Category Archives: Regions

Animal Production / Asia / Books and chapters / China / Crop residues / Crop-Livestock / Indonesia / Livestock Systems / Southeast Asia / Value Chains / Vietnam

Beef production in crop–livestock systems

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This new report from the ACIAR – the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research – argues that  the “improvement of production and profitability in smallholder beef enterprises is typically not limited by a lack of promising feeding and management technologies. It is more due to low access to, and uptake of, these technologies. There has … Continue reading →

East Africa / Ethiopia / Film and video / ILRI / Kenya / Research

ILRI campus life in Ethiopia and Kenya – Virtual tours

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What’s it like working and visiting the campus of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)? Our human resources team recently commissioned two short films … with staff members as your guides. Visit the Kenya campus in Nairobi with Kim Kariuki: Visit the Ethiopia campus in Addis Ababa with Tsehay Gashaw: Practical information on the Addis … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Diseases / Australia / BecA / Biotechnology / Cattle / CBPP / Disease Control / Goats / ILRI / PPR / Sheep / Small Ruminants / Vaccines

Australia steps up support for research in Africa to reduce the continent’s heavy livestock disease burden

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ILRI scientist Joerg Jores (right) tells German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who visited the ILRI-BecA labs in July 2011, about his livestock disease research (photo credit: ILRI/Njoroge). ‘Owning large livestock is like money in the bank for African farmers, but major diseases significantly threaten their future. ‘Among these are [peste des petits ruminants], a viral disease … Continue reading →

Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Ethiopia / Food Security / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Pastoralism / Pro-Poor Livestock / Project / Vulnerability

To insure or not to insure: That is the question for Kenyan herders restocking after the great drought of 2011

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The first payouts for livestock insurance being made in Marsabit District, in northern Kenya (photo on Flickr by Jeff Haskins). From Reuters AlertNet comes this update on how the livestock herders of Kenya’s Marsabit District are faring. Some bought an innovative livestock insurance product this year that is being piloted by the International Livestock Research … Continue reading →

Article / Capacity Strengthening / Drought / East Africa / Ethiopia / ILRI / Pastoralism / Vulnerability / Women

Capacity building helps Ethiopia’s pastoral women transform their impoverished, drought-ravaged communities

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Borana girl (photo on Flickr by Gustavo Jeronimo). Layne Coppock, of Utah State University, and Solomon Desta, Seyoum Tezera and Getachew Gebru, of Managing Risk for Improved Livelihoods, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, report in the journal Science this month on a project they conducted in southern pastoral Ethiopia that indicates that capacity building can, and should, ‘set … Continue reading →

A4NH / Agri-Health / Animal Diseases / East Africa / Emerging Diseases / Event report / Human Health / ILRI / Livestock / Research / Zoonotic Diseases

Livestock and human health – directions for ILRI

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As part of a session on ‘livestock and human health’ at the recent ‘LiveSTOCK Exchange’ event, Brian Perry interviewed a panel of ILRI staff on future research in this area as part of the new CGIAR Research Program (CRP4) on Agriculture for Improved Nutrition and Health. Topics addressed by Delia Grace include the topical and … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Breeding / Animal Diseases / Disease Control / East Africa / Epidemiology / Ethiopia / ILRI / Indigenous Breeds / Livestock / Poultry / Project / Research

Tackling poultry diseases in Ethiopia

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Developing countries such as Ethiopia have many indigenous chicken varieties which are well adapted to local environments as they are excellent foragers, better able to avoid predator attacks and demonstrate better immunity to common diseases. However, due to relatively low genetic potential and poor levels of husbandry, most of these indigenous chicken breeds grow slowly … Continue reading →

Drought / East Africa / Kenya / Knowledge and Information / Opinion piece / Pastoralism

Obsession with a bull, and related matters

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A Dinka cattle camp at sunset in Abyei, Sudan (photo credit: UN photo/Tim McKulka). Here’s an interesting essay on the nature of human-livestock relations. It starts with a story of Emong, a Turkana herder, and his obsession with a bull, and quickly moves on to the ravages of drought in pastoral regions, Western concepts of nature … Continue reading →

Drought / East Africa / Ethiopia / Event / Food Security / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Pastoralism / Vulnerability

Pioneering insurance for remote livestock herders taking hold in drought-prone areas of Kenya and Ethiopia

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Sake Dabasso Halake with her recent livestock insurance payout, which was made in northern Kenya’s Marsabit District following the great drought that afflicted the Horn of Africa in the latter half of 2011 (photo credit: Jeff Haskins/Burness Communications). Laurie Goering, a reporter for AlertNet writing from the United Nations climate change meetings in Durban this … Continue reading →

Animal Breeding / Animal Production / Biotechnology / East Africa / Event report / Genetics / ILRI / Livestock / Livestock Systems / Research

Livestock research directions for ILRI – systems, health, genetics, impacts?

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  During the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, we video recorded reports back from group discussions in three of the sessions: Animal health and genetics – issues and controversies for ILRI research. This session discussed significant or controversial developments; the next big thing in animal genetics, breeding, health, genomics, and feeding.   Livestock … Continue reading →