Photo credit: ILRI / Mann ‘When asked about the success of vaccination against East Coast fever (ECF) in northern Tanzania, Dr Lieve Lynen, is remarkably modest. And yet more than 500,000 animals have been vaccinated against ECF in Tanzania since 1998, largely due to the work of Lynen’s pharmaceutical company VetAgro Tanzania, which has led … Continue reading
Adapting agriculture to climate change should have twin purposes: adapting to prevent further damage to the environment, and adapting to produce food despite the impact of climate change. The increasing intensity and frequency of storms, flooding and draught have great impact on agriculture and, therefore, on the food supply. The uncertainties associated with climate change … Continue reading
The following statements are excerpted from All consuming, an article by David Biello on global consumption and population issues published in the current issue of Momentum, published by the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota. > ‘Two German Shepherds kept as pets in Europe or the U.S. use more resources in a year … Continue reading
Olivier Hanotte, a former livestock geneticist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), with whom he collaborates today, has the following to say in a recent blog post about the value of Africa’s native livestock. ‘[Africa’s] indigenous livestock are not only adapted to diverse African agro-ecological production systems – they are also unique and responsive … Continue reading
Women and livestock in a village in Niger (ILRI / Mann) What happens when the last of last year’s grain harvest runs out and the last animal is sold to buy emergency grain? ‘A catastrophe is about to unfold for millions of the world’s poorest people. It happened five years ago, and this time the … Continue reading
Michael Pollan (credit: The Essential Bioneers) The following comments were made by Michael Pollan, US food systems activist, journalist and writer of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Food Rules and other popular books, in ’10 Questions with Michael Pollan’, Time Magazine, 1 February 2010. Q: Can you tell us what your current diet is? And if it … Continue reading
‘Many Europeans recoil at the very idea of cloning animals. But a handful of breeders in Switzerland, Britain and possibly other countries have imported semen and embryos from cloned animals or their progeny from the United States, seeking to create more consistently plump and productive livestock. ‘And although no vendor has publicly acknowledged it, meat … Continue reading
‘Even though locally-adapted, diversified agriculture and farming is a key component of both food security today and in a warmer more climate-stressed future, the Big Ag trend is still towards less crop diversity and more uniformity. Here’s a perfect example of the downside of that: The International Livestock Research Institute says urgent action is needed … Continue reading
Resilient disease-resistant, ‘ancient’ West African cattle among breeds at risk of extinction as imported animals supplant valuable native livestock Urgent action is needed to stop the rapid and alarming loss of genetic diversity of African livestock that provide food and income to 70 percent of rural Africans and include a treasure-trove of drought- and disease-resistant … Continue reading
The objective of the Henan Ecological Livestock Project for China is to improve environmental health management practices on the targeted livestock farms in the Yellow River Belt in Henan province. There are three components to the project. The first component of the project is institutional strengthening, training and technical support. Improving the technical understanding and … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 