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.
Sue Desmond-Hellmann, CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), and Nick Hurd, international development minister for Britain’s Department for International Development (DFID), argue in the Guardian’s Global Development blog this month that the world needs to put science at the heart of development. Two of the examples of success that they cite are initiatives of ILRI. Continue reading
The following excerpt is the beginning of a candid and thoughtful article by Ian Scoones, of the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), at Sussex University, about an international symposium, One Health for the Real World: zoonoses, ecosystems and wellbeing, that took place at the Zoological Society of London last week (17–18 Mar 2016). Continue reading
book by Burns and Worsley (available in hardback, paperback and eBook formats) will be of interest to all those looking to make a greater difference in international development (that is, in development parlance, to take solutions to scale). ‘Navigating Complexity in International Development: Facilitating Sustainable Change at Scale’, published by Practical Action Publishing, Oct 2015, 198 pages. Continue reading
‘Livestock Matter(s)’ provides a round-up of livestock development news, publications, presentations, images and upcoming events from the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and its partners. Continue reading
In mid-2016, ILRI’s capacity development unit will use the services of ProctorU to test the extent to which partner organisations (LCPs) in the mNutrition project have mastered online content before committing its trainers to running in-country workshops. Continue reading
The CGIAR System Office of the new organization is to be located in Montpellier, France, and will be led by an executive director, who will need to possess a combination of a collaborative, thoughtful leadership style, diplomatic skill, exemplary judgment and a track record of developing consensus through trust and relationship-building. Continue reading
‘Estimates of the number of people affected by drought [in Ethiopia] doubled between June and October in 2015 to 8.2m, and are now pushing beyond 10m (of a population of about 100m). . . . Continue reading
Inaugurating a day-long seminar on Public-Private-Producer-Partnership for small ruminant development in Odisha, Sethi said consultations with experts, policy analysts and the cross-section of stakeholders including farmers are on to finalise the Odisha Small Animal Development Policy. Continue reading
Jagger Harvey will lead the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Feed the Future Innovation Lab for the Reduction of Post-Harvest Loss at the university. The $8.5 million project is helping the countries of Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Ghana and Guatemala reduce the amount of food that is lost or contaminated after harvest. Continue reading
Joerg Jores, a molecular biologist at the Nairobi animal health laboratories of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) who is working to develop diagnostic assays and vaccines against livestock diseases caused by Mycoplasma mycoides is also investigating the epidemiology of MERS-CoV in camel populations in Kenya and participated in the recent FAO-hosted discussions. Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 