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.
A new study projects that half the world’s land-based permafrost will vanish by mid-century on our current greenhouse gas emissions path, turning today’s Arctic carbon into a huge carbon source by the 2020s, at which time the North Pole is expected to be largely ice-free. The thaw and decay of permafrost carbon is irreversible. What … Continue reading
A consultant to the European Commission, Wyn Richards, this week expressed satisfaction at the methodology adopted in India ‘for sensitizing the stakeholders on hygienic handling and distribution of unadulterated milk’ in Guwahati, the capital of the state of Assam. The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) is providing technical support to this project. ‘Milk though is … Continue reading
Livestock agriculture is green. It is time the industry stopped allowing itself to be pushed around and start using science-based information to tell what it is doing for the world, according to speakers at the recent Southwest Beef Symposium in Amarillo. Confined cattle feeding is a necessary industry to feed the growing population and also … Continue reading
The 1,000 participants that gathered in Delhi last week for an international conference organized by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) came from 65 countries and from the agricultural, health, nutrition, and related sectors and represented governments, non-governmental organizations, the private sector, research organizations and academia alike. Some 150 chairpersons, speakers and rapporteurs engaged themselves … Continue reading
The ‘hairless’ (non-wool-producing), native and worm-resistant red Maasai sheep of East Africa (photo credit: ILRI). An article this week in InterPress Service tells of Samburu pastoral herders working to bring back their native Red Maasai sheep because it does better than other, exotic, breeds, in the increasingly variable climate of northern Kenya. ‘. . . … Continue reading
Speaking at a recent meeting on the ‘Impact of U.S. Support on Farming, Poverty and Stability in Mozambique’, Florencia Cipriano, Head of Veterinary Services in Mozambique, described the country’s poultry sector transformation. This transformation included the establishment of the Mozambican Aviculture Association (AMA) that “enabled new poultry farmers to form sustainable businesses, helping them understand … Continue reading
A new report from the Milken Institute, “Paying for Outcomes: Protecting Human and Animal Health in Sub-Saharan Africa“ looks at two of the primary threats to sustainable agricultural development in the region and suggests how donors can break through challenges in vaccination and crop safety. The two specific issues examined are contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP) … Continue reading
Participants at a conference on ‘Leveraging Agriculture for Human Nutrition and Health’, which has just ended in New Delhi, heard that livestock intensification in developing countries, especially in Africa and Asia, may increase the incidence of epidemics that kill both humans and animals. ‘”The increase in density leads to increased contact between humans and animals—leading … Continue reading
Nigeria’s Vanguard newspaper reports on warning given by scientists about the insufficient capacity of Africa’s current veterinary services to deal with new disease threats. ‘According to new assessments, reported yesterday at the International Conference on Leveraging Agriculture for Improving Nutrition & Health in New Delhi, India, “Wealthy countries are effectively dealing with livestock diseases, but … Continue reading
Land O’Lakes International Development has launched a new $8 million, three-year USDA-funded dairy development programme in the country that is expected to directly improve incomes and strengthen food security for nearly 18,000 farmers and agricultural input and service providers. The programme, to be funded by the USAID, will also indirectly benefit an additional 87,000 family … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 