Category Archives: Research

Africa / Agriculture / ASF / BecA / Biotechnology / Genetics / Presentation / Project / Research

African biosciences ‘hub’ highlighted at AAAS meeting in Vancouver

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With international funding, the Biosciences eastern and central Africa Hub (BecA-ILRI Hub), based in Nairobi, Kenya, and managed by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), is enabling African and international scientists to partner on a wide range of new and exciting research programs. Most of these research programs focus on both animal and crop health … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Diseases / CBPP / Disease Control / ILRI / Launch / North America / Research / USA / Vaccines

US National Science Foundation’s BREAD funds Craig Venter and ILRI to battle cattle pneumonia in Africa

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Dinner with philanthropist Bill Gates at the home of genome-czar J Craig Venter in La Jolla, California, in 2008 (photo by jurvetson on Flickr). ‘Gates asked the most astute and detailed questions about microbiology’, JCVI reports, and said, ‘DNA is the most interesting software there is.’ The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Bill & Melinda Gates … Continue reading →

Animal Diseases / Biotechnology / Diagnostics / Disease Control / Drylands / East Africa / Emerging Diseases / Environment / Epidemiology / Event / Human Health / ILRI / Kenya / Research / RVF / Southern Africa / USA / Zoonotic Diseases

Could Rift Valley fever be a weapon of mass destruction? An insidious insect-animal-people infection loop explored

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The Fifth Plague: Livestock Disease, woodcut by Gustave Doré, 1866 (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons). Anthrax, bird flu , Ebola, HIV-AIDS, H1N1, H5N1, influenza, Rift Valley fever, SARS: What are the disease links between people, animals and environments? And what are we doing to protect ourselves against the next outbreak of a deadly infectious disease? … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Products / East Africa / Ethiopia / Film and video / ILRI / IPMS / Research / Value Chains

No bees, no honey: Apiculture value chain experiences in Ethiopia

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‘No bees no honey’ presents the experience of the Improving Productivity and Market Success (IPMS) project on apiculture value chain development in Ethiopia. IPMS together with the district office of agriculture, farmers, input suppliers and other stakeholders worked in the district to produce high quality honey by using integrated commodity development approach. The video shows … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Breeding / Asia / Biodiversity / Capacity Strengthening / ILRI / Indigenous Breeds / Livestock / Report / Research

Building capacities in animal genetic resources – a ‘training of trainers’ approach

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Since 1999, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)  has partnered with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) to provide capacity building on the sustainable use of Animal Genetic Resources (AnGR). This report by Julie Ojango, Birgitta Malmfors, Okeyo Mwai, and Jan Philipsson on Training the trainers – An innovative and successful model for capacity building in animal … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Breeding / Animal Production / Biodiversity / Cattle / Gambia / Goats / ILRI / Indigenous Breeds / Livestock / Project / Report / Research / Sheep / Small Ruminants / West Africa

The Gambia’s hardy native ruminant livestock surveyed in bid to improve their conservation and productivity

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Although livestock play a central role in rural development in West Africa, traditional livestock systems have high death rates, low reproductive rates and low offtake rates. Furthermore, the presence of trypanosome-infected tsetse flies in the sub-humid and humid areas hurts the potential for livestock production. The region’s endemic ruminant livestock, however, are highly adapted to … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Crop residues / Crop-Livestock / East Africa / Ethiopia / Event / HUMIDTROPICS / ILRI / Intensification / Livestock / Livestock Systems / Project / Research / South Africa / West Africa

Experts meet in Addis Ababa to design new agricultural research project for Ethiopian Highlands

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Around 60 experts are meeting at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Addis Ababa on 30th and 31st January to plan an exciting new research project that aims to transform agricultural systems in the Highland of Ethiopia. As in many part of Africa, farming systems in the Ethiopian Highlands are a mix of crop … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Capacity Strengthening / Research

Strategic partnerships needed to build African scientific capacity for agriculture

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A report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies provides an overview of agricultural science cooperation within the African research system; the university system; and the role of partnerships with the private sector. The report identifies four key approaches: Focus on Problems. Achieving results will require serious focus. Focus on the most real and … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Crop-Livestock / Farming Systems / Ghana / HUMIDTROPICS / ILRI / Intensification / Mali / Project / Research / West Africa

Transforming African agricultural systems through sustainable intensification: Project design workshops

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As part of the US government’s Feed the Future initiative to address global hunger and food security issues in sub-Saharan Africa, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) is supporting three multi-stakeholder agricultural research projects to sustainably intensify key African farming systems. Based in three priority agro-ecological zones, the three projects are focused on sites … Continue reading →

East Africa / Ethiopia / Film and video / ILRI / Kenya / Research

ILRI campus life in Ethiopia and Kenya – Virtual tours

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What’s it like working and visiting the campus of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)? Our human resources team recently commissioned two short films … with staff members as your guides. Visit the Kenya campus in Nairobi with Kim Kariuki: Visit the Ethiopia campus in Addis Ababa with Tsehay Gashaw: Practical information on the Addis … Continue reading →