Livestock and trees: A more perfect union
Advocacy / Article / Cattle / Climate Change / Environment / Food Security / Goats / Pastoralism / Rangelands / Sheep / Small Ruminants

Livestock and trees: A more perfect union

Finding flexible solutions to land usage, plus more good land on which to grow food, is essential to our survival. . . . [L]ivestock in the right places, using thoughtful methodologies, just may be able to feed us and feed the soil—all while helping us meet carbon and other climate goals. Continue reading

Is promoting vegetarianism for all the world’s people a form of colonialism? just Euro-centric?
Advocacy / Buffalo / Camels / Cattle / Farming Systems / Food Security / Goats / Livestock Systems / Opinion piece / Policy / Rangelands / Sheep / Small Ruminants

Is promoting vegetarianism for all the world’s people a form of colonialism? just Euro-centric?

The debate over whether a vegetarian diet is better for the planet is top of mind for many as news of water scarcity, climate change, and deforestation seem to worsen by the day. Sarah Taber, a US-based agricultural scientist added another angle to the debate earlier this month when she laid out the argument that calling vegetarianism and/or veganism a universally ‘better’ diet is a form of colonialist thinking. Continue reading

Northern Kenya-southern Ethiopia dryland livestock traders gathered in Marsabit for better livestock trade and market links
Article / AVCD / Camels / Cattle / Drylands / East Africa / Ethiopia / Event report / ILRI / Kenya / Knowledge and Information / LIVESTOCKCRP / Markets / Pastoralism / PIL / Pro-Poor Livestock / Rangelands / Small Ruminants / Trade

Northern Kenya-southern Ethiopia dryland livestock traders gathered in Marsabit for better livestock trade and market links

Enthusiastic traders from several counties in northern Kenya and from across the border in Ethiopia joined a livestock trade facilitation forum in Marsabit, Kenya on May 9. By close of business, participating livestock buyers and sellers signed contracts for a total of 5,373 livestock at a value of $406,774. Continue reading

Mobile pastoralism—A 10,000-year-old practice still robust, if threatened, in the Mediterranean today
Biodiversity / Cattle / Climate Change / Environment / Europe / Goats / Pastoralism / Policy / Rangelands / Sheep / Small Ruminants

Mobile pastoralism—A 10,000-year-old practice still robust, if threatened, in the Mediterranean today

Mobile Pastoralism in the Mediterranean: Arguments and evidence for policy reform and its role in combating climate change presents over 100 arguments detailing the benefits of mobile pastoralism to biodiversity, carbon storage, wildfire prevention, climate change, food security and quality, traditional ecological knowledge, rural economies, tourism—to name a few. Continue reading

Why (and how) human health (and development) depends on animal health—OIE’s Monique Eloit
Agri-Health / Animal Diseases / Animal Health / Cattle / Disease Control / Goats / Opinion piece / PPR / Pro-Poor Livestock / Sheep / Small Ruminants / Vaccines

Why (and how) human health (and development) depends on animal health—OIE’s Monique Eloit

The following are excerpts of an opinion piece written by Monique Eloit, director general of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) on ‘Keeping animals healthy can help keep people healthy too, and development on track’. Continue reading

As another drought bites the Horn, 12 million face food shortages in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia
Camels / Cattle / Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Ethiopia / Food Security / Goats / Kenya / Livelihoods / News clipping / Nutrition / Pastoralism / Sheep / Small Ruminants / Somalia / South Sudan / Uganda / Vulnerability

As another drought bites the Horn, 12 million face food shortages in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia

With as little as one-quarter of expected rainfall received, widespread drought conditions in the Horn of Africa have intensified since the failure of the October–December rains, FAO said. Areas of greatest concern cover much of Somalia, northeast and coastal Kenya, southeast Ethiopia as well as the Afar region still to recover from El Niño induced drought of 2015/16, and South Sudan, which faces a serious food crisis due to protracted insecurity. Continue reading

The Odisha Government and ILRI join forces to better resource livestock feeds in this eastern Indian state
Animal Feeding / Article / ASSP / Cattle / Feeds / Fodder / Forages / ILRI / India / Pro-Poor Livestock / Project / Small Ruminants / South Asia

The Odisha Government and ILRI join forces to better resource livestock feeds in this eastern Indian state

The government of the state of Odisha, in eastern India, and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) will work together to provide improved feed and fodder to livestock in the state (formerly known as Orissa) in a new three-year project. Continue reading

Livestock are ‘the future of Pakistan’s smallholder farmers’—PARC chairman
Article / ASSP / Goats / ILRI / Intensification / Pakistan / Pro-Poor Livestock / Sheep / Small Ruminants / South Asia

Livestock are ‘the future of Pakistan’s smallholder farmers’—PARC chairman

A flock of Makhi Cheeni goats near Hasilpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan (photo credit: ILRI/M Sajjad Khan). ‘Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) Chairman Dr Nadeem Amjad stated that livestock was the future of the country’s poor farmers with small lands. . . . ‘Advisor to Sindh Chief Minister Nawab Muhammad Taimur Talpur inaugurated the shed as chief … Continue reading