For people living in absolute poverty and chronic hunger, the solution is not to rid the world of livestock, but to find ways to farm animals more efficiently and more sustainably
We need to conserve the most important livestock genetic diversity for possible future use – by poor and rich farmers alike
Livestock feed is a key constraint to the commercialization of smallholder livestock production
While vaccines remain the most cost-effective medical and veterinary interventions for controlling disease, opportunities also exist to improve animal health by improving existing veterinary services and access by poor livestock keepers to those services
Mixed crop-and-livestock farms will, more than the traditional breadbaskets and rice bowls of the past, feed the developing world over the next few decades
Human, livestock and environmental health are inextricably linked, Sixty-one per cent of all diseases are ‘zoonotic’ –that is, transmissible between animals and humans.
Making smallholder production more competitive is a powerful tool to reduce poverty, raise nutrition levels and improve the livelihoods of rural people in many developing countries
Expert opinion agrees that the best way to tap into the potential of the drylands is to build on the foundation of their livestock economies rather than ignoring them or seeking to replace them.
The Fund Office of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) recently produced two publications summing up past and current accomplishments in the CGIAR. What the CGIAR has accomplished in 4 decades First is a brochure celebrating, and listing, 40 impacts of 40 years of CGIAR Research: 1971–2011, which provides the following assessment. ‘The … Continue reading
Woman herding goats in Nagar Village, Tonk District, Rajasthan, India (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). Vikram Akula, founder and chairperson of the SKS Microfinance, in a blog he wrote for 800CEOread, tells the following charming story of how he ended up meeting with some of the richest people in the world to explain to them how the … Continue reading
A new brochure, ‘Changing agricultural research in a changing world,’ in long and short versions, has been produced by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) on why the CGIAR has reformed and how the world will benefit. The following is a transcript of the short version. ‘Agriculture in the developing world faces unprecedented … Continue reading
Dan Murphy, a food-industry journalist and commentator, picked up the story we recently ran on a Future of Pastoralism in Africa Conference, held at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and says the following in Drovers CattleNetwork. ‘Dry, dusty, deserted. ‘Those would be apt descriptions of the photos and descriptions most … Continue reading
Shaukat Abdul Razak and Björn Häggmark cut a cake to celebrate the launch the Bio-Innovate Program on 16 March 2011; looking on is ILRI director general Carlos Seré (right) and other invited guests (photo credit: ILRI/Mungai). The Africa Science News Service reports on a recently launched Bio-Innovate Program at the InternationalLivestock Research Institute (ILRI). ‘. … Continue reading
Animal source foods, such as milk, dairy products, eggs, fish and meat, are important sources of nutrition and their production and processing supports the livelihoods of millions of poor farmers, traders, retailers and other value chain actors (many of them women) while providing cheap and nutritious food to large numbers of poor consumers. In India … Continue reading
SciDevNet this week carries a dairy genetics story. ‘Dairy farmers in East Africa could soon benefit from superior, affordable cattle breeds through a US$1 million research project. ‘The Dairy Genetics East Africa (DGEA) initiative aims to help smallholders take full advantage of the region’s booming dairy sector and improve their incomes by giving them access … Continue reading
Portrait of Joyce Ledson, a farmer growing four ‘orphan’ food crops of the poor—beans, cassava, potato and sweet potato—as well as the ubiquitous maize, in Malawi (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). ‘. . . Six orphan crops chosen for a five-year programme called Bio-resources Innovation Network for Eastern Africa Development (Bio Innovate) are sorghum, millet, cassava, sweet … Continue reading
The IGAD Livestock Policy Initiative just published a working paper on “Livestock and Livelihoods in the IGAD Region: A Policy and Institutional Analysis.” The paper recommends that first and foremost, the dominant ‘production and market access’ narrative should be enhanced by a development paradigm that also appreciates the many livelihoods services provided by livestock, including … Continue reading
The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation EU-ACP (CTA) in collaboration with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), will host a 5-day Web 2.0 Learning Opportunity staring on Monday 23 May 2011. Participants will be introduced to selected web 2.0 applications and learn on how to use them; hands-on. The learning is only available … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 