Category Archives: Africa

‘Living tools’ at the frontier of vaccine development—A Keystone Symposium workshop by Vish Nene
Africa / AHH / Biotechnology / CBPP / Disease Control / Genetics / Health / ILRI / ILVAC / Presentation / Research / Spotlight / Vaccines

‘Living tools’ at the frontier of vaccine development—A Keystone Symposium workshop by Vish Nene

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Vish Nene, one of the scientific organizers of the conference and a co-leader of the Animal and Human Health program at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, gave a particularly lucid talk at the pre-meeting workshop on Novel tools and genomics approaches supporting vaccine development. The following is a transcript of Nene’s talk, lightly edited for clarity and brevity. Continue reading →

‘Legacy Award’ bestowed on Jean Hanson, ILRI’s forage genebank gatekeeper for the last three decades
Africa / Award / CGIAR / FFD / Forages / ILRI / Pro-Poor Livestock / Seeds / Spotlight / Staff

‘Legacy Award’ bestowed on Jean Hanson, ILRI’s forage genebank gatekeeper for the last three decades

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Along with six other distinguished scientists, Hanson today, 25 Feb 2018,  received an inaugural ‘Legacy Award’ from the Global Crop Diversity Trust, which bestowed this award on Hanson for dedicating her career to forage conservation. Continue reading →

Animal health and welfare, two cornerstones of sustainable, responsible and effective food production
Africa / Agri-Health / Animal Diseases / Animal Health / Animal Production / Article / Event Report / Germany / Policy / Regions / Spotlight / Story Type

Animal health and welfare, two cornerstones of sustainable, responsible and effective food production

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Highlights of keynote speakers at a high-level panel on the future of animal health and welfare organized by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) as part of the tenth Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA), which was held in Berlin from 18 to 20 Jan 2018. Continue reading →

DFID/UKAid provides £4 million for genetics and health research to aid sustainable livestock production in Africa
Africa / Agri-Health / Animal Breeding / Animal Diseases / Animal Health / Biotechnology / Cattle / CGIAR / Chickens / Europe / Genetics / ILRI / Launch / LiveGene / Poultry / Pro-Poor Livestock / Research / Spotlight / Trypanosomiasis / UK

DFID/UKAid provides £4 million for genetics and health research to aid sustainable livestock production in Africa

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Research to improve the health and productivity of farmed animals in tropical climates has received a £4 million boost from the UK Government. The investment from DFID was announced by the Secretary of State for International Development, Penny Mordaunt, during a visit to the University of Edinburgh. It will support research in the Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health—a joint venture between the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute, SRUC, ILRI, the latter of which has major research facilities in Kenya and Ethiopia. Continue reading →

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

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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 →

On what (and how and when) to measure when measuring impacts of agricultural research for development
Africa / Agriculture / Asia / Capacity Strengthening / CGIAR / Directorate / Environment / Event Report / Food Security / Gender / ILRI / Impact Assessment / NRM / Nutrition / PIM / Policy / Poverty / Presentation / Research / Scaling / Spotlight

On what (and how and when) to measure when measuring impacts of agricultural research for development

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By ILRI’s Iain Wright: On 6–8 Jul 2017, I attended a conference at ICRAF on Impacts of International Agricultural Research: Rigorous Evidence for Policy organized jointly by the CGIAR ISPC’s SPIA and PIM. I welcomed the delegates at this meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, on behalf of ICRAF and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), the two CGIAR centres headquartered in Nairobi. A modified version of my address and personal reflections on impact assessment in CGIAR follows. Continue reading →

Following the vaccine that wiped out rinderpest, a new vaccine against sheep and goat plague proves promising
Africa / AHH / Animal Diseases / Animal Health / Asia / BecA / Disease Control / Goats / ILRI / ILVAC / PPR / Science paper / Sheep / Small Ruminants / Spotlight / Vaccines

Following the vaccine that wiped out rinderpest, a new vaccine against sheep and goat plague proves promising

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A new paper by researchers at ILRI describes development of an effective experimental and thermostable vaccine against ‘peste des petits ruminants’, or PPR for short, a disease more commonly known as sheep and goat plague. Continue reading →