Improving smallholder fodder through better knowledge as well as technologies

Posted on 15 Nov 2010 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

Busy fodder market in Hyderabad, India; farmers transport their fodder to this market, where it is bought by urban dairies (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). The magazine Farming Matters ran a feature on a Fodder Innovation Project funded by the UK Department for International Development and conducted since 2003 by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) with … Continue reading →

Asia / Pakistan / Pro-Poor Livestock / South Asia

Pakistanis risk their lives for their livestock

Posted on 13 Nov 2010 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

Displaced people fleeing Sindh streamed into Balochistan (photo credit: Abdul Majeed Goraya/IRIN); by 4 August 2010, Pakistan’s worst flooding in 80 years had affected 3.2 million people. A report last August 2010 from Reuters AlertNet about Pakistan’s struggles to move its flood victims out of danger highlights how important livestock are to Pakistan’s poor. Many … Continue reading →

Asia / Climate Change / Environment / Pakistan / South Asia

Keep funding pots for climate change and development issues separate: both are needed–Potsdam scientist

Posted on 12 Nov 2010 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

Last month, the Ministry of Environment of Pakistan, in collaboration with One UN Joint Programme on Environment, based in Islamabad, which supports Pakistan in fulfilling its international obligations towards environmental treaties and agreements, organized an International Conference on Climate Change and Development, 21–22 October 2010, in Islamabad, Pakistan, to take stock of the unfolding effects of … Continue reading →

Agriculture / Asia / ILRI / South Asia / Women

IFPRI-ILRI launch gender and agriculture project

Posted on 10 Nov 2010 by Peter Ballantyne (ILRI) • Leave a comment

An inception workshop for the ‘Gender, Agriculture and Assets Project’ was held at the ILRI Nairobi campus from 5 – 7 November 2010. The aim of the initiative is to increase the impacts of agricultural development programmes in reducing gender inequalities, asset disparities, and improving rural livelihoods in Sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia. Read … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Asia / Directorate / Farming Systems / Food Security / ILRI / Mozambique / Niger / South Asia

Backing smallholder farmers today could avert food crises tomorrow

Posted on 14 Oct 2010 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

The Guardian‘s Poverty Matters blog today (14 October 2010) published the following opinion piece by Carlos Seré, director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). ‘Agribusiness investment would not only transform the lives of farmers in south Asia and Africa, but boost global food security. ‘As food riots continue in Mozambique and food crises … Continue reading →

Animal Diseases / Animal Health / Asia / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / Knowledge and Information / Livestock / South Asia / Sri Lanka / Zoonotic Diseases

Mobile-phone–based surveillance of infectious disease in Sri Lanka

Posted on 23 Sep 2010 by Peter Ballantyne (ILRI) • Leave a comment

With infectious zoonotic diseases emerging in animals in low- and middle-income countries, surveillance of animal health in these nations is becoming increasingly important for forecasting disease risks to people. A new paper describes a mobile-phone-based surveillance system for animal populations that has been developed and implemented in Sri Lanka. Using this system, field veterinarians reported … 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 →

Animal Production / Asia / Climate Change / India / Livestock / South Asia

Proper livestock management can reduce global warming – Narayan Hegde

Posted on 31 Aug 2010 by Peter Ballantyne (ILRI) • Leave a comment

Livestock (cattle) the world over release about 18 per cent of carbon dioxide equivalent of methane through digestive and respiratory systems. Pune-based BAIF Development Research Foundation has published a concept paper taking note of this significant and dangerous contribution to global warming and how to cut down emission of methane by these animals using proper … Continue reading →

Animal Breeding / Asia / Biodiversity / India / Indigenous Breeds / Knowledge and Information / Livestock / South Asia

Genetic documentation battling livestock extinction in India

Posted on 30 Aug 2010 by Peter Ballantyne (ILRI) • Leave a comment

With the country’s rich pool of livestock resources facing threat from extinction due to loss of habitat and shortage of green fodder, a unique initiative to retain and register genetic characteristics through documentation has helped in reviving many breed. Read more … (Financial Express) National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources Continue reading →

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

Livestock insurance: Learning from India and the world

Posted on 27 Aug 2010 by Peter Ballantyne (ILRI) • Leave a comment

Around 50 million households in India depend on livestock for sustenance. Livestock acts as insurance for households that depend on agriculture for income. For close to 18 million households, livestock is the primary source of income. While the share of agriculture in the GDP has declined over the years, the share of livestock in agriculture … Continue reading →