A pig scavenges for food in trash outside a poor household in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). The Economist today (10 February 2011) reports on news from the International Livestock Research Institute, being discussed this week at an international conference on agriculture, nutrition and health in New Delhi, India, of the critical need … Continue reading
Category Archives: South Asia
ILRI and University of Agriculture Faisalabad join forces on indigenous livestock
Pakistan’s ‘Business Recorder’ reports from a workshop in Pakistan on the “implementation of development and application of decision support tools to conserve and sustainability use and genetic diversity in indigenous livestock and wild relatives” where the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) have signed a collaborative agreement. The main … Continue reading
Demand led transformation of the livestock sector in India
The South Asia Agriculture and Rural Development Department of the World Bank has produced its first assessment of the livestock sector in India since 1996. According to the report, a ‘livestock revolution’ has occurred on a large scale in India over the last couple of decades. Demand for all major livestock commodities (milk, eggs, meat) … Continue reading
Status of postgraduate training in the livestock sector in South Asia and priorities for ILRI’s support
This Status Report on the status of postgraduate training in the livestock sector in South Asia and priorities for ILRI’s support was released on 15 September, 2010. In order to establish the priorities for collaborative capacity strengthening activities of the learning institutes in the areas of animal production and veterinary services, ILRI commissioned five studies … Continue reading
Researchers worldwide unite in multi-million dollar initiative to fight climate change in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia
Inger Andersen, chair of the Fund Council of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and vice president of Sustainable Development at the World Bank during her opening speech at Agriculture and Rural Development Day, a side event at the United Nations climate change conference (COP16), being held in Cancún, Mexico (photo credit: Neil … Continue reading
India’s goat gamble
It has been a slow and steady shift over decades. Forced by declining returns from farming in ecologically fragile areas, small farmers have been taking to goat rearing. Today, goats ensure income to five million households in India. It is now bonanza time, with demand for goat meat projected to shoot up. India will have … Continue reading
ILRI calls for steps to conserve the animal genetic resources of developing countries
‘The International Livestock Research Institute is calling for immediate, practical steps to preserve developing countries’ dwindling animal genetic diversity. The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization says almost 10 percent of the world’s livestock breeds have become extinct in the last six years. Twenty percent of the 7,616 breeds documented in the FAO’s Global Databank … Continue reading
India’s new sorghum varieties feed animals as well as people
‘Throughout the tropics, a lack of feed keeps farm animals underweight and underproductive, thereby preventing some 600 million poor farmers and herders from meeting fast-rising global demand for milk and meat. But thanks to a partnership between India’s National Research Centre for Sorghum (NRCS), the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and … Continue reading
Dependence on borrowed research has cost India
Even as the Indian Network for Climate Change Assessment — dubbed “the Indian Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)” — released its first report on the impact of climate change in four regions of the country, it admitted that significant research gaps and lack of extensive databases were hampering Indian climate science. Long-term localised data … Continue reading
New scientific body to address ‘Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security’
Sahelian sheep look for food before the mosque at Djenne, in Mali (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). A new research program on ‘Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security’ (CCAFS) was launched this week. It will link much of the best climate-related agricultural research for development work going on at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and 14 … Continue reading