Andrew Mude, an economist and principal scientist at ILRI, is being presented with the 2016 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application today, 12 Oct 2016, for his work leading an innovative livestock insurance program that employs satellite data to help protect livestock herding communities in the Horn of Africa from the devastating effects of drought. Continue reading
Category Archives: Story Type
Kenya’s wildlife populations are in ‘widespread’ and ‘catastrophic’ decline—New study
Here’s a wake up call for all those who care about Kenya’s rich heritage of wild animals, rangelands and pastoral peoples. A new study reporting on the period from 1977 to 2016 says wildlife on the rangelands of Kenya, which still support some of the richest herds of mammals on earth, is in precipitous decline while populations of goats and sheep are increasingly sharply. Continue reading
Improving food safety and human health through agricultural research: CGIAR future plans
A useful summary of the future plans of the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH), led by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), based in Washington, DC, has been published. Two of the five flagships of this multi-institutional research program are led or co-led by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), based in Nairobi, Kenya. Future work of these two flagships is described below. Continue reading
India and Vietnam in South-South collaboration on shared pig breeds, production systems and cultures
Nagaland launches a comprehensive state pig-breeding policy, the first of its kind in India, developed through participatory and consultative processes. Continue reading
Cloned bull could contribute to development of disease-resistant African cattle
A note in a scientific journal gives an update on long-term research to develop African cattle resistant to the Africa animal disease known as trypanosomiasis. The aim of this research is to help reduce widespread poverty and hunger on the continent by improving livestock livelihoods. Continue reading
Kenyan economist Andrew Mude wins the 2016 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application
Andrew Mude, a principal research scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), in Nairobi, Kenya, was yesterday named the 5th recipient of a prestigious award for his work in providing insurance to livestock herders in East Africa’s drylands through innovative, state-of-the-art technologies. Continue reading
No one dietary choice is the answer to sustainable development—ILRI in ‘The Guardian’
The following opinion piece, by Jimmy Smith, director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), was first published in The Guardian on 16 Aug 2016, in response to an opinion piece published by environmental reporter George Monbiot in the same paper on 9 Aug 2016 (I’ve converted to veganism to reduce my impact on the living world). Continue reading
Apocalyptic numbers: Antibiotic resistance as the classic ‘One Health’ (and classic ‘One World’) planetary issue
In the lead up to the High-Level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance to be held in the margins of the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly, attended by heads of state and government at the UN’s New York City headquarters on 21 Sep 2016, scientists from ILRI and partner organizations have published a must-read article on the ‘One Health’ as well as ‘One World’ aspects of the rapid rise of antimicrobial resistance in pathogenic organisms. Continue reading
The hand that cares and feeds: India’s unnatural ‘natural’ caretakers of livestock
I was impressed by how much India’s women food producers make the most out of their situations, how often they thrive in what they do despite constraints, how few view themselves as victims of their circumstances, how often, and with what assurance and purposefulness, they exercise agency. Continue reading
Pandemic proofing the world: An epidemiologist in Nairobi on preventing the next Zika virus
As the world becomes more well, people — particularly people in the West — seem to be more worried about health and disease, especially about the possibility of global pandemics (that is, widespread outbreaks) of newly emerging infectious diseases. Are these first-world fears? Or is there good reason why everyone should be concerned about coming plagues? And, if so, what should we be doing differently to protect ourselves better from newly emerging diseases? Continue reading