A4NH / Canada / East Africa / Epidemiology / Event report / Farming Systems / Food Security / Geodata / ICT / Livestock / Poultry / RVF / Seeds / Uganda / Zambia / Zimbabwe

New consortium to investigate environmental changes spreading diseases between animals and people in Africa

Malawi crop-and-livestock farmer (photo credit: ILRI/Susan MacMillan). One of the drivers of disease in Africa, a continent with a particularly heavy disease burden, are environmental changes that help to spread infectious pathogens between animals (both wild and domestic) and people. That is why the start of a new research program, in which the International Livestock … Continue reading

Africa / Directorate / Drylands / Environment / ILRI / Pastoralism / Vulnerability

Livestock herding and resource management: Good (natural, rangeland) bedfellows

Livestock herding in Niger (photo credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann). Pastoralism—herding cattle, sheep, goats and other ruminant animals to find new grazing grounds—should be recognized as a key sector in resource management, said experts meeting at a Brussels Development Briefing on Pastoralism held on 22 Feb 2012. ‘Recurring drought and land disputes have recently placed nomadic pastoralists … Continue reading

Africa / Agriculture / Climate Change / Food Security / Opinion piece / Rwanda

Can smallholder farmers take a leading role in addressing the twin challenges of food security and environmental sustainability?

A farmer in Himachal Pradesh, India. Smallholder farmers can contribute to the search for climate solutions (photo credit: Neil Palmer/CIAT). Paul Kagame, the president of the Republic of Rwanda, says experience from that country shows that smallholder farmers can contribute to the search for climate-smart solutions and climate talks should bring smallholder agriculture into the … Continue reading

Africa / Animal Production / East Africa / Kenya / Livestock / Markets / Pastoralism / Value Chains

Learning route on innovative livestock marketing in Kenya

Participants in a ‘learning route’ on Innovative Livestock Marketing just completed their trip through Kenya. Organized by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the PROCASUR Corporation, the route is a participatory practitioner-to-practitioner training to increase awareness about channels and strategies to diversify livestock production and marketing. Read stories from the route … How … Continue reading

CCAFS / Climate Change / Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Food Security / ILRI / Kenya / Opinion piece

Are ILRI warnings of continued maize failure in Kenya’s drylands coming true?

Maize plants in Kenya (photo on Flickr by Vanessa Meadu). ‘There has been a lot of talk, research, and policy documents on climate change and what this portends for the country’s food and even national security. ‘However, not much has been done on the ground to mitigate the effects of climate variability despite the knowledge. … Continue reading

Africa / Agriculture / Amharic / Capacity Strengthening / East Africa / Ethiopia / Extension / Film and video / Gender / ILRI / IPMS / Women

ጉብኝት ለመልካም ተሞክሮ ከ ሴቶች ጋር [Amharic]

This blog post is in Amharic, if you are seeing boxes download fonts here. ይህ ዶኪመንቴሽን በግብርናው ዘርፍ የሴቶች መብትና ተሳትፎ እንዲሁም ተጠቃሚነት ተግባራዊ ለማድርግ የ IPMS (በኢትዮጵያ ምርታማነትና የገበያ ስኬት ማሻሻያ) ፕሮጄክትን እንቅስቃሴዎች አካቶ ይዟል። IPMS ሴቶችን ከወንዶች እኩል የፕሮጀክቱ ድገፍ ተጠቃሚ በማድረግ የስርዐተ ፆታ እኩልነትን ለማስፈን የበኩሉን አስተዋፆ አድርጓል። ይህ ዶኪመንቴሽን በአደኣ ወረዳ … Continue reading

Africa / Agriculture / Animal Health / Animal Production / Livestock

GALVmed ‘Livestock 2012’ e-discussion – Ways to improve livestock development in Africa

GALVmed – the Global Alliance for Livestock Veterinary Medicines – just published an ‘Impetus Strategy Paper’ that  puts forward ideas on the directions Africa’s livestock sector needs to take to maximise prospects for  African livestock farmers, based on evidence and opinion from Sub Saharan Africa. To validate and extend the discussions, GALVmed has set up … Continue reading

Animal Breeding / Animal Diseases / Animal Health / BecA / Biodiversity / Chickens / Disease Control / East Africa / Event / Genetics / ILRI / Indigenous Breeds / Kenya / Poultry / Vaccines / Women

Small livestock, big impact

Kenyan geneticist and new PhD Sheila Ommeh (right) works at the Biosciences eastern and central Africa Hub (BecA Hub) and ILRI’s animal health laboratories in Nairobi, Kenya, studying Africa’s native chicken breeds (photo credit: ILRI/Susan MacMillan). ‘Sheila Ommeh, a poultry geneticist at the International Livestock Research Centre in Nairobi, hopes to introduce a disease-resistant chicken … Continue reading

Animal Products / Dairying / East Africa / Ethiopia / Event report / Livestock / LIVESTOCKFISH / Research

East Africa Dairy Development – Tackling the Ethiopian challenge and the ‘white revolution’

Extending a project into a new phase is always a perilous exercise. The East Africa Dairy Development (EADD) project is (re-) learning this lesson. In the stakeholder consultation workshop that took place from 27 to 29 February, the project team sought feedback from participants regarding initial ideas for the extension of the program (a so-called … Continue reading

Africa / Agriculture / Amharic / East Africa / Ethiopia / Extension / Film and video / ILRI / IPMS / Value Chains

የፍራፍሬ ልማት በዳሌ ወረዳ [Amharic]

This blog post is in Amharic, if you are seeing boxes download fonts here. ይህ ዶኪመንቴሽን በዳሌ ወረዳ በፍራፍሬ ማዳቀልና የችግኝ አቅርቦት ኤክስቴንሽን ይዞ የቀረበ ነው፡፡ በዳሌ ወረዳ ያሉ አርሶ አደሮችና የወረዳው ግብርና ከመልካሳ የግብርና ምርምር ጣቢያ እና ከ IPMS (በኢትዮጵያ ምርታማነትና የገበያ ስኬት ማሻሻያ) ፕሮጄክት ጋር በመሆን የአቮካዶ፣ የማንጎና ሌሎች የፍራፍሬ ዝርያዎችን ለማልማትና ምርታማነትን … Continue reading