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.
Zoonoses pose an increasing problem globally due to increasing world human population, intensifying livestock production and ongoing encroachment of people into formerly sheltered natural ecosystems and greater contact with wildlife. Technical solutions alone are not enough to respond to this increasing challenge. Understanding the social, cultural, economic and governance issues around zoonoses in different regions, … Continue reading
Figurine of a Cycladic (Keros-Syros culture) woman, dated to 2700–2400 BC and said to be from Syros (photo on Flickr by Ann Wuyts/vintagedept). Tara Garnett, in the current issue of her always-interesting Food Climate change Research Network (FCRN) newsletter, draws attention to some sobering news and advice for decision-makers attending the Rio+20 UN Conference on … Continue reading
ILRI is working with insurance companies to train livestock herders in Kenya’s northern drylands in the benefits and costs of a new index-based livestock insurance first made available in Marsabit District in 2010 (photo credit: ILRI/Andrew Mude). CNN has published a major story on a major breakthrough—a project that is insuring never-before-insured livestock herders in … Continue reading
Through ILRI/DAAD partnership, DAAD is currently offering up to 4 in-region fellowships for postdoctoral training and research at ILRI. DAAD is a publicly funded, self-governing organization of the institutions of higher education in Germany. The organization promotes international academic exchange as well as educational co-operation with developing countries through a variety of funding and scholarship … Continue reading
The Punjab Livestock and Dairy Development Board (PLDDB) has launched Pakistan’s first online dairy farming guide. ‘Pak Dairy Info’ gives information on Pakistan’s livestock and dairy sector, breeds suitable for dairy farming, selection of animals, modern dairy farm housing, management of animals at different stages, record keeping, farm sanitation and hygiene, feed and nutrition, reproduction, … Continue reading
Rain clouds over a farming village near Iringa, Tanzania; time is running out for forging a new pact at Rio+20 this month for the world’s sustainable development and food security (photo on Flickr by United Nations/Wolff). The BBC environment correspondent Richard Black reports today that time is running out for countries now negotiating key issues … Continue reading
Football legend Raul Gonzalez, Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), learns while speaking to goat herders in Chad that protecting people’s livestock is essential for preventing them from falling into the danger zone during the current food crisis. Livestock will also be essential, the people say, for helping them to … Continue reading
Last week the CGIAR Humid Tropics research program held a planning Workshop in Nairobi. Alan Duncan, ILRI’s contact person for the program shares his reflections on the design of the program: One could argue that the ‘integrating’ systems research programs like this one are what CGIAR reform was meant to achieve: Different centers pooling expertise, … Continue reading
Farm landscape in Lalibela, northern Ethiopia (photo on Flickr by Philip Kromer). ‘In the run-up to RIO+20, the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), CGIAR, the global agricultural research partnership, issued a call-to-action. In this seven-point plan, CGIAR outlines how agricultural research for development can contribute to a more sustainable, food-secure future. ‘Bruce Campbell, Director … Continue reading
A new CNN video—Protecting farmers against drought—describes the benefits of ILRI’s Index-Based Livestock Insurance (IBLI) scheme in Kenya’s Marsabit District, runtime: 5:44, 11 Jun 2012 (CNN Marketplace Africa). Watch the video Read the transcript Some half a year after the drought that devastated large parts of the Horn of Africa broke towards the end … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 