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.
Displaced people fleeing Sindh streamed into Balochistan (photo credit: Abdul Majeed Goraya/IRIN); by 4 August 2010, Pakistan’s worst flooding in 80 years had affected 3.2 million people. A report last August 2010 from Reuters AlertNet about Pakistan’s struggles to move its flood victims out of danger highlights how important livestock are to Pakistan’s poor. Many … Continue reading
Kenya is to launch a climate exchange platform to facilitate the trading of carbon credits and help tackle climate change. The market will be the first of its kind in Africa, enabling all African countries to sell their carbon credits. The exchange is expected to be open for business by the middle of next year. … Continue reading
Christiana Figueres, the Costa Rican Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (photo credit: Adopt a Negotiator’s Photostream on flickr). Despite the fact that governments of industrialized countries are focusing on balancing their budgets in these hard fiscal times, new UN climate chief Figueres is optimistic that a deal will be struck … Continue reading
Last month, the Ministry of Environment of Pakistan, in collaboration with One UN Joint Programme on Environment, based in Islamabad, which supports Pakistan in fulfilling its international obligations towards environmental treaties and agreements, organized an International Conference on Climate Change and Development, 21–22 October 2010, in Islamabad, Pakistan, to take stock of the unfolding effects of … Continue reading
ICARDA-ILRI-BOKU project workshop – Dr. Azage Tegegne (group discussion report) On 29 October 2010, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) hosted a workshop as part of a project entitled ‘designing community-based breeding strategies for indigenous sheep breeds of smallholders in Ethiopia.’ The main objectives of the event were: share the achievement of the completed project … Continue reading
The UK Meat Trade News Daily reports on pork pathways out of poverty in Viet Nam. ‘Low labour costs and their ability to supply buyers with freshly slaughtered meat, a form most Vietnamese continue to prefer to the chilled or frozen meat from bigger piggeries. These are the conclusions of a three-year research project led … Continue reading
An inception workshop for the ‘Gender, Agriculture and Assets Project’ was held at the ILRI Nairobi campus from 5 – 7 November 2010. The aim of the initiative is to increase the impacts of agricultural development programmes in reducing gender inequalities, asset disparities, and improving rural livelihoods in Sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia. Read … Continue reading
Climate scientists gather at a meeting of the Challenge Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) in Nairobi, Kenya in May 2010 (photo credit CCAFS). The Los Angeles Times reported on 8 November 2010 that climate scientists in the US are joining forces and taking their arguments to groups of global warming skeptics. … Continue reading
From a new blog from the Fund Office of the Consultative Group on International Agriculutral Research (CGIAR), to which the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) belongs, comes this news about new funding for agricultural research for development. ‘In a powerful display of solidarity with the world’s poor, key donors and stakeholders meeting in Washington, D.C. … Continue reading
‘La connaissance est comme un jardin potager: si elle n’est pas cultivée, elle ne sera jamais récoltée’ dit un proverbe sud-africain. Par contre, pour une belle récolte, mettre ensemble 300 personnes issues d’organisations et projets différents, du continent africain principalement, leur donner des espaces de discussion et écouter pour découvrir les idées qui, grâce aux … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 