8th All Africa Conference on Animal Agriculture

African animal agriculture faces a multitude of challenges, from climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic to animal diseases, market access issues and even environmental concerns, which have significantly impacted food production systems across the continent.

Notably, the recent push to reduce meat consumption based on environmental concerns adds to the complexity of these challenges. 

However, sustainable, research-based livestock development can improve livelihoods and food security while increasing climate resilience in Africa.

At the 8th All Africa Conference on Animal Agriculture, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) will take a leading role in fostering dialogue and collaboration with diverse stakeholders to showcase how comprehensive livestock solutions encompass this year's conference theme, Sustainable African animal agriculture: challenges and future prospects. 

Through keynote and plenary speeches, side events, discussions, research presentations and poster sessions, ILRI aims to identify strategies that can transform these challenges into opportunities for African animal agriculture.

Keynote session

How can African animal agriculture benefit from the current technological revolution? – Appolinaire Djikeng, director general, ILRI

Plenary session

How can Africa achieve food security and sustainable animal agriculture in the face of climate change? – Siboniso Moyo, deputy director general, research and development – biosciences, ILRI

Side events

• Towards an integrated delivery of proven productivity-enhancing innovations in livestock: A market systems approach – James Rao, agricultural economist, ILRI
• Enhancing livestock investment for sustainable livelihoods in Africa: The role of policies and strategies in animal agriculture in Africa – Sirak Bahta, senior agricultural economist, ILRI

Presentations

Tuesday 26 September 2023

• 14:00 Session 1: Beyond the adopter – non-adopter dichotomy: Why do smallholder producers dis-adopt improved chicken breeds? – Birhanu Mulugeta Yitayih
• 14:14 Session 2: Heat stress impacts growth performance of dairy calves under smallholder dairy systems in Tanzania – Chinyere C. Ekine-Dzivenu, ILRI
• 16.40 Session 1: Collective action at scale: towards establishing a tropical poultry platform – Yihenew Zewdie, ILRI

Wednesday 27 September 2023

• 11:45 Session 1: Nutrition-sensitive intervention enhances chicken products consumption and dietary diversity – Geremew Kumlachew, ILRI
• 12:15 pm Session 3: Assessing the Burden of Malnutrition and Parasite Load in the School-Age Children: A Case Study - Gebresilassie Yemane Tsion, ILRI
• 12:15 Session 3: Optimizing for a variety of issues can advance genetic gain and lower emission intensity in community-based breeding programs – Tesfaye Getachew, ICARDA
• 15:15 Session 5: Establishing meat safety and meat handling practices in selected butcheries in peri-urban areas of Nairobi, Kenya - Koech Patricia, ILRI/OHRECA
• 17:10 Session 2: Evaluating fertility in a breeding program for improved growth of indigenous sheep in the arid lands of Kenya – Edwin Oyieng, ILRI
• 17:25 Session 3: Delivering climate-resilient and productive sires to improve the livelihood of farmer communities at scale – Aynalem Haile, ICARDA

Thursday 28 September 2023

• 13:05 Session 3: Innovating and scaling risk-reducing measures for farmers and livestock keepers in the drylands – Rupsha Banerjee, ILRI
• 13:20 Session 4: Towards an integrated delivery of proven productivity-enhancing innovations in livestock: A market systems approach – James Rao, ILRI
• 13:35 Session 5: Exploring the role of seasonal variation in livestock feed composition on diet quality and methane emissions in Kenyan livestock – John Mutua, ILRI/Jameel Observatory
• 15:05 Session 1: Indigenous chicken improvement programs in sub-Saharan Africa – Wondmeneh Esatu Woldegiorgiss, ILRI
• 15:05 Session 1: The use of genomic information to profile the suitability of imported animals for milk yield in smallholder systems in Eastern Africa – Raphael Mrode, ILRI

Posters

• Integrating genetic, environmental, and phenotypic information in the evaluation of livestock breeds for smallholder farmers – Fasil Getachew, ILRI
• ICT innovations to support smallholder dairy farmer extension breeding and data capture – Chinyere C. Ekine-Dzivenu, ILRI
• Development of a web-based system for managing data related to artificial insemination centres in Ethiopia – Abdulkadir Hassen, ILRI
• Youth groups sheep-fattening entrepreneurship as a springboard to enhancing sustainable farming and livelihood in Ethiopia – Muluken Zeleke, ICARDA
• Harnessing ChatGPT (Generative Pretrained Transformer) to engage youths and women in climate-smart and sustainable livestock farming – Muluken Zeleke, ICARDA
• Ecological factors associated with abundance and distribution of mosquito vectors of Rift Valley fever virus during an epidemic period in Isiolo, Kenya – Max Korir, ILRI/OHRECA