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.
The Agriculture and Consumer Protection Department of FAO, in collaboration with Embrapa, IFAD and IICA, will co-organize an international consultation on the theme: Integrated Crop-Livestock Systems for Development: The Way Forward for Production Intensification. The consultation process will operate largely through an electronic exchange by experts during February 2010 followed by a smaller workshop in Sete Lagoas, Minas Geráis, Brazil, from … Continue reading
A world-class state-of-the-art biosciences research facility has officially opened its doors to scientists and students in Africa’s national research institutes and universities in Nairobi’s International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). According to Biosciences east and central African (BecA) Hub Director Segenet Kelemu; ‘This means that, Africa’s scientists can comfortably venture into new realms of science without … Continue reading
After years of lagging behind in the scientific field, Africa’s bio-science research capability could now be effectively at par with research undertaken in the world’s most advanced institutes. A world-class bio-sciences research facility had just been launched in Nairobi and open to scientists and other stakeholders from Africa’s national research institutes and universities. The laboratory, … Continue reading
Australian scientists are hoping to breed burp-less sheep in a bid to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The agriculture sector is the nation’s second biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions behind the energy sector, producing about 16 per cent of Australia’s total emissions. Two-thirds of that figure is produced by livestock, and 66 per cent of … Continue reading
The high livestock mortality in East and Central Africa due to East Coast fever is set to reduce following a near breakthrough in the development of a recombinant (dead) vaccine. The vaccine once developed will be used in the immunization of livestock against East Coast fever. According to Molecular Biology Scientist Roger Pelle working at … Continue reading
New International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) staff member Pier Paolo Ficarelli authored a short article in a recent issue of the magazine ‘Rural 21.’ He argues: Livestock is on the line, attacked by climatologists, environmentalists, dieticians, disease controllers, children’s feelings for animals and, last but not least, international development cooperation agencies. Now, as 12,000 years … Continue reading
Every year, as many as 60,000 people in Africa die of sleeping sickness, a disease that passes between and among humans and animals through the bite of tsetse flies. Livestock such as cattle act as a reservoir for the disease, so treating cattle to cure them, and preventing re-infection through insecticide spraying, helps to reduce … Continue reading
In recent times, in eastern Africa, arable land has become more scarce and livestock production has gained more ground, making maize more important than ever—both as a source of food and feed—in highly intensified crop-livestock farming systems. In an innovative partnership, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) … Continue reading
The water level of the river Nile – crucial to the economy in many parts of Uganda, Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia – is dropping. Film-maker Andrew Johnstone follows the course of the Nile to discover how climate change is already affecting the river’s farming communities. View the video … (The Guardian) Continue reading
A world-class agricultural biosciences research facility based at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) campus in Nairobi, is now open to scientists and students in Africa’s national research institutes and universities. The facility’s director, Dr Segenet Kelemu, is quoted as saying: “Our aim is in part to support research and build capacity by empowering scientists … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 