Coming up next week is an event marking the 15th anniversary of the Biosciences eastern and central Africa-International Livestock Research (BecA-ILRI) Hub, located in Nairobi, Kenya, and working with partners across the continent as well as with bioscience institutions worldwide. Continue reading
Category Archives: Directorate
Ethiopia-CGIAR country consultation meeting identifies five action areas for enhanced collaboration
Five concrete areas of collaboration have been recommended in a meeting of CGIAR centres and national partners and key stakeholders in a move to better align CGIAR activities with the national Growth and Transformation Plan II (GTP 2015-2020). Continue reading
ILRI Board of Trustees meets in Washington DC
The 44th ILRI Board of Trustees meeting took place in Washington DC from 31 October to 4 November 2015. This latest meeting saw a number of changes on the ILRI board, as three members left, three joined, and Lindsay Falvey become board chair. Continue reading
A couple of ‘missings’ for the Paris climate talks
In the days leading up to the start of the climate change talks in Paris (COP21) this week (30 Nov–11 Dec 2015), we at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) have been busy responding to recent articles in the press advocating that ‘the world’ eat less meat to reduce greenhouse gases and other livestock ‘bads’. … Continue reading
Climate-smart livestock farming in developing countries is boosted by a £10-million research award
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
High-level German delegation visits ILRI for updates on CGIAR livestock and sweet potato research
Earlier this week (16 Nov 2015) a delegation from the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the German Embassy in Kenya visited the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Nairobi. Continue reading
What’s driving Ethiopia’s fast development? Millions of smallholder farmers, of course
Industrialization is key to economic development, and agriculture—supplying raw materials for processing and value addition—is an essential component of that process. Comprising more than 40% of national GDP and producing the overwhelming majority of the Ethiopia’s food, smallholder farmers are at the centre of the country’s recent economic success. So declared the director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Jimmy Smith, in an agriculture panel discussion, this week, organized by the Economist magazine and held at the Sheraton Hotel in Addis Ababa. Continue reading
ILRI’s Corporate Report 2014–2015 is out: Twenty-one stories of better lives through livestock
The board of trustees, management, scientists and support staff of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) take pleasure in announcing publication of the institute’s corporate report for 2014 and 2015. Continue reading
The sharp divide: Do we need animals to feed this world?
Livestock, the fastest-growing, highest-value and a highly controversial agriculture sector, is at a crossroads. Following a new set of 17 sustainable development goals, the current and potential roles of livestock systems in food and nutrition security and other aspects of sustainable development, including the environment, human health and livelihoods, continue to be debated. Opinions are sharply divided in the industrialized world between those who consider animals to be more part of the solution and those who consider them to be more part of the problem. Continue reading
Open letter to the heads of state attending the 70th UN General Assembly, September 2015, New York
Open letter to the heads of state attending the 70th UN General Assembly, September 2015, New York: ‘Co-advancement of Agricultural and Natural Resource Management within the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals’ Continue reading