Category Archives: Article

Agriculture / Article / BecA / Central Africa / Crop-Livestock / East Africa / Kenya / Research

Science fund opens new agricultural research frontiers in Africa

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Ethel Makila writes in New Agriculturalist about an African fund that is leading to breakthroughs and opening new frontiers in the continent’s biosciences research (photo: ILRI/David White). This month (Mar 2013), New Agriculturalist features an article on the Africa Biosciences Challenge Fund. This is a fund that is managed by a state-of-the-art biosciences initiative located … Continue reading →

Article / Drylands / East Africa / Environment / Ethiopia / Pastoralism / Policy / Vulnerability

Cash crops vs cattle pastures: Converting pastoral lands into irrigated croplands in Africa benefits few

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Ethiopian rangeland (photo credit: ILRI/Dave Elsworth). ‘Cotton, sugar, palm oil… you name it. Most governments in the developing world believe such plantation cash crops must be a better use of land, and must deliver greater economic returns, than cattle pastures. That’s what most of the current land grabs in Africa are about. That’s why the … Continue reading →

Article / Event / Film and video / Food Security / Ghana / Human Health / Nutrition / USA / West Africa / Women

Got milk? (or meat or eggs)? The missing ingredients in global nutritional security

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Hidden Hunger from Bob Caputo on Vimeo. Watch this handsomely made film (with superb writing as well as videography), produced in 2010 by National Geographic‘s Bob Caputo (run-time: 26 minutes). ‘Malnutrition does not make headlines the way famine does. But it is far more widespread and deadly. Globally, it affects more than a billion people. It is … Continue reading →

Article / Event / Gender / Research / Women

Empower women to tend farms, families, high-level science careers — Nature and NYT

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Fisherwoman, by B Prabha, 1960 (via Blake Gopnik’s Daily Pic in the Daily Beast). Whether female scientists will want to celebrate International Women’s Day on 8 March may depend on how far they look back in time. Things have changed, and if you talk in terms of decades, there are considerable victories to cheer about. … Continue reading →

Agri-Health / Article / Disease Control / East Africa / Epidemiology / Ethiopia / Human Health / ILRI / Zoonotic Diseases

An old-fashioned disease threatens ancient culture / emerging economy: TB in Ethiopia

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ILRI’s ‘A disease called poverty’ poster: An old-fashioned deadly disease is emerging from an ancient culture and an emerging economy (poster credit: ILRI/Susan MacMillan). ‘Ethiopia has the largest cattle population in Africa. The vast majority of the national herd is of indigenous zebu cattle maintained in rural areas under extensive husbandry systems. However, in response … Continue reading →

A4NH / Article / East Africa / Film and video / ILRI / Intensification / Interview / Kenya / Zoonotic Diseases

The profits of livestock farming in Nairobi’s slums: Better health and wealth

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Sheep look for food outside the house of Josephine Napkonde, 78, who lives in a slum in Nairobi and looks after 5 children abandoned by a relative (photo on Flickr by HelpAge International/Frederic Courbet). ‘Kahawa Soweto is a slum on the northeast edge of Nairobi, Kenya. . . . It’s a densely packed area, and it’s not … Continue reading →

Article / Genetics / Indigenous Breeds / USA

Of mice (pupfish) and men: Existential matters rising in genetic rescues of endangered species

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Bio-repository of livestock genetic material at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) (photo credit: ILRI/Susan MacMillan). WIRED Magazine recently published an interesting article, ‘Attack of the mutant pupfish’, on some existential matters rising in attempts to make genetic rescues of endangered species. The author explores an interesting case study of the conflicting stands/approaches of animal … Continue reading →

Animal Production / Article / Directorate / Food Security / FSZ / ILRI / Livestock / Nutrition / SLS / Trade

Animal production and global food security: Livelihoods for poor owners and food for rich consumers

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The January 2013 issue of Animal Frontiers looks at the contribution of animal production to global food security. The first of two special issues edited by Maggie Gill, this issue ‘takes a high-level perspective, exploring the relationship between people and animals (including fish) in developing countries, through trade and particularly in terms of nutrition’. Articles … Continue reading →

A4NH / Agri-Health / Animal Health / Article / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / Epidemiology / Geodata / Human Health / ILRI / Wildlife / Zoonotic Diseases

Pathogen ecologies and human interventions: The natural and unnatural histories of zoonotic diseases

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Three diapered goats in the boot of a car in Bamako, Mali (photo on Flickr by Romel Jacinto/37 °C). This week, the Lancet publishes a series of three papers on diseases that are ‘zoonotic’, that is, infections shared by people and other animals. As William Keresh of EcoHealth Alliance (New York) and his colleagues explain in … Continue reading →

Article / East Africa / Ethiopia / ILRI / IPMS / Knowledge and Information

Investing in rural knowledge: IPMS helps build Arbisi primary school in Ethiopia

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Over the past six years, the Improving productivity and market success (IPMS) project has touched the lives of many Ethiopians at different levels, in different ways and times. For some, it was a stepping stone to the next level in life, or a means to find a purpose, or a way to achieve the greatest … Continue reading →