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.
Scientists complain that the new Rio+20 accord barely mentions the scientific inputs needed for sustainable development (photo on Flickr by CGIAR Climate/CCAFS). ‘The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) ended last Friday (22 June) with an international agreement on the need for all countries to commit themselves to achieving sustainable development. ‘The agreement immediately … Continue reading
India, wich several years ago passed America as the world’s biggest dairy producer, is now set to become the world’s biggest exporter of beef—buffalo beef, that is. ‘Beef exports have doubled in three years between 2008 and 2011 and are set to scale further heights. In 2011, India edged out the US as the third largest … Continue reading
Across most of Africa and South Asia, most cattle, buffaloes, sheep and goats are still raised in the open, in rangeland, common land or backyard systems, and are still largely ‘grass-fed’. But that is changing fast as farm land holdings get smaller and range and common lands and migratory herding corridors disappear under development. Above, … Continue reading
Donut diagram by Oxfam’s Kate Raworth illustrating a safe and just space for humanity, inspired by Rockström’s 2009 diagram of nine planetary boundaries constituting an environmental ceiling, or ‘a safe operating space for humanity’ (source: ‘Can we live inside the doughnut?‘). SciDevNet this week reports that ‘Beginning in 2013, CGIAR will pump an extra $US … Continue reading
Twenty one experts drawn from Regional and Federal Agricultural Growth Programme (AGP) offices, Office of Agriculture, Cooperative Promotion Agency and NGOs participated in a three day workshop organized to finalize the draft a “Gender Guideline” prepared by the Gender Unit of the Federal AGP office. The objective of the workshop was to give input on … Continue reading
This week, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) joins partners in India for the launch of the m-kisan project, part of an mFarmer Initiative funded by GSMA (the worldwide association of mobile operators). In partnership with Handygo Technologies, a mobile value adding service provider for major network operators, ILRI will provide quality content mainly for small … Continue reading
Today in Nairobi, Derek Baker, Amos Omore and David Guillemois reported on a project to analyze the impact of business development services. It took a preliminary look at the use of network approaches to trade in smallholder livestock systems, and some initial results using data collected in Uganda and Tanzania. View the presentation: Continue reading
Women herding camels in Kenya (photo on Flickr by Curt Carnemark/World Bank Photo Collection). Polly Ericksen, a senior scientist with the People, Livestock and Environment Theme at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), announced to the ILRI community last Friday new funding from the European Union that will finance a three-year food security project that … Continue reading
‘The real question about green growth is whether it can fulfil its promise that poor countries can have both greenery and prosperity.’–Economist. An example of an ‘investment-hungry project’ that can bring high environmental as well as poverty-reduction returns is greater adoption of improved dual purpose ‘food-feed’ crops whose grain feeds people and whose residues after … Continue reading
Petroglyphs and pictographs in the Jebel Acacus, Libyan Sahara (photo on Flickr by Carsten ten Brink / 10b travelling). This month’s publication of a scientific article on new evidence of livestock herding in prehistoric Africa is stirring interest. ScienceDaily, for example, reports the following: Chemical analysis of pottery reveals first dairying in Saharan Africa nearly 7,000 years … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 