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 camel, its legs attached with branches, brays desperately, blood spurting from the cut artery; nomads in Turkana in Kenya’s extreme north have been reduced to sacrificing their animals to survive a bruising drought. “I brought this dromedary to have it killed and make a little money after the other one died of hunger with … Continue reading
CGIAR reforms take research decisions too far away, says Hartmann, director-general of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). This year (2009) marks the end of an era in agricultural research. Not only has Nobel Prize-winning agronomist Norman Borlaug died, but the network of research centres with which he was closely associated is in the … Continue reading
Three years after Kenya got its first test-tube babies, the Daily Nation can reveal another first from the world of test tubes – a healthy calf. The calf, which the Daily Nation has named Bully, is one of two test tube calves born three weeks ago in an experiment by veterinary scientists from the University … Continue reading
A parasite researcher in NYU is hoping totackle African Sleeping Sickness by creating genetically enhanced cows that cannot catch or transmit the disease. She’s been planning the project since 2006, when she attended a workshop in Nairobi. At the meeting, local farmers explained how they need cattle to survive. Most of them can’t afford to … Continue reading
Things Fall Apart Things have quickly fallen apart in this particular drought in the Horn’s vast drylands because of a toxic mix of underlying factors. Land Use Among the things not being redressed are land-use policies and practices that fail to account for population increases and thus are restricting herders to ever smaller, drier and … Continue reading
1.02 billion hungry people in 2009 – FAO hunger report published The sharp spike in hunger triggered by the global economic crisis has hit the poorest people in developing countries hardest, revealing a fragile world food system in urgent need of reform, according to a report released today by FAO and the World Food Programme (WFP). … Continue reading
As humans increasingly encroach on forested lands and as temperatures rise, the transmission of disease from animals and insects to people is growing. Now a new field, known as “conservation medicine,” is exploring how ecosystem disturbance and changing interactions between wildlife and humans can lead to the spread of new pathogens. Look up into the … Continue reading
Targets to cut the number of hungry people in the world will not be met without greater international effort, UN food agencies have warned. The UN’s annual report on global food security confirms that more than one billion people – a sixth of the world’s population – are undernourished. It says the number of hungry … Continue reading
On 6 November 2009 the World Bank released its World Development Report 2009: ‘Reshaping Economic Geography’. See: http://bit.ly/HHDHS (The world bank) Continue reading
The drought which has hit East Africa is wreaking havoc among the region’s pastoralists. Their herds of livestock have been decimated. Even the hardy camels are dying. Turkana District in northwest Kenya is a harsh environment at the best of times. Driving along the sandy roads with temperatures tipping 40C, the air coming through the … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 