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.
It should be possible to grow much more in Africa. . . . Five decades ago it was one of the world’s great crop-exporters. Ghana grew most of the world’s cocoa, Nigeria was the biggest exporter of palm oil and peanuts, and Africa grew a quarter of all the coffee people slurped. Since then it has shifted from being a net exporter of food to an importer. Continue reading
This month, leaders from around the world will get together at the UN to agree on the world’s development agenda for the next 15 years—what they’re calling the Global Goals. It is a great opportunity to take stock of how the world’s poorest are doing, and there is a big push to spread the word about the Global Goals. Continue reading
A recent perspective piece published in Nature Climate Change by researchers Philip Thornton and Mario Herrero suggests that we still know very little about how climate change will impact these mixed farms and especially the interactions between crops and livestock. This is alarming as mixed farming systems form the backbone of smallholder production in developing countries,producing over 90% of the world’s milk supply and 80% of the meat from ruminants. Continue reading
The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) is working with partners to understand the breed composition of dairy and indigenous cattle in Tanzania and to find the appropriate dairy cattle genotypes that will help farmers identify and keep dairy breeds that are appropriately matched to farms. Continue reading
‘Archaeologists have long known that people started to domesticate animals for food at the dawn of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent (the curve of land across the Middle East from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf) about 10,000 years ago. But details of the complex pathways through which improved livestock spread across Europe and Asia are only now emerging, as genomic technology makes it practical to compare the DNA of hundreds of animals across continents. . . . ‘A Chinese consortium led the sheep study in collaboration with the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi; it is published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution. Continue reading
Odisha (formerly known as Orissa), an economically fast-growing state in eastern India, on the Bay of Bengal, is facing an emerging fodder crisis. The people of this state depend largely on agriculture for their livelihoods, and animal husbandry is widely practiced. One pathway out of of poverty for many here is to increase the efficiency and levels of their small-scale livestock production to meet the growing demand in India for more milk and meat. But without feed to give their cattle, sheep, goats and other ruminant animals, the state’s many millions of livestock producers will be unable to improve or increase their productivity. New results of a study by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) show that lack of adequate amounts and quality of fodder is one of the biggest constraints these farmers face. A solution, say ILRI scientists, is to make better use of the residues of rice and maize (paddy straw and maize stover) as supplementary livestock feed. Continue reading
Innovation platforms are widely used in agricultural research to connect different stakeholders to achieve common goals. This fourteenth brief reflects on ways that the needs and interests of women can be fully addresses in innovation platforms.
Continue reading
Innovation platforms are widely used in agricultural research to connect different stakeholders to achieve common goals. This thirteenth brief reflects on some of issues and opportunities faced when innovation platforms – or the innovations they generate – are scaled out. Continue reading
Oromia Insurance Company (OIC), the lone index based insurer of livestock in the country, has launched a new scheme that will entail paying compensation for livestock ahead of the drought season instead of after, as it was originally done. Continue reading
A recently unveiled Tanzania Livestock Modernization Initiative (TLMI) is expected to contribute to the improvement of the livelihoods of smallholder livestock farmers in the country and increase their contribution to national food security.
Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 