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.
Three diapered goats in the boot of a car in Bamako, Mali (photo on Flickr by Romel Jacinto/37 °C). This week, the Lancet publishes a series of three papers on diseases that are ‘zoonotic’, that is, infections shared by people and other animals. As William Keresh of EcoHealth Alliance (New York) and his colleagues explain in … Continue reading
Over the past six years, the Improving productivity and market success (IPMS) project has touched the lives of many Ethiopians at different levels, in different ways and times. For some, it was a stepping stone to the next level in life, or a means to find a purpose, or a way to achieve the greatest … Continue reading
Together with regional stakeholders, the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) generated so-called ‘socio-economic scenarios’. These scenarios aim to explore key regional socio-economic and governance uncertainties for food security, environment and livelihoods through integrated qualitative-quantitative descriptions of plausible futures to 2030. The CCAFS vision has been to use these scenarios with … Continue reading
Globally, the demand for meat products is growing at 1.8% per year due to increasing populations, economic growth and rapid urbanization. Agropastoral and pastoral systems cover 45% of the earth’s usable surface and supply 9% of global meat production, while mixed crop-livestock farming systems produce 54% of the total meat and 90% of the milk … Continue reading
The Improving the Productivity and Market Success (IPMS) of Ethiopian Farmers project was recently approached by the producers of ‘Egna’ TV program, one of the well-known evening Ethiopian TV shows, to document the project’s work on rural women empowerment. Egna’s producer, Gelila Media and Advertisement PLC produce and broadcast TV shows focusing on ways that … Continue reading
On 9 November 2012, a group of value chain practitioners, consultants, advisors and professionals visited one of the dairy value chain sites of the Improving Productivity and Market Success of Ethiopian Farmers Project (IPMS) in Ada District, Ethiopia. The group comprised participants of an international conference on Making Connections: Value chains for transforming smallholder agriculture. The … Continue reading
ILRI’s Sapna Jarial translates a speech delivered by a village council president on field visit in Haryana, India, on 4 Nov 2012, made by ILRI management and board (photo credit: ILRI/Nils Teufel). Ilse Köhler-Rollefson, a German livestock researcher and activist ‘for socially responsible and ecologically sustainable livestock development’, asks in a recent blog post, ‘Whose … Continue reading
The Biosciences eastern and central Africa (BecA) Hub (BecA-ILRI) recently hosted Pelle Zettersten, a radio journalist from the Science department of Swedish National Radio. Zettersten was on a tour of East Africa to report recent scientific developments in the areas of agriculture, environment and energy, and the future plans by different countries as concerns science … Continue reading
Leonard Gitau, a small-scale livestock farmer in Dagoretti, Nairobi, speaks to journalists during a media tour of urban farmers in Nairobi on 21 Sep 2012 (photo credit: ILRI/Paul Karaimu). Sarah Ooko, special correspondent for the East African, reports that ‘animal to human diseases are on the rise’ in this region. ‘Zoonoses’ is the term used … Continue reading
A group of researchers and graduate students from Iowa State University, North Carolina State University and the University of Delaware, working on poultry genomics visited the ILRI Office in Kampala on 27 October 2012. The group was led by Dr. Max Rothschild, Director of the Center for Integrated Animal Genomics, and accompanied by Mr. Gideon … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 