In 2011, Farm Radio International conducted a Participatory Agricultural Radio Series (PARS) related to two of the commodity value chains of the Improving the Productivity and Marketing Success (IPMS) project of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). The series focused on apiculture in the Tigray region, and on fruit tree production in Sidama region. The PARS … Continue reading
Leornard Gitau, a small-scale livestock farmer in Dagoretti, Nairobi speaks to journalists during a media tour of urban farmers in Nairobi on 21 Sep 2012 (photo credit: ILRI/Paul Karaimu). In the Nairobi suburb of Dagoretti, ‘Leonard Gichuru Gitau is a city dweller, but it doesn’t take a detective to see that he is also a … Continue reading
Cassava, potato and sweet potato trials at high altitude in Rwanda (photo credit: ILRI/Albert Mwangi). ‘Pressures from climate change and population growth are increasing the competition for grains as food or livestock feed in countries like Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda. But sweet potato, which can grow in harsh climatic conditions with minimal inputs, can provide … Continue reading
Writing in Footsteps – a magazine of Tearfund, Nigel Poole argues there is ‘no simple answer’ to the question: are livestock a blessing or a burden? He suggests that the ‘type of livestock production practised and the ecological context both matter. But think about one of the most common livestock problems, which is this: if … Continue reading
This report on Sustainable management of globally significant endemic ruminant livestock in West Africa: Estimate of livestock demographic parameters in Senegal was released by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in August 2012. Authored by Maria Ejlertsen, Jane Poole and Karen Marshall, it describes the results of a 12-month survey to estimate livestock demographic parameters of endemic … Continue reading
A dairy farm in Dagoretti, a suburb of Nairobi, Kenya, where lines between city-life and farm-life are blurred (photo credit: Tristan McConnell). Tristan McConnell reported in the GlobalPost yesterday that ‘In modern Africa, it can be hard to tell where the city ends and the countryside begins. Rural Kenyans flocking to the city in ever-greater numbers … Continue reading
A CNN report this week on ‘The looming zoonotic danger’ makes use of some astounding figures developed by veterinary epidemiologist Delia Grace and her team at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), based in Kenya. ‘We’ve seen an unprecedented rise in infectious diseases in recent decades, 75 percent of which are “zoonotic,” meaning they come … Continue reading
(Illustration on Flickr by Vintaga Posters.) Is Africa an agricultural basket case, or a potential bread basket? Michael Moran, in the GlobalPost, argues the case for the latter. ‘. . . Food security remains a problem in Malawi, as elsewhere in the so-called Guinea Savannah—a huge belt of arable (and largely untilled) land with unpredictable … Continue reading
On 26 September 2012, animal nutritionist Michael Blümmel with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) presented an ‘livestock live talk’ on Using crop by-products to intensify and sustain food production at the ILRI campus in Nairobi. View the presentation: ‘Livestock live talks’ is a seminar series at ILRI that aims to address livestock-related issues, mobilize … Continue reading
Samuel Mutiga has been selected as a Fellow for the Leadership Enhancement in Agriculture Program (LEAP) of the Norman E. Borlaug International Agricultural Science and Technology Fellows Program. Samuel, a PhD student at the Cornell University, USA, is currently attached to the BecA-ILRI Hub’s Capacity and Action for Aflatoxin Reduction in Eastern Africa (CAAREA) project. … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 