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.
Better days are dawning for farmers faced with problems of pasture for their livestock, now that scientists majoring in crop production research are improving on the nutritional content of pasture here. The scientists from the National Crop Resources Research Institute at Namulonge Department of Forage Research Programme are currently conducting research on various types of … Continue reading
In light of the continuing floods in Pakistan — which have caused widespread devastation and affected some 14 million people — UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on donors to support a broad and potentially unprecedented aid campaign. UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs spokesman Maurizio Giuliano says that the number of people … Continue reading
Even though locally-adapted, diversified agriculture and farming is a key component of both food security today and in a warmer more climate-stressed future, the Big Ag trend is still towards less crop diversity and more uniformity. Here’s a perfect example of the downside of that. Read more … (Treehugger) Continue reading
FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf yesterday commended Namibia for acting swiftly and effectively to halt the spread of Rift Valley Fever (RVF) in the country during recent outbreaks. Speaking at a meeting in the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry in Windhoek, Diouf praised the Namibian institutions involved. “Their alertness and prompt reaction prevented outbreaks of … Continue reading
Peter Karanja sells eggs in Nairobi (credit: ILRI / Mann) Intense proposal development work by the 15 centres of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and their many research partners is coming down to the wire this month, with the deadline for submitting these proposals, 1 September 2010, fast approaching. The proposals are … Continue reading
Unpredictable changes in world climate and the global energy crisis have affected the production of livestock, according to an expert. “We used to have a year of half rain and half sunshine. Farmers had no difficulties in poultry provision,” Iman Hernawan, a poultry nutritionist from Padjadjaran University, said in Bandung on Wednesday. Read more … … Continue reading
A Kenyan woman visits an exhibit on the importance of conserving Africa’s native livestock and forage resources. The livestock exhibit, along with other exhibits on the importance of conserving Africa’s food crop resources, was part of an event held in Nairobi at the National Museum to celebrate International Biodiversity Day on 22 May 2010. (Photo … Continue reading
Photo credit: ILRI / Mann ‘When asked about the success of vaccination against East Coast fever (ECF) in northern Tanzania, Dr Lieve Lynen, is remarkably modest. And yet more than 500,000 animals have been vaccinated against ECF in Tanzania since 1998, largely due to the work of Lynen’s pharmaceutical company VetAgro Tanzania, which has led … Continue reading
Adapting agriculture to climate change should have twin purposes: adapting to prevent further damage to the environment, and adapting to produce food despite the impact of climate change. The increasing intensity and frequency of storms, flooding and draught have great impact on agriculture and, therefore, on the food supply. The uncertainties associated with climate change … Continue reading
The following statements are excerpted from All consuming, an article by David Biello on global consumption and population issues published in the current issue of Momentum, published by the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota. > ‘Two German Shepherds kept as pets in Europe or the U.S. use more resources in a year … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 