A ‘pitching’ challenge at ILRI helps young scientists explain what they do—and why it matters—to inquisitive friends, donors and policymakers Sometimes all it might take to prevent the spread of a contagious disease is to nail up a fence door left casually hanging open on its hinges. That’s one of the key lessons from Titus … Continue reading
Category Archives: Agriculture
Animal health experts on the ‘goat plague’ known as PPR chart ways forward for better controlling a widespread disease harming the world’s small-scale sheep and goats producers
Peste des petits ruminants (PPR), also known as ‘goat plague’, is a viral disease related to rinderpest of sheep as well as goats. This contagious transboundary disease hurts the livelihoods of millions of small-scale livestock farmers, threatening food security with estimated economic losses exceeding USD1.5 billion per year. The disease threatens 80 per cent of … Continue reading
In Mali, an old vaccine can be a new way to fight poverty
Scientists working at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) have found a way to significantly increase the vaccination coverage of goats and sheep in the Sahel against one of the most common and widely feared animal diseases—the peste des petits ruminants (PPR) or ovine rinderpest—a viral infection which is endemic to the region and kills … Continue reading
Climate change already damaging children’s health, says new Lancet report
Climate change is already damaging the health of the world’s children and is set to shape the well-being of an entire generation unless the world meets Paris Agreement targets to limit warming to ‘well below’ 2 degrees Celsius, according to a major new report published in The Lancet. Continue reading
University of Illinois bestows its 2019 International Alumni Award on ILRI chief Jimmy Smith
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has bestowed its Madhuri and Jagdish N Sheth International Alumni Award for Exceptional Achievement on Jimmy W Smith, director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). Established in 2000, this annual university award recognizes its international alumni who are highly distinguished in their profession, have made outstanding contributions to government, humanity, science, art, or human welfare, and exemplify the strength of their education at Illinois. Continue reading
Livestock in context: A plea for intellectual rigor and collegial disagreement
Lawrence Haddad, the executive director of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition and 2018 World Food Prize co-winner, gave two presentations at the International Tropical Agriculture Conference held 11-13 November in Brisbane, Australia. The first, titled Let them eat meat, was covered in an earlier blog post. His second presentation, titled Why animal source foods … Continue reading
The future of livestock in the developing world: myths, complexities and trade-offs
The future of livestock in the developing world was one of the principal themes at the third International Tropical Agriculture (TropAg) Conference held from 11-13 November 2019 in Brisbane, Australia. The conference focused on the challenge of feeding the world’s ever-growing population, which is expected to reach 9.8 billion by 2050. The greatest challenges will … Continue reading
ILRI supports the United Nations’ ‘Decade of Action on Nutrition’, 2016–2025
The following is ILRI’s statement of support to the United Nations’ Decade of Action on Nutrition, 2016–2025. Continue reading
Towards sustainable food system transformations in the Global South
The world is just eleven harvests away from 2030, but for hundreds of millions of people the goal of ending hunger set forth in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) remains as loftily elusive as ever. What can be done to put the developing world on the right track? Continue reading
Enhancing food security through sustainable livestock systems
Iain Wright, deputy director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), gave the keynote presentation at a side event on enhancing food security through innovation in sustainable livestock systems at the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) conference held in Rome last week. Continue reading