Category Archives: Article

Africa / Animal Production / Article / Cattle / Dairying / Kenya / Livelihoods / Markets / Pastoralism / PIL / Value Chains

East Africa Dairy Development Project featured in Kenya Airways’ February 2014 Msafiri in-flight magazine

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I was travelling on a short flight from Nairobi to Mombasa yesterday and was glad to read about the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and its partners of the East Africa Dairy Development (EADD) Project in the Kenya Airways in-flight magazine in the seat pocket in front of me. A four-page full-feature article (see pages 100-104) … Continue reading →

Agriculture / Article / Biotechnology / Climate Change / Disease Control / Genetics / ILRIComms

The holy grail in agricultural genetics is within sight: But will it make a difference to feeding the hungry?

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Work in the genetic resources program at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (photo on Flickr by CIAT/Neil Palmer). Are promising genetically modified food crops doomed to stay in greenhouses? What about crops whose bits (of bits) of their genomes have been ‘precision edited’ with the help of new genome engineering tools (Talens and Crispr) … Continue reading →

Agriculture / Animal Production / Article / East Africa / Livelihoods / Livestock / PIL / Pro-Poor Livestock / Tanzania / Value Chains

In Africa, livestock are a catalyst for economic growth—Livestock data study findings

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Investing in smallholder farmers who own livestock in rural Africa, such as these women in Tanzania, is a catalyst for economic growth (photo credit: ILRI/Deo Gratias Shayo). Last October (2013), the World Bank reported on the findings of a case study on ‘Livestock and Livelihoods in Rural Tanzania.’ The study assessed opportunities and barriers to … Continue reading →

Article / CCAFS / Environment / Food Security / ILRI / ILRIComms

Future of (sustainable) livestock production: Efficient, but measured–Time Magazine on major new ILRI study

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Ethiopian livestock-keeper and her children (photo credit: ILRI/Apollo Habtamu). Livestock production may have a bigger impact on the planet than anything else. A new study from the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) shows how the effects vary from country to country — and points the way toward a more sustainable future. Below, Time Magazine‘s senior … Continue reading →

Animal Feeding / Article / ASSP / Crop residues / Crop-Livestock / East Africa / Feeds / LIVESTOCKFISH / South Asia

Field Crops Research special issue on dual-purpose maize for food and feed

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The inability of livestock keepers to feed their animals adequately throughout the year remains the major technical constraint in most livestock systems, particularly in smallholder systems in emerging countries. Meeting the demand for meat and milk in a way that poor livestock keepers benefit more from their animal assets will require sustainable production of more … Continue reading →

Agriculture / Article / Dairying / Europe / ILRIComms / Nutrition / Pastoralism

Europe’s ‘milk revolution’: First Neolithic cheese-making, then a genetic mutation allowing lactose persistence

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Oscypek, a ‘must taste’ when visiting Polish mountains, is the most famous cheese in Poland today; it is made from salted sheep milk, smoked and formed in traditional wooden forms (photo credit: Tom Karas/PolishFoodInfo.com). In 2011, Mélanie Roffet-Salque, a geochemist at the University of Bristol, UK, found signatures of abundant milk fats — evidence that early farmers, … Continue reading →

Animal Products / Article / Southern Africa / Value Chains

Zambeef: Indigenous Zambian company ‘makes good’ serving middle, as well as lower-income, groups

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Cows wait to be milked at one of Zambia’s largest agribusinesses—Zambeef (photo credit: BBC World Service). A butchery run by Zambeef in Lusaka, Zambia, is ‘a fast-growing food company based in Lusaka. It operates meat counters at all 20 Shoprite stores across Zambia as well as in the chain’s newer outlets in Ghana and Nigeria. … Continue reading →

Agriculture / Article / Climate Change / DRYLANDSCRP / East Africa / Livelihoods / Livestock / Pastoralism / Vulnerability

Making visible the ‘invisible benefits’ of African pastoralism will spur national and pastoral economies both

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Pastoral areas of Africa are experiencing a booming livestock export trade and inflow of investment that can be harnessed to grow national economies (photo credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann). A comprehensive economic evaluation of pastoral livestock’s often invisible livelihood benefits in Africa’s drylands could be key in maintaining and harnessing the increasing economic benefits for poor herders … Continue reading →

Agriculture / Article / Asia / Biotechnology / Environment / Genetics / ILRI / India / North America / Seeds / USA

‘Nature’ takes a hard look at the ‘messy middle ground’ — the ‘difficult adolescence’ — of GM crops

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Cover of a special issue of ‘Nature’ on GMOs, 2 May 2013. The leading British science journal Nature has published a special issue on GM crops: Promise and reality  (2 May 2013). This hub of updated science-based information on GM crops includes feature news stories, commentaries, a podcast and more. ‘Foreign genes were successfully introduced into … Continue reading →

A4NH / Agri-Health / Article / Disease Control / East Africa / Emerging Diseases / Food Safety / Human Health / ILRI / Interview / Kenya / Nutrition / Policy / Report / Zoonotic Diseases

Keeping cows in the city, chickens under the bed: ‘The Atlantic’ magazine explores Africa’s urbanization

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Butcher shop in a slum in Kawangare, Nairobi, Kenya (picture on Flickr by Brad Ruggles). It’s not only people who are rapidly urbanizing in Africa: people migrating from rural areas are bringing their livelihoods with them, which in Africa largely means their cattle, goats, sheep, chickens and pigs. A scientific report from researchers based in … Continue reading →