Tag Archives: FAO

Africa / Animal Production / Animal Products / Dairying / East Africa / Kenya / Livestock / Tanzania / Uganda

Dairy development institutions in East Africa

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This publication from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is the first report of studies on three national dairy development institutions in East Africa – Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The composition, role, structure, shortcomings and future prospects of each national dairy institution are reviewed in order to provide readers with insights as to how to … Continue reading →

Africa / Animal Breeding / Asia / Bangladesh / Biodiversity / ILRI / Indigenous Breeds / Pakistan / South Asia / Southeast Asia / Sri Lanka / Vietnam

ILRI calls for steps to conserve the animal genetic resources of developing countries

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‘The International Livestock Research Institute is calling for immediate, practical steps to preserve developing countries’ dwindling animal genetic diversity. The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization says almost 10 percent of the world’s livestock breeds have become extinct in the last six years. Twenty percent of the 7,616 breeds documented in the FAO’s Global Databank … Continue reading →

Biodiversity / Genetics / Knowledge and Information

Funding strategy for the implementation of the global plan of action for animal genetic resources

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The objective of the Funding Strategy is to enhance the availability, transparency, efficiency and effectiveness of the provision of substantial and additional financial resources, and to strengthen international cooperation to support and complement the efforts of developing countries and countries with economies in transition in the implementation of the Global Plan of Action for Animal … Continue reading →

Africa / Asia / Food Safety / ILRI / Knowledge and Information / Latin America / Livelihoods / Mozambique / Pro-Poor Livestock

Reality checks for advocates of jatropha and food safety standards for the poor

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Estevao Carlos, a pork seller in Morrumbala District, in Zambezia, the most populated province of Mozambique (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). Two useful reality checks have appeared this week for those of us in the agricultural research for development business. (1) The first concerns the hardy jatropha tree, widely heralded as a miracle biofuel source. Miyuki Iiyama, … Continue reading →

Animal Production / Consumption / Environment / Livestock Systems

Is eating meat actually good for the planet?

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A young girl carries a slab of beef amongst traders in Goro town, Ethiopia, on market day. (Photo credit: ILRI/Mann) ‘The modest proposal may sound heretical to many eco-conscious eaters, but eating meat may actually be good for the planet after all.  In his new book, Meat: A Benign Extravagance, Simon Fairlie aims to debunk … Continue reading →

Africa / Asia / Biodiversity / CGIAR / Genebank / Indigenous Breeds / Latin America / Uganda / Vietnam

At the UN biodiversity meeting in Japan this week: Should endangered livestock breeds as well as crop varieties be saved?

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Africa’s native Ankole cattle, in Uganda (photo credit: East African Dairy Development project). Jeremy Cherfas, of Bioversity International, one of 15 centres of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), headquartered in Rome, summarizes below the importance of conserving animal genetic resources in material the CGIAR is exhibiting at the meeting of the United … Continue reading →

Animal Breeding / Biodiversity / Genetics / Livestock

Guidelines developed to help countries improve their animal genetic resources

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Animal genetic resources for food and agriculture comprise an essential component of the biological basis for world food security. Hundreds of millions of poor rural people keep livestock and often rely on their animals to provide multiple products and services. In harsh environments where crops will not flourish, livestock keeping is often the main or … Continue reading →

Africa / Asia / Food Security / Insurance / Latin America / Nutrition / Women

Numbers of hungry fall for first time in 15 years, but are higher than before the food crisis of 2008

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Kadidja Kimba pounds millet whilst caring for Khadi Boubacar in Katanga Village, near Fakara, Niger (credit: ILRI/Mann). The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has made FAO’s State of Food Security available. The report says the number of undernourished people in the world remains unacceptably high at close to one billion in 2010 despite … Continue reading →

Animal Production / Animal Products / Dairying / Livelihoods / Livestock / Pro-Poor Livestock

Prospects for small-scale dairying

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Since 2003, the Pro-Poor Livestock Policy Initiative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the International Farm Comparison Network have been compiling and analyzing information on dairy sector development and dairy household economics over a wide range of countries across the globe. This book brings these studies together and provides a … Continue reading →