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.
‘Playing chicken’, a balanced and comprehensive article on antibiotic use in chicken production in Canada has appeared in the Jan/Feb 2015 issue of The Walrus, a Canadian general interest magazine. Continue reading
Speaking exclusively to the “Daily News on Saturday”, the Tanzania Milk Processors Association Executive Secretary, Mr Edmond Mariki, said that innovation platforms used in the three-year MilkIT project that enhanced dairy-based livelihoods in India and Tanzania through feed innovation and value chain development approaches is something they welcome. Continue reading
Gity Behrevan during the BecA-ILRI-Sweden partnership review in Nairobi, November 2013 (photo credit: BecA-ILRI Hub/Tim Hall). ‘Biosciences research could transform Africa’s agriculture and lead to food and nutrition security, but little is being done locally to support its funding, experts say. ‘Researchers and policymakers who attended a review meeting of the Biosciences eastern and central … Continue reading
The Ethiopia Livestock Master Plan is about the biggest piece of cooperation between the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the Ethiopian Government for a very long time. The presentation that HE Dr Gebregziabher Gebreyohannes, State Minister for Livestock Resources Development gave on 5 December 2014 made a splash for this all-important Plan for now and years to come. Continue reading
An ILRI project in Somalia aims to strengthen local capacity to mobilize and use knowledge from Somali livestock research in decision making. It also aims to enhance the capacities of public and private sectors to improve livestock products’ marketing and safety. Continue reading
On 4 and 5 December 2014, the Ethiopian Institute for Agricultural Research (EIAR) and CGIAR institutes in Ethiopia organized a special consultative meeting to ‘strengthen EARS-CGIAR partnerships for effective agricultural transformation in Ethiopia’. Continue reading
The human need for food will eventually come to be met in the developing world, but the human appetite for diets that are rich in fish, meat and animal products may be more difficult to satisfy. Continue reading
Scaling up transdisciplinary research so that a systems approach can be applied by more and more scientists could make a huge contribution to development in smallholder farming. Continue reading
The master plan, which ILRI contributed to, is based on a qualitative and fact-based livestock sector model and analysis. The new plan will see improvement in Ethiopia’s poultry breeds and forages and the creation and maintenance of a livestock population database in the country. Continue reading
Writing in the November 2014 issue of Rural 21, Isabelle Baltenweck argues that the growing global demand for animal products also offers poor livestock keepers the opportunity to switch from the subsistence to the market economy. Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 