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.
A Gloucestershire Old Spots pig rescued from a ‘pastured pork’ operation that kills runty piglets (photo on Flickr by Marji Beach). ‘Human development and biodiversity will not be the only focus of the Rio+20 Earth Summit in June, for which representatives of hundreds of states and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) will gather to discuss sustainable development. … Continue reading
The main road running north to Ethiopia from Samburu land, in northern Kenya (photo on Flickr by meaduva). ‘Livestock could turn Kenya’s drought-stricken northern lands into an engine of job creation, rather than a sinkhole for emergency aid, the minister for the region has said. ‘Almost 4 million Kenyans needed food aid in early 2012 … Continue reading
In the past few weeks, Madeline McCurry-Schmidt has published a series of short pieces exploring ways that animal scientists can help feed the world’s growing population. Published on the American Society of Animal Science ‘Taking Stock’ blog, the five articles covered: Part 1 – explored the coming food crisis from a livestock perspective Part 2 … Continue reading
Holstein-Friesian cow, Biggle cow book, Philadelphia, W Atkinson Co., 1898 (photo on Flickr by Biodiversity Heritage Library). Dairy scientists are the Gregor Mendels of the genomics age, developing new methods for understanding the link between genes and living things, all while quadrupling the average cow’s milk production since your parents were born. ‘While there are … Continue reading
A village woman in Niger feeds her sheep with forage she has collected (photo credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann). The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) announced last week that they are building a closer crop and livestock partnership to better address poverty and malnutrition in Africa. The agreement and … Continue reading
In January 2010 the index-based livestock insurance (IBLI) pilot project was launched in Marsabit District of northern Kenya as an effort to help pastoralists manage drought risk, and its pernicious ex ante and ex post effects. A Brief from the I4 Index Insurance Innovation Initiative reports results based on the impact of insurance on households’ … Continue reading
Cavies (aka guinea pigs) in a special pig pantry off the side of a kitchen in Peru (photo on Flickr by Emile Hardman/QuintanaRoo). Could guinea pigs be a new protein source in Africa? In a special report on ‘Solutions for a hungry world’ by AlertNet, Emma Batha describes how the raising of guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus), also called … Continue reading
Kenya safari (photo on Flickr by Shawna Nelles). ‘Afrikas Bevölkerung wächst rasch. Das bedroht einzigartige Ökosysteme. Sind Löwe, Gnu & Co. noch zu retten? ‘Doch außerhalb der Schutzgebiete, und das ist der größte Teil der Mara-Region, verschwinden die großen Wildtiere beängstigend rasch. Besonders betroffen sind die Büffel, Warzenschweine und Wasserböcke, Elen-, Topi- und Kongoni-Antilopen, Gnus, … Continue reading
Visual capture of livestock talk by Andy Jarvis (CIAT and CCAFS), ‘The Elephant in the Room—Or Is It a Cow?’—to the Inter-Agency Donor Group (IADG) for livestock at the Work Bank in Washington DC, in Apr 2012 (figure credit: CIAT). Andy Jarvis, a senior scientist and biodiversity expert at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture … Continue reading
Pastoralists take their livestock to sell at a market in Moussoro, Bahr El Ghazal Province, in northern Chad. In 2012 countries across the Sahel region are once again facing a serious food crisis. This ecologically fragile region is becoming increasingly vulnerable to insufficient rainfall, and fluctuating animal and food prices that are affecting millions of pastoral … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 