‘A Hyderabad-developed poultry breed has brought about a sea change in the lives of farmers in Mon district of Nagaland. ‘Reduced mortality rates of Vanaraja-bred birds, developed by the project directorate on poultry, Hyderabad, and increased income, has resulted in farmers asking for more supplies of the breed from the Nairobi-headquartered International Livestock Research Institute … Continue reading
Category Archives: South Asia
Backyard poultry keeping and poverty reduction in South Asia: Good practices and good returns
A chicken forages beneath a farm cart in Brahampur (Arwa Village), in West Bengal, India, near drying patties of cow dung that will be used as cooking fuel (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). A South Asia Pro-Poor Livestock Policy Programme, a joint initiative of the National Dairy Development Board of India and the United Nations Food and … Continue reading
Living livestock research: Towards policies for people and pigs in northeast India
For the past several years, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) has worked on a project to better livelihoods through improvement of livestock production and marketing in northeast India that is funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). In this 8-minute video, ILRI’s Pier-Paolo Ficarelli, a knowledge management specialist based in India, reports … Continue reading
Do ICTs help us put research into use?
A new report from Research Into Use examines the use of information and communications technologies (ICTs) in South Asia as a tool to put research into use for innovation. The authors conclude: “If ICTs are to contribute meaningfully to innovation management, there has to be a fundamental rethinking of our approach to agricultural and rural … Continue reading
Reducing hunger and poverty through goat ‘value chains’ in India and Mozambique
In many of the world’s dry areas, goats provide poor people with nutrition and livelihoods. An imGoats Project is working to transform the lives of goat keepers in India and Mozambique by turning their subsistence-level goat production into viable and profitable enterprises. This two-year (2011–2012) project aims to improve the performance of small ruminant value … Continue reading
Video with farmers helps to amplify agricultural extension and learning
In February 2011, Rikin Ghandi spoke to people on the ILRI campus about the work of Digital Green to reinforce agricultural extension through the use of participatory video with farmers. More on Digital Green Continue reading
Surreal moment teaching ‘goat economics’ to Bill Gates and Warren Buffett
Woman herding goats in Nagar Village, Tonk District, Rajasthan, India (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). Vikram Akula, founder and chairperson of the SKS Microfinance, in a blog he wrote for 800CEOread, tells the following charming story of how he ended up meeting with some of the richest people in the world to explain to them how the … Continue reading
Safety of animal source foods with an emphasis on the informal sector in India
Animal source foods, such as milk, dairy products, eggs, fish and meat, are important sources of nutrition and their production and processing supports the livelihoods of millions of poor farmers, traders, retailers and other value chain actors (many of them women) while providing cheap and nutritious food to large numbers of poor consumers. In India … Continue reading
Pig breeding takes off in India’s northeast, which produces 25% of the country’s pigs and consumes 50% of the country’s pork
Pig breeding on a farm in Dimapur, Nagaland, India (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). The Telegraph in Calcutta ran a story this week on why pigs—and pig breeding—matters to the marginalized indigenous communities of India’s northeast. ‘For the 600-odd villagers of two districts of Mon lying on either side of the [Nagaland] border, pig breeding has now … Continue reading
Adulteration of milk in northeast India addressed by innovative platform
A consultant to the European Commission, Wyn Richards, this week expressed satisfaction at the methodology adopted in India ‘for sensitizing the stakeholders on hygienic handling and distribution of unadulterated milk’ in Guwahati, the capital of the state of Assam. The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) is providing technical support to this project. ‘Milk though is … Continue reading