Goat in Nairobi slum (photo on Flickr by The Advocacy Project).

‘. . . [L]et’s consider what it means to raise urban livestock in the developing world, where people are poorer and hungrier, and cities are much more densely populated. It’s a starkly different picture of people and animals living together, and the question of how it’s done has major implications for improving food security and preventing public health disasters.

‘While humans have been raising food animals in their homes for thousands of years, what’s different now is that they’re doing it with so many other humans crammed next to them.

And they’re not just feeding their families: They’re feeding their neighbors, too. Worldwide, 34 percent of meat and nearly 70 percent of eggs are produced in urban areas, according to a 2008 report by the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture Organization. In Maputo, Mozambique, for example, a city with about 1.2 million people, 37 percent of households produce food and 29 percent raise livestock.

“Those moving from rural areas to the cities are bringing their livestock with them, often keeping them in close confinement inside the slums,” Delia Grace, a veterinary epidemiologist and food safety specialist, tells The Salt. “People keep livestock like chicken, ducks, goats and even cows because there’s huge demand for them, and they’re profitable.”

Grace, of the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi, Kenya, is studying these huge new city ecosystems. In a series of papers she’s published in the past several months in various scientific journals, she has looked at the risks and benefits of urban livestock in the developing world.

‘When it comes to risks, Grace says she’s most worried about what happens to the animal waste—especially in places where human waste isn’t even managed well. And she’s worried that sick animals that go untreated lead to zoonoses—diseases that spread from animals to humans. One of her recent studies, published in the journal Tropical Animal Health and Production, found that zoonoses and diseases recently emerged from animals make up 26 percent of the infectious disease cases in low-income countries.

“We’re talking about the everyday events of disease spreading from animals to humans, and the rare but more serious event of the emergence of a new disease,” she says. “Slums could be a good test tube for growing new pathogens, because people are poor and malnourished, and there’s generally just more disease.”

Goat in Nairobi slum (photo on Flickr by Poland Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

‘Meat and eggs produced in slums also pose a food safety risk, she says. “There’s often no refrigeration or cold chain for these products,” she says.

‘But even with the risks, Grace argues there’s a net benefit from people keeping urban livestock, and cities should be trying to help producers learn how to safely care for their animals and the food they produce.

‘According to her research, urban livestock generate income and improve the nutrition and health of communities they’re in, because the animals are a source of fresh food for local consumers. When cities try to ban urban livestock, it backfires, she says. “We found that the more people were harassed by the police about their animals, the fewer precautions they took,” she says. . . .’

Read the whole article by Eliza Barclay on the website of the US National Public Radio (‘The Salt’ program): African cities test the limits of living with livestock, 21 May 2013.

Filed under: Agri-Health, CRP4, Disease Control, East Africa, Emerging Diseases, Food security, Health (human), ILRI, Kenya, MarketOpps, Nutrition (human), PA, Southern Africa, Zoonotic Diseases Tagged: Delia Grace, NPR

Kenyan children weed a maize plot (photo on Flickr by Care of Creation).

‘A senior Kenyan government official has dismissed last year’s ban on the import of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into the country—calling it ill-advised and lacking the backing of law.

‘Romano Kiome, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, says the ban cannot be enforced because it was imposed by the cabinet, which has no authority in law to do so.

‘Although a “political stand” could hold sway for a time it is no substitute for a considered professional judgement, Kiome told a journalist roundtable at the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi on 1 May.

‘The ban came into effect in November 2012 after a cabinet meeting, chaired by Kenya’s former president, Mwai Kibaki, directed the then public health minister, Beth Mugo, to ban GM food imports until the country is able to certify that they have no negative impact on people’s health.

‘But three years before the ban, Kenya had set up the National Biosafety Authority, tasked with supervising the transfer, handling and use of GMOs. The agency was established by the Biosafety Act, which was passed in the Kenyan parliament and became law by Kibaki’s assent in February 2009. It includes the aim of establishing “a transparent, science-based and predictable process” for reviewing the use of GMOs.

Kiome tells SciDev.Net that the biosafety authority is the only body legally mandated to manage GMOs and could not be bypassed by the cabinet.

He adds that the ban is not only unlawful but could also affect biotechnology research to boost food production in the country as there have been fears among Kenyan scientists that it could hold back progress research and development (R&D) on biotechnology in the country.

‘According to David Wafula, Kenya coordinator at the Program for Biosafety Systems—a partnership between USAID and the Kenya government supporting development and use of biosafety systems in agricultural innovation in Kenya—the ban has not been published in the Kenya Gazette, an official government publication containing new legislation and notices required to be published by law or policy.

‘”The ban was not informed by any evidence from competent authorities, including the National Council of Science and Technology, which is mandated to advise the government on research and policy issues,” he tells SciDev.Net.’

Read the article by George Achia at SciDevNet and AllAfrica: Kenya’s GMO ban has no legal basis, official says, 16 May 2013.

Filed under: Biotech, East Africa, Food security, ILRI, Kenya, PA, Policy Tagged: AllAfrica, GMOs, Kenya Biosafety Act, Kenya Ministry of Agriculture, Kenya National Biosafety Authority, Kenya Program for Biosafety Systems, Kenya Public Health Minister Beth Mugo, NCST, Romano Kiome, SciDevNet, USAID

Smallholder pig producer family in Kiboga, Uganda (photo credit: ILRI/Danilo Pezo).

‘Scientists in Kenya have launched research of a vaccine to be used against African swine fever. The study is still at an early stage where scientists at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) are identifying antigens and best-bet delivery systems to be used.

‘“Research in this area, with the ultimate goal of generating resistant and productive domestic pigs, is just beginning,” said ILRI molecular biologist Dr Richard Bishop.

‘He said that ILRI has just been awarded major funding from BMZ for vaccine development in collaboration with FLI (Riems) Germany to help save the global pig industry that is worth $150 billion.

‘Africa-wide economic impacts of swine fever are hard to quantify due to a dearth of disease recording, especially as this infection rapidly turns lethal in pig herds and active surveillance for the infection is rare. The prevalence of the disease has thwarted investment in the smallholder pig sector.

‘The disease is still emerging in Africa and in the last 20 years, it has spread to parts of West Africa, Madagascar, Mauritius and most recently (in 2011) to Chad from Cameroon.

In Uganda, pig numbers have increased to four million today and continue to rise from 100,000 in the 1970s and pork consumption is now close to that of beef.

‘There were 20 recorded outbreaks of African swine fever in Uganda in 2010 alone.

‘“This is an underestimate due to a difficulty in diagnosing the disease and under-reporting of livestock diseases,” Bishop said.

‘Although the absolute total number of pigs kept in Africa remains relatively small (less than 50 million), pig keeping is very profitable for many of Africa’s rural poor, providing a flexible means of generating an income in the right environments. . . . .’

Read the whole article in the Daily Nation/Xinhua: Kenyan experts search for swine fever vaccine, 12 May 2013.

Filed under: Africa, Animal Health, ASF, Asia, Biotech, Chad, Disease Control, Emerging Diseases, ILRI, Kenya, PA, Pigs, Project, Uganda Tagged: Cameroon, Daily Nation (Kenya), Richard Bishop, Xinhua

Fulani boy in Niger herds his family’s animals (photo credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann).

Mobility to unlock scattered food, feed, water and other scarce and scattered essential resources is a human strategy as old as humankind itself—and one that remains key for pastoral livestock herders the world over. As the world warms and its natural resources become ever scarcer, it would profit all of us to take a long hard look at how livestock herders track those resources over time and space, and how their movement and that of their animal herds helps them stay resilient in the face of some of the earth’s most unforgiving, and now increasingly unpredictable and extreme, climates.

It appears the rest of us are going to need to adopt strategies for resilience sooner rather than later. Last Thursday, reports Polly Ericksen, scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), was a red letter day. On that day, 9 May 2013, the level of emissions of carbon dioxide reached an average daily level above 400 parts per million, a concentration not seen on the earth for millions of years.

Red Letter Day
The new measurement came from analyzers atop Mauna Loa, the volcano on the big island of Hawaii that has long been ground zero for monitoring the worldwide trend on carbon dioxide, or CO2. . . . Carbon dioxide above 400 parts per million was first seen in the Arctic last year, and had also spiked above that level in hourly readings at Mauna Loa. But the average reading for an entire day surpassed that level at Mauna Loa for the first time in the 24 hours that ended at 8 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Thursday.’ — Heat-trapping gas passes milestone, raising fears, New York Times, 10 May 2013

Carbon dioxide, of course, is the most important heat-trapping gas in the atmosphere. So what do we know about what will happen as the world’s average temperatures rise with the increasing amounts of carbon trapped in our atmosphere? Well, not much, as even our most sophisticated and integrated models are unable to forecast likely changes after a certain threshold has been passed. But what we can surmise is grim, as the following plausible scenarios illustrate.

One degree, two degrees, three degrees, four . . .
With a global average rise of 2ºC, ‘Greenland’s glaciers and some of the lower lying islands would start to disappear. At 3ºC higher the Arctic would be ice-free all summer, the Amazon rainforest would begin to dry out and extreme weather patterns would become the norm. An increase of 4ºC would see the oceans rise drastically. Then comes the twilight zone of climate change, if the global temperature rises again by another degree. Part of once temperate regions could become uninhabitable, while humans fight each other for the world’s remaining resources. The sixth degree is what is called the doomsday scenario as oceans become marine wastelands, deserts expand and catastrophic events become more common.’ — Six degrees could change the world, National Geographic, 2012

Studies written by scientists at 14 of the 15 CGIAR centres and compiled and published last year by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) (Impacts of climate change on the agricultural and aquatic systems and natural resources within the CGIAR’s mandate, 2012) provide a snapshot of how climate change is likely to affect key food crops and livestock farming and natural resources in poor countries, where these staple foods and resources remain the backbone not only of food security but also of national economies.

While nothing is certain, a few things are probable, writes Philip Thornton, scientist at CCAFS and ILRI and leader of the research study. First and foremost is that old-fashioned foods and food production strategies are likely to make some major comebacks.

Crops and animals till now neglected by major research initiatives, and now considered ‘old-fashioned’ by many, are likely to play an increasingly important role on global food production once again. Drought-resistant camels and goats, ‘famine foods’ such as heat-tolerant cassava and millet, and dual-purpose crops such as protein-rich cowpea (aka black-eyed peas) and groundnut that feed people and animals alike are all likely to come back to the fore in regions with drying or more unpredictable climates. In some drying regions, smallholders will be forced to switch from crop growing to livestock raising, and/or from raising dairy cows to raising dairy or other goats. — As the cooking pot turns: Staple crop and animal foods are being ‘recalibrated’ for a warmer world, ILRI News Blog, 1 Nov 2012

So herding livestock, the so-called ‘pastoral’ food production system, is likely to become much more important as we warm the globe. But as Mike Shanahan, press officer for the International Institute for Environment and Development (UK), reports this week, if we’re going to increasingly rely on livestock herding across the world’s current vast drylands, and across the lands now drying up, to help feed our increasingly crowded planet and support the lives and livelihoods of its poorest people, we’d better start rethinking the ways we perceive, talk about and approach pastoralism, now a neglected sector in many fast-modernizing countries, which tend to view it as ‘backward’.

Shanahan recently investigated how media reports on pastoralism in India, China and Kenya. ‘These policy narratives overlook both the dynamics of dryland ecosystems and how dryland communities have long learnt how to live with and harness variability to support sustainable and productive economies, societies and ecosystems.

The narratives ignore the ways that mobile herding can increase people’s resilience in a changing climate. They also ignore the three E’s—the economic value of pastoralism, the environmental benefits that herding brings to rangelands and the equity that should be at heart of good policymaking.

‘Once upon a time, not so long ago,’ says Shanahan, ‘we were all mobile. Movement was what enabled our ancestors to track resources that were here today, gone tomorrow. In parts of the world where water, pasture or good hunting are not constantly available, mobility is still the key that unlocks scattered resources. It is the key to resilience. And as the climate changes, this ancient strategy could become more important.

‘Yet in many countries, governments marginalise mobile pastoralists and would prefer them to settle instead of roaming the land. Dominant policy narratives cast pastoralism as a backwards, unproductive activity that takes place in marginal fragile areas, where unpredictable rainfall leads people to overgraze and damage the land.

Media stories both contribute to and reflect the dominant policy narrative around pastoralism.

‘In Kenya, pastoralists feature mostly in ‘bad news’ stories of conflict and drought. They appear vulnerable and lacking in agency. Stories make almost no mention of the benefits that pastoralists bring.

‘In China, the media presented pastoralists as the cause of environmental degradation and as (generally happy) beneficiaries of government investment and settlement projects.

‘In India, newspapers tended to portray pastoralists with more pity, as people whose rights to grazing land had been taken away and whose livelihoods were at risk as pastures dwindle and locally resilient livestock breeds disappear. . . .

Yet opportunities to reframe pastoralism abound. In Kenya, for instance, an alternative narrative could show how the new constitution could work best for the drylands and their communities. In India, an alternative narrative could show how herding is part of the wider dryland agriculture system that can increase food security in the context of climate change. In China, an alternative narrative can relate how support for pastoralism can increase food security and better manage rangelands for economic benefits. . . .’

Read the whole article by Mike Shanahan on the Agriculture and Ecosystems Blog of the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems: Pastoralists in the media: Three E’s please, 13 May 2013.

See Mike Shanahan’s full research paper or a four-page summary.

Filed under: Asia, China, Climate Change, Drylands, East Africa, Environment, Food security, ILRI, India, Kenya, LivestockFutures, PA, Pastoralism, Policy, Report, South Asia Tagged: CCAFS, CGIAR, IIED, Mike Shanahan, National Geographic, New York Times, Polly Ericksen

Camels cover dozens of kilometres in search of water; average distances to watering points in the outskirts of Marsabit and Moyale, in the upper east corner of Kenya, run into dozens of kilometres (photo by Ann Weru/IRIN www.irinnews.org).

‘Camels are known for their ability to travel long distances across the desert without water.

‘But they’re also becoming an increasingly important source of milk for people in drought-prone regions. That includes East African countries like Kenya, where camel numbers have skyrocketed over the past few decades.

‘But introducing camels—or any species—to a new region, could mean bringing in new diseases.

‘The St. Louis Zoo has been studying camel diseases in Kenya to help assess their risks.’

A couple of years ago, Margaret Kinnaird, the executive director of the Mpala Research Centre in central Kenya ‘began a project on camel health with wildlife veterinarian Sharon Deem, who directs the Institute for Conservation Medicine at the Saint Louis Zoo.

Camels may have some diseases that, as the human population reaches for camel milk, these diseases could be passed to them,” Deem says.

Deem says a growing number of Kenyans are drinking camel milk—most of it unpasteurized. “These are estimates, but we really believe that up to 10 percent of Kenya’s 40 million people—so we’re talking four million people—probably drink unpasteurized camel milk,” Deem says.

Camels aren’t native to Kenya. But Margaret Kinnaird estimates that over the past 30 years, their number has grown to something on the order of three million animals. . . .

‘Amos Omore of the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi says unlike cattle and goats, camels can keep producing substantial quantities of milk under drought conditions—which climate scientists predict will become more severe and frequent in Kenya the future.

So I would imagine that given climate change, the role of camels is bound to be even more important than it has been before for those who live in these areas,” Omore says.

‘Sharon Deem says with camels becoming more common in Kenya—and significant as a source of nutrition—it’s critical to find out what diseases they might be spreading. . . .

‘Deem says the testing didn’t turn up much brucellosis or trypanosomiasis. But almost a third of the camels—and more than half the ticks—tested positive for Q fever, a bacterial disease that can be fatal in humans. “So we really feel that Q fever in camels could be very important in this region,” Deem says.

‘Deem says the next step will be to take a closer look at Q fever and how it’s affecting livestock, people, and wildlife. She also wants to keep working with Kenyan ranchers on what she calls “camel 101”—what they can do to keep their camels healthy.’

Read the whole article, and listen to the podcast, at St Louis Public Radio: Why is the Saint Louis Zoo tackling camel diseases in Kenya?, 10 May 2013.

Filed under: Animal Diseases, Camels, Dairying, Disease Control, East Africa, Health (human), ILRI, Interview, Kenya, MarketOpps, Pastoralism, Zoonotic Diseases Tagged: Amos Omore, Q fever, St Louis Public Radio

Sheep and goats in northern Kenya (photo on Flickr by gordontour).

‘The Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (IBAR) is asking the [Kenya] Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (MALF) to reserve at least five per cent of the estimated funds its set to receive from the Treasury for the Department of Livestock.

‘These figures translate to Sh1.95 billion out of the estimated Sh38.9 billion the Treasury has allocated to the ministry for the 2013/14 fiscal year.

‘The lobby, comprising 57 Member States of the African Union (AU), said the country should direct significant funds to the sector to boost livestock production.

‘“Last year IBAR held a conference involving participants from the Ministry of Agriculture across Africa where we agreed to push for at least five per cent share for livestock,” the Union’s Information System manager, Ibrahim Gashash said.

‘Speaking at an event to mark Livestock Data Innovation in Africa, Dr Gashash said besides boosting trade, livestock products could help address perennial food shortages witnessed in Kenya during dry spells.

‘Dr Gashash suggested that the government should invest more in the northern arid and semi-arid areas of Kenya as this would create about 400,000 jobs given the region comprises 70 per cent of the country’s livestock herd.

The Animal Resources body has partnered with United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Bank, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and African livestock ministries towards developing efficient livestock data system.

‘The move is meant to capture accurate livestock population, identify specific needs of each African country and find their solutions.

‘The programme, worth Sh209 million ($2.5 million), started in 2010 and has since facilitated data handling in pilot countries Uganda, Tanzania and Niger. . . .’

Read the whole article at Business Daily (Kenya): Lobby seeks 5pc of ministry’s fund for livestock, 3 May 2013.

Filed under: Drylands, Kenya Tagged: AI-IBAR, Business Daily (Kenya), FAO, Kenya Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Livestock Data Innovation in Africa project, World Bank

Cynthia Onzere, a staff member in the animal biotechnology laboratories of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), in Nairobi, Kenya (photo credit: ILRI/Evelyn Katingi).

‘A newly elected government provides a country with a rare opportunity for a fresh start—and President Uhuru Kenyatta’s nomination this week of Felix Kiptarus Kosgey to become Kenya’s next Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture, Livestock, and Fisheries offers my nation a remarkable opening to make a hard push for real food security.

‘Success, however, will require President Kenyatta, his deputy Ruto, Agriculture Secretary nominee Kosgey, and the rest of our new government to set aside the bad mistakes of the recent past and embrace the bright future of biotechnology.

‘There’s every reason to hope that they will. At the launch of the Jubilee Coalition manifesto in February, Kenyatta and Ruto promised to “put food and water on every Kenyan’s table.” At his inauguration on April 9, Kenyatta reaffirmed his government will implement the manifesto in total.

‘This is both a tall order and a worthy goal—and one of the surest ways to achieve it is by accepting the latest advances in agricultural biotechnology, recognizing that they have become conventional practices in many countries and should become so here as well.

‘Everywhere farmers have had the chance, they have adopted genetically modified crops. Last year, more than 17 million farmers around the world planted more than 170 million hectares of GM crops, according to a new report from the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications.

‘This is an all-time high. Moreover, farmers in poor countries made it possible:

For the first time, developing nations accounted for more than half of the world’s GM crop plantings.

‘Unfortunately, as much as Kenyan farmers have hailed the Green Revolution of the 20th century, they have not yet participated in this Gene Revolution of the 21st century.

‘Our scientists have made strides toward developing biotech crops that would flourish in our soil and climate, but a toxic mix of scientific illiteracy and political pressure has prevented the commercialization of these promising plants. To make matters even worse, the previous government banned the importation of GM foods into Kenya and ordered the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation to remove all GM foods from the shelves of grocery stores. . . .

‘Kenyatta’s cabinet, guided by Agriculture Secretary nominee Kosgey cannot move swiftly enough to overturn the previous government’s misbegotten ban on GM food. It may be the single most significant step they can take to improve our nation’s food security.

‘They should accept what respected organizations ranging from the American Association for the Advancement of Science and Britain’s Royal Society have said for a long time: GM food is safe to grow and eat. We have nothing to fear from it—and so much to gain. . . .

Last year, Sudan became only the fourth African country to permit the planting of GM crops, following the leads of Burkina Faso, Egypt, and South Africa. . . . It would be great to see Kenya join the global biotech movement. Even better, though, would be to watch a truly forward-looking Kenya not merely join, but lead.

Read the whole guest commentary in Truth about Trade and Technology: A forward-looking Kenya can lead the global biotech movement, 2 May 2013, by Gilbert Arap Bor, who  grows corn (maize), vegetables and dairy cows on a small-scale farm of 25 acres in Kapseret, near Eldoret, Kenya. He also teaches at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Eldoret campus.

Filed under: Biotechnology, East Africa, Food security, Intensification, Kenya, Opinion piece, PA, Policy Tagged: GMOs, Truth about Trade and Technology

The health of people and their farm animals in Kenya and other developing countries are closely linked (photo credit: ILRI/Charlie Pye-Smith).

‘While livestock contribute about 40 per cent of the value of agriculture and forms a crucial part of household wealth [in Kenya and many other developing countries], experts now say keeping animals is spreading disease and polluting the environment like never before.

‘They say that as smallholder agriculture intensifies—driven by increasing population, urbanisation and climate changes—livestock keeping is exhibiting its good and bad sides, impinging on the environment, poverty, food security and human health.

A recent study by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) says that zoonotic diseases (those transmitted to people from animals) that have recently emerged from animals make up to one-quarter of the infectious disease burden in low-income countries. Animal diseases that threaten people’s health directly include food-borne illnesses such as diarrhoea. . . .

‘“A consensus is growing that a disconnection between agriculture, health and nutrition is at least partly responsible for the disease burden associated with food and farming,” ILRI Director General Dr Jimmy Smith said, at a media briefing last week. Smith said that unlike poor countries where human diseases that spread from animals are largely neglected, rich countries are investing heavily in global surveillance and risk reduction activities.

The problem is that many countries lack the veterinary staff, surveillance and other tools required to control diseases that come with this expansion,” he said. . . .

‘ILRI Director General Dr Jimmy Smith argues that the challenges related to livestock keeping are steadily becoming a matter of concern in urban areas.

‘He says that while urban livestock keeping improves food security, nutrition and health from livestock products, there are also risks since unsanitary conditions and weak infrastructure mean that livestock can be a source of pollution and disease.

‘ILRI experts feel that Africa suffers from the burden of neglected zoonoses, which the developed world is no longer paying much attention to. . . .

For the first time we are in a position to track an epidemic in real time, across risk surfaces to follow, and perhaps even anticipate its progress. We intend to intensify efforts towards tracking disease pathogens as they move among farms, processors and markets in place such as Nairobi,” says Smith.’

Read the whole article by Bernard Muthaka in the Standard Newspaper: Experts says keeping of livestock could lead to spread of diseases, 5 May 2013.

Filed under: Agri-Health, CRP4, Disease Control, Emerging Diseases, Health (human), ILRI, Kenya, MarketOpps, PA, Zoonotic Diseases Tagged: Jimmy Smith, Kenya, Nairobi, Standard Newspaper (Kenya)

Herding cattle in Kenya (photo on Flickr by davida3 [Davida De La Harpe]).

‘The [Kenya] government has unveiled a plan to improve trade in livestock by vaccinating 61 million livestock in the next financial year.

‘According to budget estimates released on Thursday, the animals will be vaccinated against foot and mouth disease and other trade-sensitive diseases.

‘Measures will also be put in place to strengthen disease surveillance and introduce an advanced reporting system using Digital Pen Technology.

‘Kenya has in recent years been trading in live animals, which are exported mostly to the Middle-East.

‘It has also been striving to create disease-free zones to improve on the marketability of its meat and meat products in Europe which has a stringent regime for products that are allowed into that market.

‘So far, parts of Coast region have been classified as disease-free zones and are used as holding grounds for cattle. . . .

The government has planned to reach 5.1 million pastoralists through field days, shows, farm visits and exhibitions, and rehabilitate 7,500 denuded rangelands.

In the year, 21 abattoirs will be constructed and commissioned and 260 farmers’ groups supported with value addition facilities in centres along the milk corridors. Stakeholders in leather industry totalling 440 will be trained on value addition.

. . . [A]griculture officials say Kenya could make as much as Sh1.6 billion annually if trypanosomiasis was eradicated in the country.

Dr Steve Kemp, leader of the animal Biosciences Program at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), headquartered at Kabete, Nairobi, observed that ‘in tsetse infested areas, trypanosomiasis reduces the output of meat and milk by a half and was a threat to livestock production.

‘“Use of the right dosage is crucial in treating the disease. Unscrupulous traders who interfere with the drugs to [sell] more and earn more are not helping to contain the disease but are contributing to resistance to drugs,” Dr Kemp said.

The scientists spoke during a meeting with journalists at the Institute’s headquarters during a briefing on breakthroughs in research on diseases of livestock and people in developing countries.

They cited shortage of enough data to inform policy on best ways to control and treat diseases [as] the main challenge facing efforts to reduce human and animal infection rates.

Agriculture Permanent Secretary, Dr Romano Kiome admitted that trypanosomiasis still posed serious challenges to livestock production hence the need to build local capacity of Kenyan scientists to update relevant data that can help fight off the disease.

The PS who is also ILRI’s board member said the country cannot accumulate data without scientists coming to carry out research aimed at addressing challenges bedevilling this country.

“It is absolutely necessary we build data. Let’s support our scientists. The government has extended retirement age for scientists to 65 years besides other benefits as part of a deliberate strategy to give them ample time to do research,” said Dr Kiome.

He said Kenya was among the few countries with a fully-fledged trypanosomiasis research institute.

“We welcome research as we make great strides to combat this disease and improve livestock production. The global partners are important in helping Kenya achieve its development goals,” said the PS.

Read the whole article at Daily Nation (Kenya): State to vaccinate 61 million livestock to boost production, by Mwaniki Wahome and Dennis Odunga, 5 May 2013.

Filed under: Animal Health, Biotech, Cattle, Diagnostics, Disease Control, East Africa, ILRI, Kenya, Markets, PA, Pastoralism, Vulnerability Tagged: Daily Nation (Kenya), Romano Kiome, Steve Kemp, Trypanosomiasis

A Kenyan dairy farmer feeds her cow (photo on Flickr by eadairy).

‘A chilling tale of cows in Kenya shows how market access is key to impact investing. . . .

‘It started with a mid-term report I was handed called Milking for Profit. The report details a project that works to uplift subsistence dairy farmers in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda run by a consortium of dairy experts called East Africa Dairy Development.

‘In 2008 the consortium started its first project in Kenya. The collapse of the state-owned processor in 1999 had opened the country’s dairy market to competition, which suited large-scale producers and further isolated the small farmer.

‘These folk typically produced and sold an average of three to five litres of milk a day, generating insufficient income to invest in stock and good feed to boost yields. Compounding their problems was the lack of facilities to chill milk, low standards in stock and poor animal care.

This is a common scenario: households that own a goat, a cow and a few chickens dot rural landscapes across the continent. . . .

East Africa Dairy Development ignored the traditionalists and took a business approach to the problem. Instead of providing funding and support to their beneficiaries, they connected their participants to markets.

Milk reception at Nyala Dairy in Kenya (photo on Flickr by eadairy).

‘They did this firstly by building chilling plants—22 to date—so that the quality of milk could be maintained. They signed up 90 000 farmers and ran extensive programmes to improve the quality of care for animals. They made the chilling plants accessible to farmers so that they could easily bring their milk to fill up the 10 000 litre tanks.

‘Within two years, those signed up were earning an average wage of $4 500 a year from the sale of milk and heifers—that is $12 a day, six times more than the previous income standard of $2 a day.

‘The chilling plants reported an average monthly profit of $1 300, giving investors a return on their investment within one year (though they are keen to point out that this is not the primary reason for the investment).

‘It is a remarkable story and a strong model, which East Africa Dairy Development is replicating in Uganda and Rwanda. . . .’

The chilling plant at Ol Kalou, Kenya (photo on Flickr by eadairy).

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) is one of the partner organizations supporting this project, which is led by Heifer International. Other partners in the East Africa Dairy Development project are TechnoServe, the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and the African Breeders Service Total Cattle Management. The project is being implemented in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. The goal of this project is to help one million people—179,000 families living on small 1–5 acre farms—lift themselves out of poverty through more profitable production and marketing of milk. Following the completion of the first phase of the project in 2012, the second phase is planned for 2013 to 2017 and will include Ethiopia and Tanzania. The project is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. For more information, visit the project’s page on the  ILRI website.

Read the whole article at the Mail & Guardian (South Africa): Milking profits, 26 Apr 2013.

Filed under: Cattle, Dairying, East Africa, ILRI, Kenya, MarketOpps, Markets, PA, Rwanda, Uganda Tagged: African Breeders Service Total Cattle Management, Chilling plant, EADD, Heifer International, ICRAF, Mail & Guardian (South Africa), TechnoServe

Butcher shop in a slum in Kawangare, Nairobi, Kenya (picture on Flickr by Brad Ruggles).

It’s not only people who are rapidly urbanizing in Africa: people migrating from rural areas are bringing their livelihoods with them, which in Africa largely means their cattle, goats, sheep, chickens and pigs. A scientific report from researchers based in Nairobi, Kenya, investigating the benefits and harms of livestock keeping in two of Africa’s most crowded and sprawling cities —Nairobi and Ibadan — recommends that people ’keep on keeping cows’ but keep them more carefully so as to reduce the risk of diseases being transmitted from livestock to people.

Importantly, the study also finds that  peer pressure — not health codes — is the answer to more careful management of the growing livestock enterprises in Africa’s slums and urban centres.

The Atlantic, one of North America’s most popular and distinguished cultural and political magazines, explores this unusual aspect of Africa’s rapid urbanization. Some excerpts below.

‘One of the stranger aspects of Africa’s rapid urbanization is the influx of livestock in new, unplanned towns — and the diseases they bring with them. . . .

‘Today, about 40 percent of the African population lives in urban areas, a rapid migration that’s expected to triple in size over the next four decades.

But the people who are moving to cities aren’t entirely leaving their rural lives behind. Instead, they are bringing their livestock with them, often keeping them right in their backyards, even in densely populated areas.

‘As a result, low-income countries have started to see a dramatic spike in a class of disease known as zoonoses, which pass from animals to humans. These can cause everything from tapeworms to fatal diarrhea, and they’re concentrated near major cities in Africa and India.

A recent study by the International Livestock Research Institute found that zoonoses make up 26 percent of the infectious disease burden in low-income countries, but just 0.7 percent in high-income countries. Now, researchers are beginning to trace these ailments to the livestock that sleep just over the windowsill from the residents of the developing world’s newest cities.

‘In Dagoretti {in Nairobi, Kenya], one in 80 people keep cattle, and 60 percent of households have poultry. A typical house there might have a shed full of rabbits or chickens under the bed. A cow kept in the yard may graze by the roadside or munch potato peels from a local eatery.

‘But animals and cities don’t always mix well. Throughout history, as cities modernized and developed, any lingering livestock were soon banished to the countryside.

‘That’s not an option for people in places like Dagoretti, where there are still very few grocery stores, and low incomes mean many residents rely on raising and selling their own food. For the town’s infants and children, the nutritional benefits of ready access to milk outweighs some of the cow-related drawbacks.

“In cultures where you don’t do fridges or freezers, there’s a huge demand for milk and meat and it needs to be close to where it’s eaten,” said Delia Grace, a Nairobi-based researcher for the International Livestock Research Institute. . . .

‘For these and other reasons, Dagorettians won’t — and probably shouldn’t — get rid of their cows and other animals. . . .

‘Grace and her colleagues determined that the best way to stop the spread of [livestock diseases to people] was not to discourage the keeping of animals, but to get residents to do it more carefully. And the best way to accomplish that, they found, was peer pressure.

“Much of the conventional communication — ’don’t do this, it’ll make you sick’ — we know that’s not very effective. There’s a new approach that’s trying to change peoples’ behavior based on social norms,” Grace explained. “People are more concerned with how they appear in the community than following health codes.”. . .

Read the whole article by Olgo Khazanapr in The Atlantic: Rural Kenyans are bringing their cows with them to cities. What could go wrong?, 7 Apr 2013.

Delia Grace leads ILRI research on food safety and zoonoses. She also leads a component of the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health on Prevention and control of agriculture-associated diseases.

See a Factsheet on Urban Agriculture and Zoonoses in Nairobi, which provides key facts about urbanization, urban livestock keeping and the study in Dagoretti, where most residents are poor and many raise livestock inside city limits.

Read a previous ILRI blog on this study: Livestock in the city: New study of ‘farm animals’ raised in African cities yields surprising results, 15 Oct 2012.

Read a special supplement of the August 2012 issue of the journal Tropical Animal Health and Production on assessing and managing urban zoonoses and food-borne disease in Nairobi and Ibadan.

Filed under: Agri-Health, Article, CRP4, Disease Control, East Africa, Emerging Diseases, Food Safety, Health (human), ILRI, Interview, Kenya, MarketOpps, Nutrition (human), PA, Policy, Report, Zoonotic Diseases Tagged: Delia Grace, The Atlantic

Serengeti tree (photo credit: Jeff Haskins).

‘In the great plains of northern Tanzania, close to the world-famous Serengeti National Park, a bitter row has broken out over an attempt to designate 1,500sqkm of Loliondo District as a game-controlled area.

‘The Maasai herdsmen in the area say their cattle cannot survive without access to traditional dry-season grazing in the area. The government says the land is needed as a wildlife corridor between the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Besides, the Minister for Natural Resources told the press, 2,500sqkm had already been, as he put it, “released to the local population”; the rest would be used for conservation purposes for the benefit of the nation.

‘Typical of recent land-grab controversies, this row involves the use of rangelands rather than farmlands. While farmers can show quite clearly that their lands are being used, semi-arid grasslands in areas like Loliondo cannot support animals year-round, so surveys often show the areas lying apparently empty.

‘Such tracts of land are often attractive for commercial agriculture — in Ethiopia, for instance, a number of controversial large-scale agricultural concessions have been granted along the Awash River. But the Loliondo dispute is not about commercial agriculture; it’s a so-called “green grab”, where access to land is lost for conservation purposes. . . .

‘Here, one widely accepted good — the right of people to continue using their traditional lands — has collided with another — the need to conserve nature and biodiversity. . . .

‘Kenya’s new constitution, adopted in 2010 . . . offers what is to be called “community land” to any group formed on the basis of ethnicity, culture or shared interest.

Stephen Moiko, of the International Livestock Research Institute, told IRIN that a key difference this time is that the initiative will come from the group. “It’s possible for communities to come up together and, through a legal process, obtain ownership of key resources which they depend on for their livelihoods, and it has legal mechanisms to protect that land from alienation. I think the nice thing about this new provision is that it recognizes the role of communities as owners and protectors and users of local resources.”. . .’

Read the whole article at IRIN: Balancing conservation and people’s access to land, 4 Apr 2013.

Filed under: Biodiversity, Drylands, East Africa, Environment, Ethiopia, ILRI, Kenya, PA, Pastoralism, PLE, Tanzania, Vulnerability, Wildlife Tagged: IRIN, Maasai, Serengeti, Stephen Moiko

Ethel Makila writes in New Agriculturalist about an African fund that is leading to breakthroughs and opening new frontiers in the continent’s biosciences research (photo: ILRI/David White).

This month (Mar 2013), New Agriculturalist features an article on the Africa Biosciences Challenge Fund. This is a fund that is managed by a state-of-the-art biosciences initiative located in Nairobi, Kenya that is supporting African scientists in addressing key agricultural needs in the continent. This initiative is the Biosciences eastern and central Africa-International Livestock Research Institute Hub, better known as the BecA-ILRI Hub.

‘… [O]n average, only 0.3 per cent of GDP in African countries is dedicated to research and development, seven times less than the investment made in industrialized countries. . . . [S]ub-Saharan Africa (excluding South Africa) contributes only 0.6 per cent of the world’s researchers, a dismal representation from nearly 11 per cent of the global population.

‘Through this program, early career African scientists receive support for their research fellowships, pilot project grants and training developed in areas such as such as genomics, bioinformatics, diagnostics, molecular marker development and applications, DNA sequencing and genotyping, and technical and scientific writing.

‘Charles Masembe, from Makerere University in Uganda, is . . . one example of the enormous potential that is being exploited through this new approach . . .. Masembe has recently published breakthrough findings on the discovery of a potential zoonotic disease. As part of his research at the BecA-ILRI Hub, Masembe – working in collaboration with colleagues from the icipe, ILRI, BecA-ILRI Hub and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences – demonstrated that domestic pigs are a potential reservoir for Ndumu virus. Previous studies have shown that the virus is transmitted by mosquitoes, but otherwise very little information is available on the virus. Masembe was able to explore new frontiers in microbial science in the world-class research facility only 500 kilometres from his home through support from [the fund].’

To date, the article goes on to say, ‘45 African scientists (14 female, 31 male) from 14 eastern and central African countries have benefited from this program.’

Read the whole article by Ethel Makila, Communication Officer at the BecA-ILRI Hub: Leading the Agricultural Revolution from Within Africa, New Agriculturalist, March 2013.

For more information, visit the Africa Biosciences Challenge Fund and the BecA-ILRI Hub websites.

Filed under: Agriculture, Article, BecA, Central Africa, Crop-Livestock, East Africa, Kenya, Research Tagged: ABCF, BecA, Ethel Makila, New Agriculturalist, New Agriculturalist (online magazine)

Seyoum Leta, Bio-Innovate Program Manager, at the First Bio-Innovate Regional Scientific Conference at the United Nations Conference Centre, Economic Commission for Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 25–27 Feb 2013 (photo credit: ILRI/Apollo Habtamu).

‘Capacities in biosciences in various sectors are scarce and scattered in Africa, Bio-Innovate Program Manager Dr. Seyoum Leta said Monday in Addis Ababa at the on going Bio-Innovate Regional Scientific Research Conference at the United Nations Conference Centre, Economic Commission for Africa (UNCC-ECA).

‘Speaking at the opening ceremony, Leta said this is the key missing link in the path to Africa’s science-led development.

‘He noted that there are only a few strong regional initiatives, but even then, he observed that the research and development networks comprised of local institutions, regional and international research organizations have little effect in linking with private sectors to use modern biosciences as a tool for development.

‘But Leta acknowledged that there is abundant potential for harnessing bio-resources within East Africa, through the use of biosciences innovation and research. . . .

‘The Bio-Innovate Program was launched in 2010 to directly address this lack of organized regional initiatives. . . .

‘The Bio-Innovate Program is currently supporting nine bioscience innovation and policy consortia projects bringing together 57 partnering institutions from the six eastern Africa countries of Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda and outside the region. Most of the findings from these projects will be presented at the upcoming conference. . . .

‘Organizers say these activities present extraordinary opportunities for a knowledge-based bio-economy in sub-Saharan Africa.

Bio-Innovate is providing a novel regional, broad-based biosciences innovation platform that links science, technology and innovation to the marketplace to address urgent regional development challenges.

‘Those challenges include increasing food insecurity, climate change problems exacerbated by disposal of harmful agro-industrial wastewater and the need to promote value addition in traditional crops. Bio-Innovate research also supports the adoption of disease and drought-resistant varieties of orphan crops like sorghum and millet. . . .’

Read the whole article by Kevin Wafula in Africa Science News: Africa still lags behind on bioscience capacities, says scientist, 26 Feb 2013.

Filed under: Agriculture, BioInnovate, Burundi, East Africa, Ethiopia, Event, ILRI, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda Tagged: Seyoum Leta

Cattle herders at Goraye in Ethiopia’s lowland Oromiya region (photo on Flickr by Andrew Heavens).

‘The drylands of East Africa are home to millions of pastoralists, herders who move from place to place in search of water and pasture for their livestock. Drought years are tough for these families, who depend on their animals—cows, goats, sheep and camels—for both food and income. In a drought, pasture and water become much harder to find, and the livestock can weaken and die.

‘Now, climate change is making matters worse. Seasonal rains are becoming less predictable, and droughts more frequent and more severe. . . .

‘[W]ith climate change, pastoralists have less time to recover and rebuild their herds between dry spells. This leaves them vulnerable, and subsequent droughts can threaten their very survival. Moreover, when everyone in the community is suffering at the same time, it becomes harder for them to help each other through the crisis.

‘In 2008, USAID began supporting new programs to insure East African pastoralists against the loss of livestock in case of serious drought, thereby building the resilience of these vulnerable communities.

A new product—index-based livestock insurance (IBLI)—is being developed and tested in the Marsabit district of northern Kenya and the adjacent Borana region of southern Ethiopia. In these areas, pastoralists are raising over 18 million cows, goats and sheep. . . .

‘In most of East Africa . . . insurance and similar types of risk management tools are not available to vulnerable pastoralists or smallholder farmers. . .

Without insurance, herders’ families have little protection against the hunger and poverty that can come as a result of a significant drought,” says Andrew Mude, a researcher with the International Livestock Research Institute who has been working to develop risk management instruments for pastoralists in northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia. “Livestock that does not perish in the drought is often sold at rock-bottom prices, just so families can survive. Such distress sales may drop the herd sizes below a sustainable level from which it becomes difficult to recover, and the family becomes destitute.”

‘Many other households see their margin for coping with loss reduced, and they are left precariously vulnerable to the next dry spell. While humanitarian assistance is critical in stemming loss of human life in extreme shocks such as droughts, it has been less effective in preventing loss of livestock or other assets.

‘Enter NASA

‘The IBLI insurance program is one of several pilots USAID is supporting under the Assets and Market Access Collaborative Research Support Program (AMA CRSP). IBLI relies on NASA satellite data, which is free to the public, to show the health of local vegetation. Severe drops in greenness measured by the satellites indicate a drought is occurring. This drop in greenness closely correlates with higher livestock mortality as well. The satellite data is studied at agreed times during the year to determine whether the insurance will pay out to the pastoralists who purchased policies at the start of the season.

The IBLI product was developed by the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi, Kenya, in collaboration with AMA CRSP researchers from Cornell University and the University of California at Davis. IBLI contracts are issued by local insurance companies. Pastoralists decide how many camels, cattle, sheep or goats they want to insure, and the price varies from place to place depending on the risks. In Ethiopia, it costs about $6 to insure a goat, and $41 to insure a cow.

Index insurance products for weather risks are new, and few insurers in developing countries know how to design them.

‘“USAID and other donor support was critical for research, design and outreach necessary to get the IBLI product on the market,” says Mude. “Local insurance companies and other private-sector players are also critical for implementation and long-term sustainability. Local insurance companies offer the insurance product for sale, often in collaboration with microfinance institutions, input suppliers and mobile telephone companies that are doing business in rural areas.”. . .

‘The IBLI product was first sold in northern Kenya in 2010, and in southern Ethiopia in 2012. Insurance is a new concept to most of the pastoralist communities, and so effective outreach and education are key factors of the program’s success.

Pastoralists who heard about the livestock insurance were keen to understand it,” said Birhanu Taddesse, the Ethiopia project coordinator at the International Livestock Research Institute. “They were asking how commercial insurance works, and how it can help them in times of distress.”

‘This year, Ethiopian pastoralists in seven districts bought 270 policies. Kenyan pastoralists bought 216 policies, insuring 75 camels, 193 cows and 1,131 sheep and goats. . . .

‘Despite these successes, insurance alone is not enough. For pastoralists in East Africa, resilience to drought will also depend on improving traditional coping strategies, like storing water and seeking good pasture. Pastoralists will also need to use new risk-reduction measures, like better managing herds, improving animal health, enhancing grazing lands and accessing new piped water networks.

‘USAID is supporting a complimentary set of interventions aimed at keeping vulnerable populations in the Horn of Africa on their feet: strengthening livestock value chains and expanding them to include products like fodder, milk and leather so that pastoralist communities get higher and more predictable incomes from their animals. Those involved in the insurance projects say that the emergence of these pilot policies is just one piece of a larger puzzle of sustainability and resilience in the region—but a critical one.’

Read the whole article by Nora Fermat USAID Frontlines: East Africa’s dryland herders take out a policy for survival, January/February 2013.

Filed under: Drought, Drylands, East Africa, Ethiopia, Geodata, ILRI, Insurance, Kenya, PA, Pastoralism, Project, Vulnerability Tagged: Andrew Mude, Birhanu Taddesse, IBLI, USAID, USAID Frontline

The Kenya Livestock Producers Association (KLPA) in collaboration with East Africa Farmers Federation (EAFF) and Eastern and Southern Africa Dairy Association (ESADA) and other partners in the livestock sector in Africa and beyond will meet up at the African Livestock Conference and Exhibition (ALiCE 2013) to be held on June 26th – 29th 2013 in Nairobi.

ALiCE is specifically aimed at stimulating trade in livestock and livestock products in Africa and beyond and facilitating technology and knowledge transfer and sharing. The event brings together producers, processors and traders of livestock and livestock products and suppliers of technology, solutions and services in the entire value chain.

Livestock Africa Conference and Exhibition will draw from around the world suppliers of genetics, animal health products, animal feeds and forage, farm equipments, animal products processors and processing equipments, livestock consultants, distributors and producers for trade and technology transfer.

Topic to be addressed include:

• World and Africa Livestock status
• Livestock policies and economics
• Animal health
• Animal feeds and feeding
• Animal genetics
• Livestock farming technology
• Livestock processing and marketing
• Livestock management and Environment

Find out more …

ILRI is a partner in this event

Filed under: Africa, Event, Kenya Tagged: ALiCE

Sheep look for food outside the house of Josephine Napkonde, 78, who lives in a slum in Nairobi and looks after 5 children abandoned by a relative (photo on Flickr by HelpAge International/Frederic Courbet).

‘Kahawa Soweto is a slum on the northeast edge of Nairobi, Kenya. . . . It’s a densely packed area, and it’s not just people that live here.

We have [chickens] here,” says Regina Wangari as she opens the door to a shack that she recently converted into a coop. “Outside we have almost 20 of them – here in the ghetto.” . . .

‘In a tight alley behind her shack, she keeps a dozen goats. And in a shanty nearby, she has rabbit cages stacked from floor to ceiling. There are more than 400 rabbits in the small metal shack.

‘Raising livestock in the city isn’t new in sub-Saharan Africa, but it is a growing trend.

It’s on the increase and – in fact – increasing faster than the rate of urbanization,” says Diana Lee-Smith, a food policy expert with the Mazingira Institute, an urban farmers education and advocacy group based in Nairobi.

‘Lee-Smith says that, for years, many African governments staunchly opposed allowing farm animals in cities. That’s because the animals produce waste, can transmit diseases, and cause traffic accidents.

‘But Lee-Smith says, in the past few years, there’s been a shift in the attitudes of some governments – including Kenya’s.

‘“Local and central governments are beginning to adopt favorable and supportive policies,” she says.

‘That shift is partly due to the benefits of urban farming.

Livestock products are pretty perishable and hard to move around,” says Delia Grace, a public health researcher with the International Livestock Research Institute. She explains that in developing countries where there is little refrigeration, “it makes enormous sense to keep the livestock close [to the cities].”

‘Grace says the most important benefit of urban livestock in the developing world is its impact on childhood nutrition.

‘Studies have shown that urban children whose families own animals are healthier than children whose families do not. That’s because meat, eggs, and milk have protein and nutrients that are lacking in the diet that many Kenyan children subsist on – corn meal and cabbage. . . .’

Read the whole article by Anders Kelto and watch his short video at PRI’s The World: Farming livestock in African slums, 28 Jan 2013.

Filed under: Article, CRP4, East Africa, Film and video, ILRI, Intensification, Interview, Kenya, MarketOpps, PA, Zoonotic Diseases Tagged: Al Jazeera, Delia Grace, Diana Lee-Smith, Mazingira Institute

An East African researcher holds handfuls of sweet potato roots and leaves, to be used as animal feed (photo credit: Neil Palmer/CIAT).

‘Pressures from climate change and population growth are increasing the competition for grains as food or livestock feed in countries like Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda. But sweet potato, which can grow in harsh climatic conditions with minimal inputs, can provide a healthy and easily accessible solution.

Researchers from the International Livestock Research Institute, International Potato Center, and multi-partner East Africa Dairy Development project are teaming up with other public and private partners to experiment with different sweet potato varieties and feed formulations that can expand options for livestock producers.’

‘Though sweet potato has been used successfully in livestock systems in Asia, it still raises eyebrows in Africa.

“In China, 25 to 30 percent of sweet potato crops are used for animal feed,” says Ben Lukuyu, a livestock specialist who spearheads the project for the International Livestock Research Institute. But he laughs as he describes the response he typically receives from colleagues in Africa: “You’re a livestock specialist. What are you doing working with sweet potato?”

ILRI livestock feed scientist Ben Lukuyu (photo credit: ILRI).

‘East Africa has the highest per capita consumption of livestock products (e.g., dairy cattle, pig, and goats for meat and milk) in Sub-Saharan Africa. But major feed shortages occur during the dry season, and quality feed concentrates demand a price many cannot afford. Napier grass, which is used in Kenya as a primary feed for dairy farming, requires significant allocations of land and is suffering from a major disease outbreak.

‘In comparison, sweet potato vines offer more protein and dry matter per unit area and require less land than other commonly used livestock feeds. For example, Kenyan researchers have found that 4 kilos of vines could replace 1 kilo of dairy concentrate feed. Sweet potato roots also make good feed. And both the roots and vines are a healthy source of food for people, too. . . .

The program sometimes draws the nickname “cow cafeteria” or “pig pantry”. Lukuyu explains the program’s purpose: “We want to give farmers options for mixing feed and feeding strategies to best respond to their needs and demands.” . . .

‘By putting sweet potato on their families’ tables and now even in their animal’s troughs, African farmers are able to have more climate-smart and affordable options for keeping everyone healthy and fed.’

Read the whole article at AlertNet: Putting sweet potato in the trough, 18 Oct 2012.

If you’re interested in making sweet potato silage yourself, consult this colourful and comprehensive brochure: Making High-quality Sweet Potato Silage compiled by Ben Lukuyu (ILRI), Charles K Gachuiri (University of Nairobi), Sammy Agili (International Potato Center), Carlos Leon-Velarde (International Potato Center) and Josephine Kirui (World Agroforestry Centre), 2012.

Filed under: Animal Feeding, China, Indonesia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Vietnam Tagged: AlertNet, Ben Lukuyu, CIP, EADD, ICRAF, Sweet potato silage

Faith Kivuti with her mother milking a cow in Kenya (photo on Flickr by Jeff Haskins).

A vaccine to protect cattle against a lethal disease known as East Coast fever has been launched in Kenya, where Kenya Livestock Development Minister Mohammed Kuti says the development ‘is a big relief to livestock farmers in East, Central and Southern Africa where about 1.1 million cattle are lost to the disease every year.

The vaccine was developed jointly by the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, the International Livestock Research Institute, Food and Agriculture Organisation and the Global Alliance for Livestock and Veterinary Medicine.

‘Dr Kuti said the realisation of the vaccine is a milestone in the control of livestock diseases in Africa particularly livestock keepers in Kenya. . . .

‘In a speech read on his behalf by the Director of Veterinary Services, Dr Peter Maina Ithondeka, Kuti said the disease was a major constraint preventing farmers from keeping improved breeds in areas where it is rampant.

‘He said the disease would kill close to 100 per cent of the exotic dairy cattle. It is also a major killer of other varieties kept by local pastoralists. . . .

‘“The vaccine is now a boost on agricultural production through marketing, value-addition and agri-business will improve the livelihoods of Kenyans and create wealth,” he said.

‘Ithondeka said the disease endangered 10 million animals in sub-Saharan Africa and that drugs used to treat the disease are very expensive — above the reach or ordinary farmers. . . .

‘Kenya National Federation of Agricultural Producers (Kenfap) lauded institutions that carried out tests and developed the vaccine. . . .

Kuti said Vision 2030 recognises livestock development as a key player in national development and a major component of the wider agricultural sector.’

Read the whole article by Osinde Obare at Standard Digital (Kenya): Reprieve to pastoralists as new vaccine for animal fever unveiled, 9 Dec 2012.

Filed under: Animal Diseases, Animal Health, Biotech, Cattle, Central Africa, Disease Control, East Africa, ECF, ILRI, Kenya, Launch, PA, Southern Africa, Vaccines Tagged: FAO, GALVmed, KARI, Mohammed Kuti, Standard Digital

Susan Kahumbu, a Kenyan social entrepreneur (TED Global Fellow 2010) and  2010 winner of Apps4Africa award for the  the iCow application, a cow management platform that helps small-scale farmers manage their dairy cows, will give a presentation on ‘livestock and mobile technology’ at the ILRI Nairobi campus John Vercoe Auditorium, on 11 December 2012, from 1500-1600 hours.

View the event announcement:

The iCow app allows subscribed dairy farmers to input information on their livestock and they receive information through the application on feeding practices, disease control, gestation, health and other livestock related issues. With iCow, farmers are also able to keep and track records on each of their animals. Most of this information is delivered through SMS, but farmers may also call and speak to iCow customer care representatives.

Kahumbu is passionate about promoting organic agriculture which includes the distribution of information to farmers nationally through print and radio, as well as over the Internet in a program funded by the Biovision Foundation. The foundation has recently launched a farmer communication program that will use mobile phone technology to deliver information to farmers.

Join the live presentation of this seminar online : http://www.ilri.org/livestream

‘Livestock live talks’ is a seminar series at ILRI that aims to address livestock-related issues, mobilize external as well as in-house expertise and audiences and engage the livestock community around interdisciplinary conversations that ask hard questions and seek to refine current research concepts and practices.

All ILRI staff, partners and donors, and interested outsiders are invited. Those non-staff who would want to come, please contact Angeline Nekesa at a.nekesa[at]cgiar.org (or via ILRI switchboard 020 422 3000) to let her know. If you would like to give one of these seminars, or have someone you would like to recommend, please contact Silvia Silvestri at s.silvestri[at]cgiar.org (or via ILRI switchboard 020 422 3000).

Filed under: Agriculture, Animal Production, Cattle, Dairying, Kenya, Knowledge & Information Tagged: livestock live talks, livetalks, Mobile phones