The ultimate test: Do livestock eat this feed? Yes. (Photo on Flickr by Swathi Sridharan/ICRISAT). In 2012, three CGIAR centres — the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), based in Africa; the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), based in Mexico; and the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), based in India … Continue reading
Tag Archives: Zimbabwe
Cattle / Climate Change / Drylands / Environment / Food Security / Forages / Goats / Pastoralism / Presentation / Sheep / Small Ruminants / Soils / USA / Vulnerability / Wildlife
Want to green the world’s deserts? Do the unthinkable: Put livestock back on them — Allan Savory
Watch this new provocative 22-minute TedTalk by Allan Savory on ‘How to green the world’s deserts and reverse climate change’. Alan Savory, a Zimbabwean-born biologist/ecologist and rangelands specialist, gives environmentalists pause in a recent TedTalk, published 4 Mar 2013, on the ‘cancer’ of desertification of the world’s drylands, which make up some two-thirds of the … Continue reading
Africa / Agriculture / Environment / Ethiopia / Kenya / Livelihoods / Livestock / Namibia
Reversing desertification with livestock in Zimbabwe
Overgrazing is often seen as a major cause of desertification. But by changing the way animals are managed, the Savory Institute (SI) and Africa Center for Holistic Management (ACHM) have restored 2,700 hectares of degraded land close to Victoria Falls by increasing livestock numbers by 400 per cent. Having increased land productivity, water availability and … Continue reading
Using health ecology to manage emerging diseases in Zimbabwe
Since 2008, the Parsel project has been monitoring cattle and wild hoofed animal movements in the Zimbabwe National Park. The aim is to understand and limit the spread of certain diseases. The results obtained so far are so encouraging that the protocol has just been extended to South Africa and Mozambique. Read more … (CIRAD) Continue reading
Non-market values of cattle ‘crucial’ to smallholder dairy farmers in Zimbabwe
When the smallholder dairy farmer looks at a cow, he sees more than just a simple economic asset whose value is reckoned in terms of the milk it produces. What he sees is an asset endowed with an assortment of attributes ranging from the production of milk, manure to fertilize crops, insurance against unforeseen contingencies … Continue reading
Zimbabwe reports anthrax outbreak
Zimbabwe’s Agriculture Ministry on Tuesday reported a fresh outbreak of anthrax in some parts of the country. Veterinary Services director Stewart Hargreaves told ZimOnline that his department has recorded fresh reports of an outbreak of the deadly livestock disease. “There has been an outbreak over the past two weeks. The outbreak has been recorded in … Continue reading
Zimbabwe: An economy running on chickens
Every fortnight Makaitei Musakwa, 45, catches one of her chickens, picks up some of the maize she has grown, and sets off for the village mill to have the maize ground into mealie-meal, Zimbabwe’s staple food. “It is difficult for me to raise the money that the miller charges … I have nowhere to get … Continue reading
Africa / Animal Health / ILRI / Livestock / Research / Southern Africa
Livestock, just what the vet ordered
Harare — GLOBALLY, livestock farming is fast becoming agriculture’s most economically important sub-sector with demand for animal products projected to double over the next 20 years, especially in the developing countries, findings by the International Livestock Research Institute have indicated. It is against this backdrop that developing economies need to direct their focus on research … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 