A collaborative effort by some of the world’s leading agriculture experts has produced a new set of maps published today in the journal PLoS ONE that provides the most detailed rendition ever produced of the billions of cattle, pigs, poultry and other livestock living in the world today. Continue reading
The time has come to make the bigger case for massive investment in One Health to transform the management of neglected and emerging zoonoses and to save the lives of millions of people and hundreds of millions of animals whose production supports and nourishes billions of impoverished people per annum. Continue reading
The new National Climate Assessment released recently by President Obama’s Global Change Research Program contains dour predictions about the impact of climate change on livestock production in the United States. How can the country’s livestock sector adapt to these changes? One strategy suggested in the report will be familiar to experts at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). It involves raising livestock and crops together and taking advantage of the synergies between the two. Continue reading
Aflatoxins are toxic chemicals produced as by-products by fungi (moulds) that grow on maize, groundnuts and other food crops. These toxins also affect feedstuffs, which then contaminate milk, meat and eggs. The toxins occur everywhere in the world, but pose particularly high risks in tropical developing countries where certain staple foods, such as maize and sorghum, comprise a large part of the diets of the poor. Continue reading
Last week, Jimmy Smith, director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), gave a presentation on closing the big livestock yield gaps in developing countries. Smith made his presentation at the Global Food Security Consortium Spring Symposium, held in Ames, Iowa, 29–30 Apr 2014. Continue reading
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