Foolhardy? Or just hardy? New project tackles climate change and livestock markets in the Horn

Posted on 7 Jun 2012 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

If only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the tropical midday sun, what shall we say of Americans in Alabama and Kenya setting out to learn from, and support, sales of livestock in the hot and drying badlands extending across the Horn of Africa? This is what Peter Little, of Emory University, and Polly … Continue reading →

Animal Breeding / Animal Feeding / China / Genetics / Intensification / Pigs / Poultry / Trade / USA

Exporting American livestock genetics to China: Grain to follow?

Posted on 24 Apr 2012 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

Min piglets at the experimental station at the Institute for Animal Science, in Beijing, China (photo credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann). America is breeding farm animals for China, Reuters and the New York Times report, to supply China with more meat. ‘. . . In a country where pork is a staple, the demand for a protein-rich … Continue reading →

Animal Production / Consumption / Food Safety / Food Security / ILRI / Innovation Systems / Intensification / Livelihoods / Livestock / Markets / PIM / Policy / Report / Research / Trade / Value Chains

Livestock market opportunities for the poor: Smallholders can be competitive

Posted on 13 Nov 2011 by ILRI Communications • Leave a comment

For the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, Steve Staal, Derek Baker, Karl Rich, Ayele Gelan, Acho Okike, Delia Grace, Mohammad Jabbar, Mohamadou Fadiga, Ranjitha Puskur, Lucy Lapar, Berhanu Gebremedhin, Amos Omore and Francis Wanyoike prepared a series of issue briefs on smallholder livestock producers, consumers, and development … View a presentation to the … Continue reading →

A4NH / Agri-Health / Animal Diseases / Article / Food Safety / Trade / Zoonotic Diseases

Standard-setting organizations for safe livestock trade need to evolve and collaborate more closely to meet new challenges

Posted on 6 Aug 2011 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

A new paper by by GK Bruckner, of South Africa, Ensuring safe international trade: how are the roles and responsibilities evolving and what will the situation be in ten years’ time?, outlines the changing and evolving roles and responsibilities in ensuring safe international trade in animals and animal products. Bruckner’s abstract follows. ‘The roles of the … Continue reading →

Agriculture / Animal Feeding / Asia / Brazil / China / Latin America / Trade / USA

China’s insatiable appetite for Brazil’s soybeans is making the latter country rich–and nervous

Posted on 26 Jun 2011 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

Planting soy in the state of Paraná, Brazil (photograph via Flickr by Dami Izolan). Daniel Kfouri reports in the New York Times that Brazil’s ‘$7 billion agreement signed last month—to produce six million tons of soybeans a year—is one of several struck in recent weeks as China hurries to shore up its food security and offset … Continue reading →

Agriculture / Food Security / Markets / Trade

G20 agriculture ministers meet this week: Must invest in food markets to bolster food security–Guardian

Posted on 22 Jun 2011 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

Workers unload milk cans at a commercial dairy plant in Dimapur, Nagaland, India (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). A blog in the Guardian this week argues for the G20 agriculture ministers meeting this week to support ‘new investment in farming and vibrant, transparent markets to address food security.’ ‘As the G20 agriculture ministers prepare to meet for the … Continue reading →

A4NH / Agri-Health / Animal Diseases / Diagnostics / Disease Control / East Africa / Epidemiology / Event / Human Health / ILRI / Kenya / Middle East / RVF / Trade / Zoonotic Diseases

Kenya forges new pact with Horn and Middle East in old war against deadly Rift Valley fever

Posted on 20 Jun 2011 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

The pathogenesis of Rift Valley fever. Viruses 2011, 3(5), 493-519; doi:10.3390/v3050493 (image credit: A J Cann’s Flickr photostream). Kenya’s Business Daily newspaper reports that Kenya is forging a new pact in an old war against the deadly mosquito-transmitted ‘zoonotic’—human plus livestock—disease called Rift Valley fever. ‘Kenya has partnered with neighbouring stats to boost surveillance on Rift Valley … Continue reading →

Animal Diseases / Cattle / Diagnostics / Disease Control / Epidemiology / ILRI / Markets / Middle East / RVF / Trade / Zoonotic Diseases

Officials from Middle East and Africa meet to tackle Rift Valley fever, disease of livestock and people

Posted on 14 Jun 2011 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

The New Agriculturist reports today that ‘As the Middle East increases livestock imports from Africa, officials are meeting in Dubai to develop a strategy to prevent the spread of Rift Valley fever, without banning livestock imports from the Horn of Africa. . . . ‘To guide their responses to the disease, officials from the Middle … Continue reading →

Africa / Agriculture / Crop-Livestock / Farming Systems / Food Security / ILRI / Livelihoods / Trade / Value Chains

With the right investments, Africa’s small farms could make profits as well as food

Posted on 5 May 2011 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

Mohamed Béavogui, director of the west and central African division of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), has the following to say in the Guardian‘s Poverty Matters Blog. ‘Africa’s smallholder farmers not only have the potential to produce enough food for export—and thereby contribute to food security worldwide—but to help lead the way to … Continue reading →

Animal Production / Drylands / DRYLANDSCRP / ILRI / India / Innovation Systems / Mozambique / South Asia / Southern Africa / Trade / Value Chains / Women

Reducing hunger and poverty through goat ‘value chains’ in India and Mozambique

Posted on 27 Apr 2011 by Susan MacMillan • Leave a comment

In many of the world’s dry areas, goats provide poor people with nutrition and livelihoods. An imGoats Project is working to transform the lives of goat keepers in India and Mozambique by turning their subsistence-level goat production into viable and profitable enterprises. This two-year (2011–2012) project aims to improve the performance of small ruminant value … Continue reading →

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