Largest-ever micro-insurance payout made to Ethiopian pastoralists
Africa / Agriculture / CCAFS / Climate Change / CRPs / Drought / Drylands / East Africa / Ethiopia / Event Report / IBLI / ILRI / Insurance / Kenya / Livestock / Livestock Systems / Pastoralism / Pro-Poor Livestock / SLS / Story Type

Largest-ever micro-insurance payout made to Ethiopian pastoralists

More than 2,250 pastoralists received insurance payouts following the extremely poor rains this year in southern Ethiopia. Low levels of rainfall have led to the loss of approximately 300,000 livestock in 2017 in the Borana zone of the southern Oromia region. The insurance payouts of more than ETB5.233 million (USD220,000) was the largest-ever micro-insurance indemnity made in Ethiopia. Each insured pastoralist received an average of ETB2,255 (USD96), which will allow the herders to purchase feeds for their surviving animals and to restock their herds. Continue reading

Hanoi workshop held on providing safer pork products in Vietnam
A4NH / Agri-Health / AHH / AMR / Animal Health / Consumption / Disease Control / Event Report / Food Safety / Human Health / ILRI / LIVESTOCKCRP / Pigs / Pro-Poor Livestock / Southeast Asia / Spotlight / Value Chains / Vietnam

Hanoi workshop held on providing safer pork products in Vietnam

A two-day workshop, 7–8 Sep 2017, on the topic of ‘Improving food safety along the pork value chain—lessons learned and ways forward’. The workshop consisted of two parts: (1) the closing of a project on ‘Reducing disease risks and improving food safety in smallholder pig value chains in Vietnam’, known as PigRISK, and (2) the launching of a project on ‘Market-based approaches to improving the safety of pork in Vietnam’, known as SafePORK Continue reading

Pig farmers to earn more through new genetics project in Uganda
Agriculture / East Africa / Genetics / Intensification / Livelihoods / Livestock / LIVESTOCKCRP / Pigs / Pro-Poor Livestock / Project / Research / Uganda

Pig farmers to earn more through new genetics project in Uganda

A newly launched pig genetics project seeks to increase the productivity and profitability of the Ugandan smallholder pig enterprises by developing a genetic improvement strategy to ensure the availability and accessibility of appropriate pig breeds. Continue reading

Why livestock are essential for Agenda 2030—Jimmy Smith at the High-Level Forum on Sustainable Development
Advocacy / Directorate / Event Report / Food Security / Gender / GLAD / Human Health / ILRI / Nutrition / Policy / Poverty / Pro-Poor Livestock / Spotlight / Staff / Women

Why livestock are essential for Agenda 2030—Jimmy Smith at the High-Level Forum on Sustainable Development

United Nations High-Level Forum on Sustainable Development, Special Event: The Role of Livestock in Achieving the SDGs,Friday, 14 July, 2017: Opening remarks by Jimmy Smith, director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) Continue reading

Ethiopia’s ‘livestock roadmaps’ for growth and transformation to a middle-income nation
Advocacy / ASSP / Directorate / East Africa / Ethiopia / Event Report / Food Security / GLAD / ILRI / Intensification / ISP / Markets / News clipping / Policy / Poverty / Pro-Poor Livestock / Scaling / Spotlight / Value Chains

Ethiopia’s ‘livestock roadmaps’ for growth and transformation to a middle-income nation

Jimmy Smith is a panel member in a special session occurring today organized by the Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture—Sustainable livestock and the UN 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. In this session, Smith provides a concrete example of livestock advancing Agenda 2030 in the form of an Ethiopian ‘livestock master plan’ developed by the Ethiopian Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries with ILRI’s technical support and project funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as well as in-kind resources invested by the Ethiopian Government and ILRI. Continue reading

Capitalizing on women in livestock development—ILRI’s Jimmy Smith and Isabelle Baltenweck speak out
Advocacy / Directorate / Event Report / Food Security / Gender / GLAD / ILRI / Livelihoods / Opinion Piece / PIL / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock / Spotlight / Women

Capitalizing on women in livestock development—ILRI’s Jimmy Smith and Isabelle Baltenweck speak out

A recent opinion piece on women and livestock was written by Isabelle Baltenweck, an agricultural economist and deputy leader of ILRI’s Policies, Institutions and Livelihoods program. Her piece was published by the Thomson Reuters Foundation News.  Continue reading

Six new papers on the ancient, complex and everlasting farm animal–zoonotic disease–human well-being nexus
A4NH / Africa / Agri-Health / AHH / Animal Health / Disease Control / Emerging Diseases / Environment / Epidemiology / FSZ / Human Health / ILRI / Pro-Poor Livestock / RVF / Science paper / Spotlight / Vaccines / Zoonotic Diseases

Six new papers on the ancient, complex and everlasting farm animal–zoonotic disease–human well-being nexus

Six new high-level publications by scientists and partners of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH) on zoonoses, livestock and well-being. Continue reading

India’s Odisha State and ILRI join forces to improve livestock feeding and mechanization
Animal Feeding / Buffalo / Cattle / Crop Residues / Dairying / Event Report / Feeds / FFD / Fodder / Forages / Goats / ILRI / India / Launch / Pro-Poor Livestock / Project / Sheep / Small Ruminants / South Asia / Spotlight

India’s Odisha State and ILRI join forces to improve livestock feeding and mechanization

A three-year ILRI-Odisha State project, ‘Feed and Fodder Production in Different Agro-Climatic Zones and its Utilization for Livestock of Odisha,’ which is worth more than USD2 million (INR18.08 crore), will map feed and fodder supply and demand, improve feeding practices and build capacity of key players in the feed value chain in the state. Continue reading

Livestock-wildlife trade-offs for pastoral livelihoods in the conservancies of the Masai Mara
Biodiversity / Climate Change / East Africa / Environment / ILRI / Kenya / Pastoralism / Policy / Pro-Poor Livestock / Rangelands / Resilience / Science paper / SLS / Spotlight / Wildlife

Livestock-wildlife trade-offs for pastoral livelihoods in the conservancies of the Masai Mara

A new research paper, Trade-offs for climate-resilient pastoral livelihoods in wildlife conservancies in the Mara ecosystem, Kenya, was recently published in Pastoralism: Research, Policy and Practice, May 2017. The paper is co-authored by Claire Bedelian, of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Overseas Development Institute (ODI), and University College London (UCL), and Joseph Ogutu, of ILRI and the University of Hohenheim. 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

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