Category Archives: Crop-Livestock

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

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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 →

New factories in Nigeria transform cassava peels into livestock feed, creating jobs and incomes for women
Agriculture / Animal Feeding / Crop Residues / Crop-Livestock / Crops / Event / Feeds / HUMIDTROPICS / ILRI / Intensification / LIVESTOCKCRP / Nigeria / Research / SLS / Value Chains / West Africa

New factories in Nigeria transform cassava peels into livestock feed, creating jobs and incomes for women

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A delegation comprising IFAD staff visited the Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) cassava processing sites at Lokongoma, Wushishi (Niger State) and Idogodo, Okpokwu (Benue State) in late July, 2017 to discuss progress with this important project. Continue reading →

Lessons learnt out of Africa: 19 factors not to underestimate in rural livestock/agricultural research for development
Agri-Health / Agriculture / AHH / Animal Health / Central Africa / Chickens / Crop-Livestock / Disease Control / East Africa / Event Report / Food Security / Gender / Human Health / ILRI / Nutrition / PIL / Policy / Presentation / Pro-Poor Livestock / Spotlight / Tanzania / Vaccines / Women / Zambia

Lessons learnt out of Africa: 19 factors not to underestimate in rural livestock/agricultural research for development

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Robyn Alders gave a particularly candid and interesting presentation at a seminar/webinar held on 4 May 2017 at ILRI on the subject of ‘Animal-source foods for nutrition impact: Evidence and good practices for informed project design’. This was the fourth in a Livestock and Household Nutrition Learning Series of seminars/webinars organized jointly by Land O’Lakes International Development and ILRI. Continue reading →

Brachiaria grass can help Kenya’s dryland food producers improve their soils and yields under a changing climate
Agriculture / Animal Feeding / BecA / Crop-Livestock / Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Feeds / Forages / ILRI / Kenya / Pro-Poor Livestock / Rangelands / Science paper / Soils / Spotlight

Brachiaria grass can help Kenya’s dryland food producers improve their soils and yields under a changing climate

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Results of a recent study by the Biosciences eastern and central Africa-International Livestock Research Institute Hub (BecA-ILRI Hub) and the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), both based in Nairobi, indicate that the many people farming in Kenya’s semi-arid regions would profit in many ways from planting drought-tolerant Brachiaria grass. Continue reading →

From livestock smallholders to ‘smartholders’: Nurturing development with animal-source foods
Agri-Health / Animal Products / Consumption / Crop-Livestock / Directorate / Event / Food Security / Human Health / ILRI / Livelihoods / Livestock Systems / Nutrition / Policy / Presentation / Pro-Poor Livestock / Research / Resilience / Spotlight

From livestock smallholders to ‘smartholders’: Nurturing development with animal-source foods

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Scientists from across the globe gathered at the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences on 29–30 Mar 2017 to discuss ways to improve nutrition through animal-source foods in some of the most impoverished regions in the world. Chronically affecting 24 per cent of the world’s children, roughly 159 million in 2014, malnutrition is responsible for almost half of all child deaths worldwide. Jimmy Smith, director general of ILRI, was one of the keynote speakers at the opening of the Global Nutrition Symposium, the theme of which was ‘Nurturing development: Improving human nutrition with animal-source foods’. Continue reading →

Livestock environmental ‘hoofprints’: Five fast facts to remember—Shirley Tarawali at ‘Farming First’
Advocacy / Agriculture / Climate Change / Consumption / Crop-Livestock / Directorate / Environment / Food Security / GLAD / ILRI / Livestock Systems / Nutrition / Opinion Piece / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock / Spotlight

Livestock environmental ‘hoofprints’: Five fast facts to remember—Shirley Tarawali at ‘Farming First’

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In this guest post, originally published by Farming First, Shirley Tarawali, assistant director general of the
 International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), takes a closer look at livestock’s impact on the environment, and what is being done to manage its environmental ‘hoofprint’. Continue reading →

Odisha Odyssey: A look at the emerging commercial dairy value chains in eastern India
Agriculture / Animal Feeding / ASSP / Cattle / Crop-Livestock / Dairying / Feeds / Fodder / ILRI / India / Interview / Livelihoods / Livestock / Markets / Pro-Poor Livestock / Project / South Asia / Spotlight / Value Chains

Odisha Odyssey: A look at the emerging commercial dairy value chains in eastern India

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In recent years, ILRI scientists have been working with institutional partners and local farmer organizations in Odisha, a large eastern state of India on the Bay of Bengal, on research to improve the feed and fodder resources readily available to smallholder livestock keepers. ILRI conducted this collaborative research through a collaborative CGIAR Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) aiming to increase and sustain small farm productivity in selected regions of Bangladesh, India and Nepal.

As part of an ILRI photojournalism trip to India undertaken in early Mar 2016, the authors visited a town on the outskirts of Bhadrak, a city in northern Odisha, to capture a bit of what the ILRI-led CSISA work has accomplished for small-scale dairy farmers in the area. Continue reading →

Forage farming changes lives of Zimbabwe smallholder farmers
Animal Feeding / ASSP / Crop-Livestock / DRYLANDSCRP / Food Security / Forages / ILRI / Intensification / Livelihoods / Livestock / Project / Southern Africa / Zimbabwe

Forage farming changes lives of Zimbabwe smallholder farmers

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Many rural households in Zimbabwe rely on food aid to meet their nutritional needs. This problem, often aggravated by unemployment and falls in income, threatens the livelihoods of low income and food-insecure populations. Continue reading →

Mixing it up—The information ‘black hole’ on crop+animal recipes for climate-smart and climate-resilient farms
Africa / Agriculture / Article / CCAFS / Climate Change / Crop-Livestock / Farming Systems / Food Security / ILRI / Opinion Piece / Pro-Poor Livestock / Research / SLS / Spotlight / Vulnerability

Mixing it up—The information ‘black hole’ on crop+animal recipes for climate-smart and climate-resilient farms

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We are unaware of any comprehensive studies undertaken in sub-Saharan Africa to explore how mixed farms will be affected by climate change and the cost and benefits of different adaptation options. Underestimating the importance of livestock in the mixed’ smallholder farming systems that are ubiquitous across the developing world weakens both emissions reduction and climate change adaptation efforts. Continue reading →