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.
During the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, we video recorded reports back from group discussions in three of the sessions: Animal health and genetics – issues and controversies for ILRI research. This session discussed significant or controversial developments; the next big thing in animal genetics, breeding, health, genomics, and feeding. Livestock … Continue reading
Between 15 and 17 November 2011, scientists, experts and development practitioners from the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture, universities and non-governmental and international organizations gathered in Addis Ababa to share research results on trypanotolerance in indigenous local cattle breeds in Ethiopia (Sheko, Abigar, Horro and Gurage) and experiences with community-based sheep breeding. The Sheko breed got … Continue reading
On 3 November 2011, Shirley Tarawali presented ILRI work on crop-livestock systems at the Wageningen symposium ‘Assessment for sustainable development of animal production systems.’ Watch the video of her presentation (Tarawali starts 40 minutes into the video) View Tarawali’s presentation: Continue reading
Is a new wave of development work towards food security underway in Africa? On the last day of the conference ‘Increasing agricultural productivity and enhancing food security in Africa’, Mafa Chipeta, formerly at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), reminded fellow Africans that solutions to food security on the continent lay not outside, in the … Continue reading
During the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, Brian Perry interviewed Carlos Seré, former Director General of the International Livestock Research Institute. Watch the video: On 9 and 10 November 2011, the ILRI Board of Trustees hosted a 2-day ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ to discuss and reflect on livestock research for development. The event synthesized sector … Continue reading
The long-awaited agriculture innovation systems sourcebook has been published by the World Bank (view part 1 and part 2). According to some pre-materials, “the agricultural innovation system (AIS) approach has evolved from a concept into an entire subdiscipline, with principles of analysis and action, yet no detailed blueprint exists for making agricultural innovation happen at … Continue reading
During the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, Brian Perry interviewed Jimmy Smith, Director of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). Watch the video: On 9 and 10 November 2011, the ILRI Board of Trustees hosted a 2-day ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ to discuss and reflect on livestock research for development. The event synthesized sector and … Continue reading
During the November 2011 ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ event at ILRI, Brian Perry interviewed Segenet Kelemu, Director of the Biosciences eastern and central Africa (BecA) Hub. Watch the video: On 9 and 10 November 2011, the ILRI Board of Trustees hosted a 2-day ‘liveSTOCK Exchange’ to discuss and reflect on livestock research for development. The event … Continue reading
In September 2011, the deputy director general-research for the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), John McDermott, made a keynote presentation at the Swedish Research Network: Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry for Development (Agri4D) conference on ‘scales and diversity.’ Titled ‘Livestock production in developing countries—Globally significant and locally relevant, ‘ McDermott’s presentation begins with the global significance … Continue reading
A blind pastoral herder in Kenya’s Marsabit District awaits payout of an insurance premium he bought to protect his livestock against drought (photo on Flickr by Jeff Haskins). Tristan McConnell, reporting from Nairobi, writes in the GlobalPost (Boston) yesterday of a new insurance program set up to protect a group of pastoral livestock herders in … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 