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 Australian Biosecurity Intelligence Network (ABIN) has approved the setting up of a repository of animal disease information to augment use of the Virtual Microscopy Laboratory Network used by veterinary pathologists. Participants using the repository will be able to: access, share and add to information in knowledge repositories for disease reference material, standards for testing, … Continue reading
Between 1 and 4 December 2009, some 25 dairy-sector stakeholders from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Northeast India met at ILRI Nairobi for a South-South symposium to share lessons on traditional dairy development. Read more … (Livestock Markets Digest) Continue reading
Ethiopia concluded a one and a half day national inception workshop by launching a joint programme on children, food security and nutrition by Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, Federal Ministry of Health, the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office, UNICEF, WFP, WHO and FAO with a generous contribution of 7 million USD received from the Spanish … Continue reading
This Status Report by Sikhalazo Dube on Status of postgraduate training in the livestock sector in southern Africa and priorities for ILRI’s support was released on 22 December, 2009. One of the five objectives of ILRI‘s Capacity Strengthening Strategy is to facilitate building sustainable capacity of institutes to build capacity. This could only be achieved … Continue reading
This Research Report by Jeannette van de Steeg, Mario Herrero, James Kinyangi, Philip Thornton, K.P.C. Rao, Roger Stern, and Peter Cooper on The influence of current and future climate-induced risk on the agricultural sector in East and Central Africa: Sensitizing the ASARECA strategic plan to climate change was released on 23 December, 2009. Rainfed agriculture … Continue reading
THEY’RE waiting for unwitting passengers stepping off the train and heading for the climate talks – the vegetarian mafia thinking they can solve the world’s pollution problems by turning everyone off meat. Funny little people, often dressed as chooks or cows (or last night, a prawn) and are everywhere handing out show bags full of … Continue reading
Communities in transition throughout Africa are at a critical crossroads. Rapid technological change, rising population, and growing urbanization, along with the impact of climate change on the continent, present a number of challenges to communities. And unfortunately the development groups, aid agencies, and local governments do not make this easy. Spend a week in a … Continue reading
Climate change is likely to increase the already huge toll of illness and death from insect-borne disease in the developing world. More than three billion people are already estimated to be at risk from the combined impacts of bilharzia, dengue fever, filariasis, leishmaniasis and river blindness. Malaria alone causes about one to two million deaths … Continue reading
The northwards spread of human Rhodesian sleeping sickness in Uganda is likely due to the movement of infected livestock, according to new findings from an interdisciplinary research group including members from the Centre for Infectious Diseases, University of Edinburgh; the Ministry of Health, Uganda; and the Universities of Oxford and Southampton. The current study, published … Continue reading
Despite oft-repeated claims by sources ranging from the United Nations to music star Paul McCartney, it is simply not true that consuming less meat and dairy products will help stop climate change, says a University of California authority on farming and greenhouse gases. “We certainly can reduce our greenhouse-gas production, but not by consuming less … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 