Award-winning paper establishes links between women’s empowerment and crop seed improvement and governance in pre-war Syria
Agriculture / Award / CGIAR / Crops / Drylands / Extension / Food Security / Gender / Impact Assessment / Knowledge and Information / Middle East / Participation / Policy / Science paper / Seeds / Spotlight / Staff / Vulnerability / Women

Award-winning paper establishes links between women’s empowerment and crop seed improvement and governance in pre-war Syria

Alessandra Galiè, a social scientist specializing in gender issues in agricultural research who now works in Nairobi, Kenya, at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), conducted her doctoral research in Aleppo, Syria, at ILRI’s sister CGIAR institution, the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA). This week Galiè received a prestigious award for an academic paper she published documenting how ICARDA’s participatory barley breeding program in pre-war Syria impacted women’s empowerment. Continue reading

A 360-degree ‘immersive dive’ into Uganda’s smallholder pig sector
A4NH / Animal Production / CapDev / Communications / Consumption / East Africa / Film and Video / ILRI / ILRIComms / LIVESTOCKCRP / Markets / Pigs / PIL / Pro-Poor Livestock / Spotlight / Uganda / Value Chains

A 360-degree ‘immersive dive’ into Uganda’s smallholder pig sector

As part of ILRI’s quest to pilot new technologies for better communication of its work, the institute’s Capacity Development Unit recently worked with scientific and staff based in Uganda to produce CGIAR’s first-ever 360-degree video, which offers glimpses into an ordinary day in the life of a Ugandan pig farmer, trader and consumer. Continue reading

Imposing user fees on veterinary antimicrobials is a plausible way to curb antimicrobial use in food animals
A4NH / Agri-Health / AHH / AMR / FSZ / Human Health / ILRI / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock / Science paper / Spotlight

Imposing user fees on veterinary antimicrobials is a plausible way to curb antimicrobial use in food animals

New research findings suggest that imposing a user fee on veterinary antimicrobials is a plausible policy option to achieve meaningful reductions in antimicrobial use in the short term while simultaneously raising funds to improve farming practices that will benefit the long-term viability of the livestock industry. Continue reading

Livestock in developing countries—Misperceptions, facts and consequences
Biodiversity / Climate Change / Consumption / Directorate / Event Report / Human Health / ILRI / Nutrition / Policy / Presentation / Spotlight / UK

Livestock in developing countries—Misperceptions, facts and consequences

Jimmy Smith, the director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), is in London today (5 Oct 2017), speaking at an Extinction and Livestock Conference organized by Compassion in World Farming and the World Wildlife Fund. Continue reading

Sense of an ending—Imperatives for delivering research with the (SDGs) end in mind
Directorate / Environment / Human Health / ILRI / Livelihoods / NRM / Nutrition / Policy / Poverty / Presentation / Pro-Poor Livestock / Research / Spotlight

Sense of an ending—Imperatives for delivering research with the (SDGs) end in mind

Speaking last week at the opening of the annual meeting of the Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH), ILRI Director General Jimmy Smith reminded his scientific audience of the specific livestock means by which the world can meet their ambitious goals. The four livestock development pathways Smith describes for meeting the SDGs—economic growth, equitable livelihoods, nutrition and health, ecosystem health—(see below) are largely unknown outside of the South, where they are taken for granted. Time for that to change, Smith said. Time for livestock researchers to conduct their science ‘with the end in mind’. Continue reading

Closer, smarter integration of crops, animals and soils has bolstered food security, livelihoods and incomes in rural Zimbabwe
Animal Feeding / Animal Health / Animal Production / ASSP / Cattle / Crop-Livestock / DRYLANDSCRP / Event Report / Extension / Fodder / Food Security / Forages / Goats / ILRI / Impact Assessment / Legumes / LIVESTOCKCRP / LIVESTOCKFISH / Pro-Poor Livestock / Project / Soils / Southern Africa / Spotlight / Zimbabwe

Closer, smarter integration of crops, animals and soils has bolstered food security, livelihoods and incomes in rural Zimbabwe

Partners and funders of a research-for-development project in rural Zimbabwe called ‘ZimCLIFS’ yesterday (18 Sep 2017) convened in the capital, Harare, to take stock of how small-scale mixed crop-and-livestock farmers improved their food and nutritional security and their livelihoods in four main districts (Goromonzi, Murewa, Gwanda and Nkayi, from 2012 to 2017) and in two spillover districts (Mutoko and Uzumba, from 2015 to 2017). Continue reading

Hanoi workshop held on providing safer pork products in Vietnam
A4NH / Agri-Health / AHH / AMR / Animal Health / Consumption / Disease Control / Event Report / Food Safety / Human Health / ILRI / LIVESTOCKCRP / Pigs / Pro-Poor Livestock / Southeast Asia / Spotlight / Value Chains / Vietnam

Hanoi workshop held on providing safer pork products in Vietnam

A two-day workshop, 7–8 Sep 2017, on the topic of ‘Improving food safety along the pork value chain—lessons learned and ways forward’. The workshop consisted of two parts: (1) the closing of a project on ‘Reducing disease risks and improving food safety in smallholder pig value chains in Vietnam’, known as PigRISK, and (2) the launching of a project on ‘Market-based approaches to improving the safety of pork in Vietnam’, known as SafePORK Continue reading

On what (and how and when) to measure when measuring impacts of agricultural research for development
Africa / Agriculture / Asia / Capacity Strengthening / CGIAR / Directorate / Environment / Event Report / Food Security / Gender / ILRI / Impact Assessment / NRM / Nutrition / PIM / Policy / Poverty / Presentation / Research / Scaling / Spotlight

On what (and how and when) to measure when measuring impacts of agricultural research for development

By ILRI’s Iain Wright: On 6–8 Jul 2017, I attended a conference at ICRAF on Impacts of International Agricultural Research: Rigorous Evidence for Policy organized jointly by the CGIAR ISPC’s SPIA and PIM. I welcomed the delegates at this meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, on behalf of ICRAF and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), the two CGIAR centres headquartered in Nairobi. A modified version of my address and personal reflections on impact assessment in CGIAR follows. Continue reading

Why livestock are essential for Agenda 2030—Jimmy Smith at the High-Level Forum on Sustainable Development
Advocacy / Directorate / Event Report / Food Security / Gender / GLAD / Human Health / ILRI / Nutrition / Policy / Poverty / Pro-Poor Livestock / Spotlight / Staff / Women

Why livestock are essential for Agenda 2030—Jimmy Smith at the High-Level Forum on Sustainable Development

United Nations High-Level Forum on Sustainable Development, Special Event: The Role of Livestock in Achieving the SDGs,Friday, 14 July, 2017: Opening remarks by Jimmy Smith, director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) Continue reading

Coming up 13 Jul: ‘Agriculture and Food Day’ at the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development
Advocacy / Agriculture / CGIAR / Directorate / Event / Food Security / Gender / GLAD / Human Health / ILRI / Policy / Poverty / Spotlight / Women

Coming up 13 Jul: ‘Agriculture and Food Day’ at the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development

The director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Jimmy Smith, will moderate a day-long ‘Agriculture and Food Day’ at the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, which started yesterday (10 Jul 2017) and runs through 19 Jul at the United Nations Headquarters, in New York City. Continue reading