Livestock institute leader Jimmy Smith makes the case for sustainable livestock development—Food Tank webinar
Animal Production / Animal Products / Communications / Consumption / Directorate / Event report / Food Security / ILRI / Interview / Livelihoods / Presentation / Pro-Poor Livestock

Livestock institute leader Jimmy Smith makes the case for sustainable livestock development—Food Tank webinar

Jimmy Smith, director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), in a webinar today hosted by Food Tank, presented the case for sustainable livestock development in low- and middle-income countries helping the world achieve food and nutritional security. Continue reading

Economist, partners clinch USAID award for drought insurance
Article / Award / CCAFS / Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Ethiopia / ILRI / Interview / Kenya / Pastoralism / Pro-Poor Livestock / Rangelands / Resilience / SLS / Staff / Vulnerability

Economist, partners clinch USAID award for drought insurance

A Cornell development economist and his partners in the USAID-funded BASIS Assets and Market Access Innovation Lab have won an international award for developing a form of livestock insurance that has already proved itself in pilot testing. Now that it is scaling up, the insurance could help hundreds of thousands of African herders stave off poverty in times of drought. Continue reading

Breaking the devastating impacts of drought in the Horn of Africa—Kenyan wins global agricultural research award
Article / Award / CCAFS / Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Ethiopia / ILRI / Interview / Kenya / Pastoralism / Pro-Poor Livestock / Rangelands / Resilience / SLS / Staff / Vulnerability

Breaking the devastating impacts of drought in the Horn of Africa—Kenyan wins global agricultural research award

Kenyan scientist Andrew Mude won the 2016 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application on Tuesday for developing livestock insurance, using state-of-the-art technologies, for herders in East Africa’s drylands. Continue reading

Why Melinda and Bill Gates are betting big on chickens (hint: ‘the ATM of the poor’)
ACGG / Animal Breeding / Article / Chickens / Ethiopia / Film and video / Genetics / ILRI / Interview / LiveGene / Livelihoods / LIVESTOCKFISH / Nigeria / Opinion piece / Poultry / Pro-Poor Livestock / Tanzania / Women

Why Melinda and Bill Gates are betting big on chickens (hint: ‘the ATM of the poor’)

Our foundation is betting on chickens. Alongside partners throughout sub-Saharan Africa, we are working to create sustainable market systems for poultry. It’s especially important for these systems to make sure farmers can buy birds that have been properly vaccinated and are well suited to the local growing conditions. Our goal: to eventually help 30 percent of the rural families in sub-Saharan Africa raise improved breeds of vaccinated chickens, up from just 5 percent now. . . . Continue reading

Agri-Health / Animal Health / Article / Cattle / Central Africa / Disease Control / East Africa / ECF / Epidemiology / ILRI / Interview / Kenya / LIVESTOCKFISH / Southern Africa / Staff / Vaccines

New paper on parasitic infections shows the benefits of co-infections with the ‘mild cousins’ of important pathogens

Herds of African cattle may hold the secret to new ways of fighting parasitic diseases like malaria, which kills some 600,000 people a year, scientists said on Friday. Continue reading

Agri-Health / Animal Health / Article / Cattle / Central Africa / Disease Control / East Africa / ECF / Epidemiology / ILRI / Interview / Kenya / LIVESTOCKFISH / Southern Africa / Staff / Vaccines

ILRI’s Philip Toye VOA interview on East Coast fever, and the benefits of co-parasitic infections

Voice of America’s Joe DeCapua interview Phil Toye, a scientist with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), about a paper published this week in Science Advance. Continue reading