Future food security will be achieved by exploiting the power of ‘new biosciences’. The new biosciences include genomics (the study of the structure, function, evolution and mapping of all the heritable traits of an organism), immunology and vaccinology (the science or methodology of vaccine bio-informatics. But without marrying the power of these new biosciences tools and approaches with judicious applications […]
Lessons from research: Delivering results from FoodAfrica
Experts from different scientific fields and international research organizations shared their expertise on food and nutrition security on Monday 16 June, 2014 at the FoodAfrica midterm seminar. The seminar, organized by FoodAfrica co-ordinators MTT Agrifood Research Finland, was held at the University of Helsinki, Finland. Karen Marshall and Stanly Tebug were part of the team that represented the International Livestock […]
Ear tags stir fresh interest in goats in Ethiopian village
Tilahun Seyoum is by all standards a grown up responsible husband, father and community leader. He also belongs to the school of thought that believes, to learning there is no end. Thus, after many years of keeping goats, cattle and sheep, he has in the last few months, learnt one new thing. He has learnt that the yellow tag […]
Farmer Yohannes smiling all the way to the bank – chicken and eggs sustain Ethiopian farmers
Farmer Yohannes holds his sixteen (16) eggs, five hundred Ethiopian Birr and his brand new savings account book for his first ever bank account with only two entries – the starting balance and one subsequent saving deposit. He is celebrating a successful chicken farming enterprise; a partnership with his wife who helped feed the chickens at the right time and […]
Producing more milk, more meat with less water
When Sasakawa-Global 2000 and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) provided training and loans to a group of farmers in the Awash Valley, Ethiopia, little did they anticipate what such resources in the hands of hard working, poor, small scale farmers could yield. The farmers in the Awash River Basin were trapped in poverty, earning a mean annual […]
Insurance, carbon capture and markets may support pastoralists
Three options exist to move pastoralists from vulnerable to resilient lifestyles. They are commercialization of livestock systems, payment for ecosystem services and social and financial safety nets including insurance. This was said by Iain Wright, head of the Ethiopian office of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). He was addressing about 70 delegates from around the world who are working […]
‘Boni’ scaling the heights to greater success
She steps forward to the podium, her face breaking into her characteristic charming smile. Her black, short cropped hair compliments her light skin. Standing at average height, she is comfortable in front of the microphone as she would be in her own kitchen. Her name is Siboniso Moyo, popularly known as ‘Boni’- the regional representative in Southern Africa, for the […]
Did it ever cross your mind that cows, goats, sheep and all animals have tribes, families, clans and other family groups much like human beings do? Or that keeping track of those families is as important as it is for human beings? Understanding livestock families’ means understanding the parents of an animal, specific characteristics like the dominant colour […]
Using science to preserve culture in Rwanda
Traditional culture and science often seem to be worlds apart, but for Theogen Rutagwenda, the director general for animal resources in the Rwandan government, the two mix as naturally as salt and food. “I grew up looking after cattle and knew they were productive. Then my family moved to Uganda, where our animals died from a condition termed […]