Coping with drought – livestock insurance

Posted on 7 Sep 2010 by Peter Ballantyne (ILRI) • Leave a comment

In Kenya, the International Livestock Research Institute, working with partner organisations, has developed an insurance scheme for livestock farmers. The insurance enables farmers to protect their livelihood against the risk of drought. It works through satellite images, which can be used to measure the amount of grazing available in areas covered under the scheme. If … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Diseases / Disease Control / East Africa / ECF / Livestock / Tanzania / Vaccines

Official approval for East Coast fever vaccine

Posted on 6 Sep 2010 by Peter Ballantyne (ILRI) • Leave a comment

A vaccine against East Coast fever – a disease which kills over 1 million cattle every year – has recently been officially registered in Tanzania, Kenya and Malawi, with Uganda also close to completing registration. This opens the way for private sector companies to take on vaccination delivery as a profit-making business. But how much … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Production / Ethiopia / Livestock / Pastoralism

Ethiopia: Pastoralism against the odds

Posted on 4 Sep 2010 by Peter Ballantyne (ILRI) • Leave a comment

Pastoralists’ disproportionate contribution to Ethiopia’s economy is belied by their marginalized status and by policy assumptions that they would be better off farming. But those who raise livestock tend to make the most of marginal land, according to experts, and are often proficient at adapting to changing circumstances. “People think that pastoralist production systems are … Continue reading →

Agriculture / Animal Breeding / Animal Feeding / Climate Change / East Africa / ILRI / Namibia / Southern Africa

Climate change will have a great impact on Southern African livestock

Posted on 2 Sep 2010 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

Cattle herd walks home along dry riverbed in Tete Province, Mozambique (photo: ILRI/Mann) ‘A researcher at the International Livestock Research Institute says climate change will have a great impact on Southern African livestock and coastal systems in future. ‘Mario Herrero says by 2050, [some] of Africa will have to revert to livestock farming from crop … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Brazil / Cattle / Environment / Food Security / Latin America / Livestock / North America / NRM / Research / Soils / Water / WLE

The miracle of the cerrado

Posted on 2 Sep 2010 by ILRI Communications • Leave a comment

Brazil has revolutionized its own farms. Can it do the same for others? IN A remote corner of Bahia state, in north-eastern Brazil, a vast new farm is springing out of the dry bush. Thirty years ago eucalyptus and pine were planted in this part of the cerrado (Brazil’s savannah). Native shrubs later reclaimed some … Continue reading →

Animal Health / Asia / Disease Control / Livestock / Malaysia / Southeast Asia / Vaccines

Could self-vaccinating cattle cut disease?

Posted on 2 Sep 2010 by ILRI Communications • Leave a comment

Scientists are testing a vaccine that spreads by itself as a solution to a highly infectious buffalo and cattle disease that costs millions of dollars a year. But experts have raised questions about the safety of using such an approach. Read more … (SciDev.net) Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Production / Climate Change / ILRI / Livestock Systems

Agriculture in Africa is changing rapidly

Posted on 2 Sep 2010 by ILRI Communications • Leave a comment

WINDHOEK – “Agriculture in Africa is changing rapidly,” says Mario Herrero, a researcher working in Nairobi, Kenya for the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). Herrero was addressing participants in a session on livestock in a changing climate in Windhoek, Namibia, at the annual regional dialogue on food security. Herrero and his colleagues use scenario analysis … Continue reading →

Animal Production / Asia / India / Insurance / Livestock / South Asia

Iffco-Tokio, OLRDS in pact for insuring cattle

Posted on 1 Sep 2010 by Peter Ballantyne (ILRI) • Leave a comment

Iffco-Tokio General Insurance (ITGI), a general insurance providing company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Orissa Livestock Resources Development Society in India. The pact is to implementa the company’s newly launched Pasudhan Bima Yojana on a pilot basis to insure the cattle. Read more … (Business Standard) Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Brazil / Cattle / Farming Systems / Latin America / Livestock Systems

Feeding the world without levelling the forest

Posted on 1 Sep 2010 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

Romosinuano cattle grazing in South America (picture credit: ILRI/Edwin Perez) A July 2010 article in the leading science journal Nature highlights the gains Brazil is making in its agricultural productivity. ‘With its plentiful sun, water and land, Brazil is quickly surpassing other countries in food production and exports. But can it continue to make agricultural … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Environment / Ethiopia / ILRI / IPMS / Markets / NRM / Soils / WLE

Sustainable land management through market oriented commodity development: Case studies from Ethiopia

Posted on 1 Sep 2010 by Zerihun Sewunet • Leave a comment

This working paper by Berhanu Gebremedhin, Gebremedhin Woldewahid, Yigzaw Dessalegn, Tilahun Gebey and Worku Teka on Sustainable land management through market oriented commodity development: Case studies from Ethiopia was released on 30 August, 2010. Land degradation has been identified as severe environmental problem in Ethiopia, especially since the early 1970s. Because there is significant degradation … Continue reading →