Category Archives: Article

FAO workshops map and plan work to contain animal-transmitted Ebola and MERS diseases
Animal Health / Article / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / Epidemiology / ILRI / ILVAC / MERS / Zoonotic Diseases

FAO workshops map and plan work to contain animal-transmitted Ebola and MERS diseases

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Joerg Jores, a molecular biologist at the Nairobi animal health laboratories of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) who is working to develop diagnostic assays and vaccines against livestock diseases caused by Mycoplasma mycoides is also investigating the epidemiology of MERS-CoV in camel populations in Kenya and participated in the recent FAO-hosted discussions. Continue reading →

The water ‘hoofprints’ of livestock products: They’re not what you think (and they vary enormously, besides)
Animal Production / Article / Australia / Environment / Livestock-Water / Water

The water ‘hoofprints’ of livestock products: They’re not what you think (and they vary enormously, besides)

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Brad Ridoutt, a principal research scientist with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia’s national science agency and an international leader in the field of life cycle assessment, which he applies to agricultural production, food systems and sustainable healthy diets, has an interesting comment on livestock water ‘hoofprints’ which makes up part of a longer article of his, An update on water footprints, posted on Tara Garnett’s Food Climate Research Network (FCRN) site on 7 Feb 2016. Continue reading →

Animal Products / Article / Climate Change / Farming Systems / ILRI / Livestock Systems / Pro-Poor Livestock / SLS / Soils / UK

Manure: A valuable resource—a 3-part webinar on a ‘win-win-win-win-win’ coming this February

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The Livestock and Manure Management project of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and Wageningen University & Research Centre (Wageningen UR) invite you to join a series of three webinars—on Wednesdays, 3, 17 and 24 Feb 2016—on ‘Manure: a valuable resource’. Continue reading →

PRIME(ing) resilience among Ethiopia’s pastoral communities
Animal Health / Article / Disease Control / East Africa / Ethiopia / Extension / Livestock / Markets / Pastoralism / Pro-Poor Livestock / Project / Resilience

PRIME(ing) resilience among Ethiopia’s pastoral communities

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PRIME helps farmers with livestock become more resilient to shocks. It also supports better management of existing water resources through more efficient rain harvesting techniques, better early warning systems and information sharing, and improved governance of communal lands and water spots. By improving linkages in the livestock value chain, PRIME also helps ensure profitable outlets for livestock sales when there is not enough feed available to support existing herd sizes. Continue reading →

African camels could hold a key to controlling the spread of the MERS virus
A4NH / Agri-Health / Article / Camels / CBPP / Diagnostics / Disease Control / East Africa / Emerging Diseases / Epidemiology / FSZ / Human Health / ILRI / Kenya / MERS / Middle East / Zoonotic Diseases

African camels could hold a key to controlling the spread of the MERS virus

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African camels could hold important clues to controlling the potential spread of a respiratory disease transmitted by the animals. For many years African camels have lived with the disease and the risk of it spreading to humans is still low. But more research is necessary to understand the disease better. This is even more important given the confirmation that the chains of transmission of the human Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection originated from contact with camels. Continue reading →

A bovine wealth-creating portfolio for Africa—Investing in cows remotely (like diamonds and gold)
Animal Production / Article / Cattle / Markets / South Africa / Southern Africa

A bovine wealth-creating portfolio for Africa—Investing in cows remotely (like diamonds and gold)

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Livestock Wealth was born out of the need to design wealth creation investment opportunities for Africans in an unpretentious way that the intended beneficiaries could understand. Livestock Wealth is a digital, trademarked “crowd-farming” platform officially launched in October this year that allows wannabe farmers–who don’t know the first thing about farming, let alone owning land, to establish a farm–to invest in cows remotely. Continue reading →

New Tanzania project launched to curb disease transmission from consumption of bushmeat
A4NH / Agri-Health / Article / Disease Control / East Africa / Emerging Diseases / Epidemiology / FSZ / ILRI / Southern Africa / Tanzania / Zoonotic Diseases

New Tanzania project launched to curb disease transmission from consumption of bushmeat

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‘Members of communities that live in forests and depend on hunting for survival have been reported to be at risk because bush meat, widely used as their source of food, can be a source of deadly pathogens from wild animals to humans. The Arusha-based, Nelson Mandela University and the US Centre[s] for Disease Control have now entered into a project aimed at curbing the transmission of diseases from wild animals to human beings.’ Continue reading →

The ‘year of meat’: Tamar Haspel, Bill Gates and others weigh in on the good, the bad and the ugly—and end up siding with ‘a little moderation and more innovation’
Animal Products / Article / Consumption / Directorate / Environment / ILRI / Nutrition / Opinion piece

The ‘year of meat’: Tamar Haspel, Bill Gates and others weigh in on the good, the bad and the ugly—and end up siding with ‘a little moderation and more innovation’

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This was the ‘Year of Meat’, when animal flesh became the poster child for health and environmental ‘bads’. As the role of over-consuming meat in greenhouse gas emissions, obesity and cancer took centre stage, even iron man Arnold Schwarzenegger, speaking at the United Nations COP21 climate change conference in Paris this Dec, climbed the bandwagon to advocate eating less meat. Below are summaries of two of the more balanced articles (evidence-based and not unreasonably optimistic about human enterprise and ingenuity) that appeared this year about our love-hate relationship with meat. Continue reading →