A side event at the Tropentag 2014 International Conference, being held at the Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic, is being organized tomorrow, 18 Sep 2014, from 1400–1530, by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). Continue reading
Impacts of climate change on length of growing periods in Africa by Philip Thornton The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has published an atlas illustrating the current state of African smallholder agriculture. The Atlas of African Agriculture Research and Development comprises a series of maps and short analyses that showcase and locate the continent’s diverse agricultural … Continue reading
An average of less than 1,000 millimeters of rain falls per year across most of Africa (Map 1). Rainfall tends to decrease with distance from the equator and is negligible in the Sahara (north of about latitude 16°N), in eastern Somalia, and in the southwest of the continent in Namibia and South Africa. Rainfall is most abundant on the eastern seaboard of Madagascar; portions of the highlands in eastern Africa; large areas of the Congo Basin and central Africa; and parts of coastal western Africa including Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea. Continue reading
Livestock-producing agricultural systems cover 73 percent of Africa and stretch across several climates (Map 1). To some extent, these climates determine what type of farming is practiced. In Africa, livestock-producing systems are broken into two main categories: livestock and mixed crop-livestock. These systems exist in three common African climates: arid/semiarid, humid/subhumid, and temperate/tropical highlands. Continue reading
This week (15 Jul 2014), the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) organized a discussion at CTA’s Fin4Ag Conference in Nairobi on ‘Testing innovations in livestock and dairy value chain finance: Insights from East and Southern Africa’. The discussion was moderated by Jo Cadilhon, a senior agro-economist in ILRI’s Policy, Trade and Value Chains Program who is based at the institute’s Nairobi headquarters. Continue reading
This 5-minute film tells the story of the Tanzanian Tanga Dairy Platform, which is helping dairy farmers in Tanzania to improve their milk production and sales. Continue reading
This short film tells the story of Sheha Saidi, a dairy farmer from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, who compares her experiences of keeping dairy cattle in Tanzania’s largest city with the experiences of her sister who lives and keeps dairy cows in Pongwe, Tanga.
Continue reading
In the film, Faustina Akyoo, a small-scale dairy farmer, explains how she learnt dairying from her parents in Arusha before moving to the coastal town of Tanga where she continued keeping cows in addition to taking up employment. She is now retired, and her five dairy cows are an important source of income for her family. Continue reading
In Jun 2014 three agricultural economists working with the International Livestock Research Institute presented case studies at the World Forum of the International Food and Agribusiness Management Association (IFAMA) in Cape Town, South Africa. The main lesson from the two cases presented is that by training farmers, processors and other stakeholders supporting agribusiness development, African talent can create new products and innovative processes that help feed African markets with African products. Continue reading
The Minister for Livestock and Fisheries Development in Tanzania, Hon Titus Mlengeya (MP) officially opened the ILRI-Tanzania country office on Friday 13 Jun 2014 in Dar es Salaam. Continue reading
ILRI news 