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 global shift towards a vegan diet is vital to save the world from hunger, fuel poverty and the worst impacts of climate change, a UN report said today. As the global population surges towards a predicted 9.1 billion people by 2050, western tastes for diets rich in meat and dairy products are unsustainable, says … Continue reading
Electronic tagging of livestock could prove a masterstroke in the fight against cattle rustling and set the stage for Kenya to resume beef exports to the European Union. Read more … (Business Daily) Continue reading
Livestock production is growing fastest in the developing world, particularly in Asia and Latin America. Increased output has been achieved mainly through the intensification of production systems and through a shift towards poultry and pigs with much slower expansion of beef production; dairying too has increased in both scale and intensification. The industrialisation of livestock … Continue reading
Hillary Rodham Clinton, US Secretary of State, this week (16 June 2010) announced that this year’s World Food Prize would be bestowed on leaders of two leading non-governmental humanitarian organizations focusing on reducing hunger and poverty — Jo Luck, President of Heifer International, and David Beckmann, President of Bread for the World. In her speech, … Continue reading
‘The message from our paper is not an inevitable disaster around the corner, but the need for continued vigilance.’–Malik Peiris Continue reading
‘The Green Revolution of the 1960s raised crop yields and cut hunger – and also saved decades worth of greenhouse gas emissions, a study concludes. ‘US researchers found cumulative global emissions since 1850 would have been one third as much again without the Green Revolution’s higher yields. ‘Although modern farming uses more energy and chemicals, … Continue reading
In May, an East Coast fever (ECF) vaccine was registered by GALVmed in Tanzania. ECF is a tick transmitted disease which kills a million cattle every year and devastates the livelihood of those who depend on livestock for survival. Registration of the ECF vaccine is central to safety and efficacy and to securing the sustainability … Continue reading
The IFAD-funded ‘fodder adoption project’ at ILRI recently produced a series of fact sheets for major fodder plants in Ethiopia. These are available in English, Oromiffa and Amharic. Read more … (Fodder Adoption news) Continue reading
“The project will focus on building a disease risk mapping system for three water-related high-impact vector-borne diseases (malaria, Rift Valley fever and schistosomiasis) in Africa, accounting for environmental/climatic trends to predict future risk.” The newly established SEI Africa Centre has been successful in taking part in a bid led by Trinity College Dublin for a … Continue reading
This week’s meeting of the FAO Committee on Agriculture (COAG) includes a discussion on the livestock sector, and its overall ‘governance.’ The background paper for COAG argues that “the livestock sector plays a crucial role in the provision of global public goods and services. There are opportunities to alleviate many of the risks associated with … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 