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.
Land O’Lakes International Development and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) are pleased to announce a webinar option for their meeting tomorrow, 4 May, in Nairobi, Kenya, on Animal Source Foods for Nutrition Impact: Evidence and Good Practices for Informed Project Design. This one-day event will be held on the ILRI Nairobi campus from 8:30am to 5:00pm on Thu 4 May 2017. Continue reading
The following excerpts of an opinion piece were written by ILRI’s Andrew Mude and originally published by The Standard newspaper (Kenya): Insurance only way to guard against weather-gone-awry phenomenon, 28 Apr 2017. Continue reading
A recent study by the Biosciences eastern and central Africa-International Livestock Research Institute Hub (BecA-ILRI Hub) and the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) shows that farmers in semi-arid region of Kenya could stall the adverse effects of climate change on their farms by planting drought-tolerant Brachiaria grass. Continue reading
Appolinaire Djikeng has been appointed director of the Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health, a partnership between the University of Edinburgh, Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) and ILRI. Continue reading
The genomes of Africans and people of recent African descent house a huge amount of diversity that scientists have only begun to explore. Continue reading
Thousands of Kenyans are being wrongly diagnosed and treated for the milk linked disease brucellosis, reveals a new study. Now researchers at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) and six international institutions, want the responsible test withdrawn from public hospitals. Continue reading
Rich countries making bad food choices and consuming too much meat should not force their ideas about environmental and health issues and agricultural sustainability on the world’s many hungry people who eat too little livestock-sourced nutrition says, says Dr Jimmy Smith from the International Livestock Research Institute in Africa. Continue reading
The livestock sector plays a significant role in development, but Dr. Jimmy Smith, director general of the International Livestock Research Institute, says this is not reflected in official development assistance—which contributes less than 0.25 percent to livestock.
Jimmy Smith visited Australia between April 3 and April 7, as the last leg of a global trip. In each country, he pushed for greater ODA toward livestock sectors in the developing world. During his stay, Smith discussed his thoughts with Devex. Continue reading
The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) recently launched a National Learning Alliance (NLA) aiming at developing equitable Sustainable Agricultural Intensification (SAI) in Ethiopia. Continue reading
with a growing number of firms gobbling up arable land in Africa—not solely for crop production but also for livestock and cattle—investment shops are slowly redirecting capital to this agricultural subsector. Investing in this segment of African economies can be transformative, as a significant portion of African wealth and growth opportunity is walking on four legs on the African continent. Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 