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.
On 15 April, ILRI staff gathered in Addis Ababa for their annual meeting. With more than 180 participants, the normally quiet campus is buzzing. More than 40 posters have been prepared for the meeting, showcasing the many different aspects of ILRI work. View them on slideshare. We have also started to upload all the presentations … Continue reading
In the April 2010 issue of Veterinary Practice, Andrew Knight argues that “reducing the production of meat could help solve one of the world’s major problems.” Read more … (Veterinary Practice) Continue reading
Livestock could actually be good for the environment according to a new study that found grazing cows or sheep can cut emissions of a powerful greenhouse gas. Dr Butterbach-Bahl said the study overturned assumptions about grazing goats and cattle. “It’s been generally assumed that if you increase livestock numbers you get a rise in emissions … Continue reading
Makerere University is to start an animal institute which will produce vaccines and drugs for livestock and wild animals. The Africa Institute for Strategic Animal Resource Services will also train youth in livestock management. It will promote value addition and develop high market value products from cattle, goats, sheep, pigs and rabbits. to support the … Continue reading
Animal diseases that are known to spread primarily through human activities can be prevented and controlled through the application of biosecurity measures along the production and marketing chain, together with increased awareness and education. It is this notion that makes biosecurity so critically important in the prevention, control and elimination of transboundary animal diseases (TADs), … Continue reading
The Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases’ inaugural meeting went well, the Government says. The meeting of senior officials and scientists from the alliance’s 29 member countries, with China, Brazil and Korea attending as observers, was largely about giving organisational form to the political decision in Copenhagen last December to launch a collaborative effort … Continue reading
A new report published in Nature addresses the impact of nitrous oxide, or N2O, which is about 300 times as powerful as CO2 at trapping heat in the atmosphere. But the Nature study throws an unexpected twist into the N2O story. Biologists had long assumed that the farming of cattle and other livestock was part … Continue reading
There is a joke circulating among development agencies in Uganda that updates the ‘give a man a fish’ slogan: “Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he’ll feed himself forever. Teach a woman to fish, and she’ll feed herself, her family, her neighbors and her … Continue reading
To expand cooperation and exchanges with African countries on tropical agricultural technology, experts of livestock, vegetable and cassava from Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (CATAS) recently visited the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the University of Nairobi in Kenya, and signed a cooperation memorandum of understanding with the ILRI, marking a new start … Continue reading
For those advocating for urgent action on the climate change file, it’s been a rough few months. From the “Climategate” email scandal at the University of East Anglia to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report’s now-debunked claim that Himalayan glaciers could melt by 2035, advocates have been hit by a series of damaging credibility … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 