This is the eleventh in a series of articles on ‘Curds and goats, lives and livelihoods—A dozen stories from northern and eastern India’. PART 11: India’s addiction to milk as a diabetes pandemic moves to the villages Continue reading
Author Archives: Susan MacMillan
Pandemic proofing the world: An epidemiologist in Nairobi on preventing the next Zika virus
As the world becomes more well, people — particularly people in the West — seem to be more worried about health and disease, especially about the possibility of global pandemics (that is, widespread outbreaks) of newly emerging infectious diseases. Are these first-world fears? Or is there good reason why everyone should be concerned about coming plagues? And, if so, what should we be doing differently to protect ourselves better from newly emerging diseases? Continue reading
No one left behind: Livestock at the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development
Are livestock at a tipping point for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals? Presentation by Shirley Tarawali, assistant director general of ILRI, at the ‘Sustainable Livestock, Sustainable Lives’ side event at the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development at the United Nations Headquarters, in New York City, 20 July 2016 Continue reading
Badass Chinese sheep quickly evolved adaptations to extreme plateau and desert environments—New study
A new study offers novel insights into rapid genomic adaptations to extreme environments in sheep and other animals and provides a valuable resource for future research on livestock breeding in response to climate change. Continue reading
High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition launches sustainable livestock development report
In October 2014, the Committee on Food Security requested the High-Level Panel of Experts for Food Security and Nutrition to prepare a report on sustainable agricultural development for food security and nutrition, including the role of livestock. An important planning meeting was held at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). Continue reading
Balancing the plate: Jimmy Smith opens ‘Private Sector Mechanism Partnerships Forum on Livestock’
Private-Sector Mechanism Partnerships Forum on Livestock, 30 June 2016, IFAD, Rome: Luncheon on the ‘Zero Hunger Challenge’, Keynote address, ‘Balancing the Plate’, by Jimmy Smith, Continue reading
Jimmy Smith’s address to UK parliamentary group on the potential of livestock for development
Jimmy Smith presentation to the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Agriculture and Food for Development, The role of livestock in smallholder livelihoods, 29 June 2016 Continue reading
Kenyan cattle found to have much smaller faecal carbon footprints than those used in climate change inventories
Greenhouse gases emitted by Kenyan cattle excreta are found to be much lower than estimates derived from models in industrialized countries. Continue reading
Elite cultivars of the livestock feeding kind–‘FORAGES for the FUTURE’
Just announced: Publication of the first issue of a newsletter produced by the Global Crop Diversity Trust that is a first step in fulfilling on a new strategy for tropical and subtropical forage diversity and use. Continue reading
Vaccine research on Africa’s cattle-killing East Coast fever: A short (somewhat potted but handsomely illustrated) history
Tremendous research progress has been made over the last ten years to better control the deadly African disease of cattle known as East Coast fever. This disease is caused by a single-celled organism, Theileria parva, which is carried by some tick species. Cattle become infected when a tick carrying the parasite takes a blood-meal from the animal over several days. Continue reading