Community platforms in rural Kenya serve as the backbone for catalyzing innovative livestock interventions Continue reading
Category Archives: 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?
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
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
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
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
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
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
‘Extreme declines’ in wildlife populations in Kenya over past 4 decades—New study
There have been disturbing declines in wildlife populations in Kenya in the past three decades, a study released this week revealed. Continue reading
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