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.
Seyoum Leta, manager of the Bio-Innovate Program, speaks at the program’s official launch this week at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), in Nairobi (photo credit: ILRI/MacMillan). ‘A Bioresources Innovation Network for Eastern Africa Development (Bio-Innovate) programme has been launched to provide grants to bioscientists working to improve food production and environmental management in East … Continue reading
Expectations were high when the United Nations General Assembly declared 2011 as “International Year of Forest,” having in mind the social, economic and cultural roles that the forests play in communities around the world in the context of global warming, climate change and agricultural development. As such, it was with strong determination that members of … Continue reading
Ancient Egyptian cow relief (photo credit: ILRI/Elsworth). The Washington Post’s op-ed columnist Robert J. Samuelson argued yesterday that the turmoil in the Middle East is related to a global food squeeze. ‘Here’s a question about the Mideast turmoil for future historians: How much did food inflation contribute? We know some basic facts. Middle East countries … Continue reading
The current essay published on the AgClim Letters blog of the ‘Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security’ Research Program this week praises the sensibleness of a recent background study for a Foresight report that ‘provides valuable insight into how our farming and food industry in the UK can contribute to the transition to a green … Continue reading
ILRI has worked with Indonesia to control bird flu using participatory disease surveillance and control approaches (photo credit: ILRI/Jost). The World Bank this week reports that since the beginning of this year, the H5N1 bird flu virus has re-emerged, killing people in Egypt and across Asia. Experts say we need to invest in stronger human … Continue reading
This Proceeding by ILRI on Dialogue on Ethiopian Agricultural Development was released on 1 March, 2011. The dialogue on Ethiopian Agricultural Development was organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MoARD) of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) to honour Professor Gebisa Ejeta, winner of the … Continue reading
This Research report by Girma T. Kassie, Awudu Abdulai, Clemens Wollny, Workneh Ayalew, Tadelle Dessie, Markos Tibbo, Aynalem Haile, and Okeyo Mwai on Implicit prices of indigenous cattle traits in central Ethiopia: Application of revealed and stated preference approaches was released on 26 February, 2011. The diversity of animal genetic resources has a quasi-public good … Continue reading
This working paper by Aynalem Haile, Workneh Ayalew, Noah Kebede, Tadelle Dessie, and Azage Tegegne on Breeding strategy to improve Ethiopian Boran cattle for meat and milk production was released on 3 February, 2011. This working paper is prepared to develop breeding plans for the Ethiopian Boran cattle and is based on: 1) secondary data … Continue reading
Village food seller in Nigeria (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). From the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) comes this news. ‘Investing in closing the gender gap in agriculture could bring the number of undernourished people in the world down by 100-150 million people. This is one of the conclusions of the State of Food and … Continue reading
An Ethiopian livestock herder in the rain (picture credit: ILRI/Habtamu). A one-day workshop on climate change in Ethiopia, organized by the Climate Change Forum-Ethiopia (CCF-E) and the Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research, was held at the Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, campus of International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), yesterday (8 March 2011). At this workshop, the … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 