Nagaland launches a comprehensive state pig-breeding policy, the first of its kind in India, developed through participatory and consultative processes. Continue reading
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
This is the third in a series of articles on ‘Curds and goats, lives and livelihoods—A dozen stories from northern and eastern India’. Continue reading
Shrestha, a spirited buffalo bull, greeted Jimmy Smith, director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), with a low grunt during a visit Smith and his delegation recently made at the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), India’s pre-eminent dairy research centre, located in the northern city of Karnal and the prosperous state of Haryana. Continue reading
Depuis 20 ans, le gouvernement éthiopien compte sur une réelle transformation du secteur agricole, mais l’absence d’un plan directeur en a retardé la mise en œuvre. Cependant un nouveau projet de recherche interdisciplinaire, que Barry Shapiro – chercheur à l’Institut International pour la Recherche sur l’Elevage (ILRI) – a présenté au Ministère de l’Agriculture (MdA) à Addis Abeba, révèle les bénéfices potentiels d’un Plan Directeur pour l’Elevage (PDE, LMP en anglais) en Ethiopie. Continue reading
Researchers at the Roslin Institute will be using funds from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to investigate how genetic information can improve the health and productivity of farmed animals in tropical climates, which is a proven approach to climate change mitigation and adaptation. The Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health is an alliance between the Institute at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) and the Africa-headquartered International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). The partner institutions are making additional contributions with a value of £10 million to support the initiative over the next five years. Continue reading
At a recent workshop co-hosted by an NGO called Biosciences for Farming in Africa (B4FA) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), in Nairobi, Kenya, ILRI communications staff Susan MacMillan made a short presentation on why the 20-plus animal geneticists in the room should bother communicating their science to non-specialists. The big picture ‘A … Continue reading
At a time when the price of mutton is climbing and wool crashing, a groundbreaking new study has used advanced genetic sequencing technology to rewrite the history of sheep breeding and trading along the ancient Silk Road—insights that can help contemporary herders in developing countries preserve or recover valuable traits crucial to their food and economic security. The new findings regarding one of the first animals ever domesticated will be published in the October print edition of the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution. They are the product of an unprecedented collaboration involving scientists in China, Iran, Pakistan, Indonesia, Nepal, Finland, and the United Kingdom. The team analysed the complete mitochondrial DNA of 42 domesticated native sheep breeds from Azerbaijan, Moldova, Serbia, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Poland, Finland, China and the United Kingdom, along with two wild sheep species from Kazakhstan. Continue reading
Smallholder farmers and pastoral herders in East Africa are the target of an ongoing joint project of ILRI, the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) and the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). Continue reading
A new four-year African Chicken Genetic Gains (ACGG) project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will run from 2015 to 2019 and work to genetically improve Africa’s chickens and to better deliver the superior chickens to small-scale farmers. Continue reading
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