Category Archives: Regions

Animal Diseases / ASF / BecA / Burundi / Disease Control / East Africa / ILRI / Kenya / Project / Rwanda / Tanzania / Uganda / Vaccines

Devastating African disease of pigs gets new attention and funding

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African Swine Fever Workshop, July 2011, Nairobi; from left: Raymond Rowland (Kansas State University), David Odongo (ILRI), Richard Bishop (ILRI), Maria-Jesus Munoz (CISA-INIA) and Jose-Manuel Vizcaino (Head of OIE ASF World Reference Centre Madrid) on a visit to the new BecA-ILRI laboratories (photo credit: ILRI/Edward Okoth). New Agriculturist reported late last year on renewed research … Continue reading →

Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Ethiopia / Food Security / Kenya / Pastoralism / Somalia / Vulnerability

Climatic conditions linked to Horn’s 2011 drought persist–could spell another food crisis

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Somali dust storm (image on Flickr by Frank Keillor). ‘The climatic conditions linked to the drought in the Horn in 2011 have persisted, and some early warning officials say the aid community should brace themselves for a possible re-run of last year’s food crisis. . . . ‘According to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Diseases / CBPP / Disease Control / ILRI / Launch / North America / Research / USA / Vaccines

US National Science Foundation’s BREAD funds Craig Venter and ILRI to battle cattle pneumonia in Africa

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Dinner with philanthropist Bill Gates at the home of genome-czar J Craig Venter in La Jolla, California, in 2008 (photo by jurvetson on Flickr). ‘Gates asked the most astute and detailed questions about microbiology’, JCVI reports, and said, ‘DNA is the most interesting software there is.’ The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Bill & Melinda Gates … Continue reading →

Animal Diseases / Biotechnology / Diagnostics / Disease Control / Drylands / East Africa / Emerging Diseases / Environment / Epidemiology / Event / Human Health / ILRI / Kenya / Research / RVF / Southern Africa / USA / Zoonotic Diseases

Could Rift Valley fever be a weapon of mass destruction? An insidious insect-animal-people infection loop explored

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The Fifth Plague: Livestock Disease, woodcut by Gustave Doré, 1866 (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons). Anthrax, bird flu , Ebola, HIV-AIDS, H1N1, H5N1, influenza, Rift Valley fever, SARS: What are the disease links between people, animals and environments? And what are we doing to protect ourselves against the next outbreak of a deadly infectious disease? … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / CCAFS / Climate Change / Event / Film and video / ILRI / Interview / South Asia

Models predicting agricultural impacts of climate change: How good are they for Africa and South Asia?

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Ox Cart Crossing a Flooded Plain, painting by Ivan Alvazovsky, 1897 (source: Wikipaintings). On 21 Feb 2012, from 14:30–15:30 (Central European Time), a video seminar will explore how current climate models for agricultural impacts perform in Africa and South Asia. The research in this study was coordinated by Phil Thornton, an agricultural systems analyst with … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Products / East Africa / Ethiopia / Film and video / ILRI / IPMS / Research / Value Chains

No bees, no honey: Apiculture value chain experiences in Ethiopia

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‘No bees no honey’ presents the experience of the Improving Productivity and Market Success (IPMS) project on apiculture value chain development in Ethiopia. IPMS together with the district office of agriculture, farmers, input suppliers and other stakeholders worked in the district to produce high quality honey by using integrated commodity development approach. The video shows … Continue reading →

Directorate / Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Ethiopia / Food Security / ILRI / Kenya / Opinion piece / Pastoralism / Somalia / Vulnerability

Belgian veterinary group message to Bill Gates: Herding livestock makes more sense than growing crops in arid lands

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A herd of livestock cross the drylands near Marsabit town, in northern Kenya; some farmers in the region took out livestock insurance, and this year are receiving the first payouts after a prolonged drought (image on Flickr by Neil Palmer/CIAT). Below is part of an open letter / press release brought out by Vétérinaires Sans … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Animal Production / Animal Products / Botswana / Cattle / Dairying / East Africa / Innovation Systems / Kenya / Livestock / Report / Southern Africa / Uganda / Value Chains

Multi-stakeholder innovation in Africa: Dairy and beef cases feature in new report from FARA

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The Forum on Agricultural Research in Africa just published a new report on agricultural innovation in sub-Saharan Africa: experiences from multiple-stakeholder approaches. The report draws together case experiences across Africa with an ‘integrated agriculture research for development (IAR4D) approach’ that brings together multiple actors along a commodity value chain to address challenges and identify opportunities … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Breeding / Asia / Biodiversity / Capacity Strengthening / ILRI / Indigenous Breeds / Livestock / Report / Research

Building capacities in animal genetic resources – a ‘training of trainers’ approach

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Since 1999, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)  has partnered with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) to provide capacity building on the sustainable use of Animal Genetic Resources (AnGR). This report by Julie Ojango, Birgitta Malmfors, Okeyo Mwai, and Jan Philipsson on Training the trainers – An innovative and successful model for capacity building in animal … Continue reading →

Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Food Security / Pastoralism / Somalia / Vulnerability

United Nations declares famine over in Somalia–but says millions still at risk

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A herd of goats is driven through Ifo Refugee Camp at dawn on 8 Aug 2011; many families said they fled to Dadaab, Kenya, after all of their livestock died because of the drought in Somalia; the dirt road from Garissa to Dadaab was littered with cow and goat skeletons (photo in Flickr by Internews … Continue reading →