nairobi, rich and poor, with livestock and without. They’re taking samples from people, their animals, and whatever wildlife they can find nearby (and catch): storks, mice, bats, et cetera. They’re sampling the ground around homes, yards and livestock pens with white paper booties. ‘The aim, says University of Liverpool veterinarian Judy Bettridge, is “to try and understand on a small scale how those bacteria are shared” among each household’s people, livestock and environment. “And then when we scale it up, are the bacteria here being shared with the household that’s 50 meters over there? Or 100 meters over there? So, how far can they actually spread?” . . . Continue reading →