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ILRI News

After 10 years in Kenya and Ethiopia, are we ready to scale up livestock insurance in the Horn of Africa?

Index-Based Livestock Insurance (IBLI) programs in East Africa have thus far had limited success. A new ILRI study finds that future initiatives should embrace a number of lessons learned if they wish to achieve scale and financial sustainability. It’s not a secret – for millions of people,...

  • Felix Lung
    Disaster risk finance consultant
ILRI News

How COVID-19 measures have affected food safety in East Africa

By Florence Mutua , International Livestock Research Institute ; Delia Grace , International Livestock Research Institute , and Erastus Kang'ethe , University of Nairobi Foodborne diseases are thought to impose a health burden on society comparable to the “big three”: malaria, HIV/AIDs and...

ILRI News

Understanding the burden of foodborne disease to ensure food safety in Ethiopia

More than half a billion people around the world fall ill every year from the food they eat. As a result, ensuring food safety remains a major global challenge. As we celebrate the World Food Safety Day on 7 June 2021, it is important to understand the burden of foodborne disease and how it affects...

ILRI News
ILRI News

Building a sustainable livestock genetics improvement system for a food-secure Ethiopia

The African Dairy Genetics Gains (ADGG) project, which is led by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and implemented by multiple partners in Ethiopia and Tanzania, is addressing livestock productivity challenges to improve dairy production in the two countries. To celebrate key...

ILRI News
Policies, institutions and livelihoods

ILRI marks International Women's Day 2021 by reflecting on the impact of COVID-19 on women leaders

A woman milks one of her goats in Ségou District, Mali (photo credit: ILRI/Valentin Bognan Koné). In low- and middle-income countries women form the largest proportion of the poor livestock farming workforce, constitute less than 19% of the agricultural holders, and receive 5% of all agricultural...

ILRI News

Towards clearer One Health policies in eastern Africa: Interview with HEAL Project interim regional manager

In November 2020, Zuleka Ismail joined the One Health for Humans, Environment, Animals and Livelihoods (HEAL) Project as interim regional manager. Zuleka brings more than seven years of experience in managing and monitoring public health and veterinary programs in pastoralist systems to the table...

ILRI News

ILRI Impact at Scale program shares insights on scaling tools and practices with CGIAR science leaders and GIZ scaling experts

This post was written by Murat Sartas and Saba Ermyas, and edited by Paul Karaimu. The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) Impact at Scale (I@S) program recently share examples for identifying, analysing and integrating scaling tools into agricultural research for development programs...

ILRI News
ILRI News

ILRI revamps and relaunches sequencing service unit

The International Livestock Research Institute ( ILRI) has relaunched its sequencing, genotyping and oligosynthesis platform (Segolip) service unit in Nairobi due to meet increasing demand for sequencing services from researchers in Africa. Established in 1993, the Segolip Unit is ILRI’s...

ILRI News

Irrigating fodder crops to improve nutrition for animals and people in Ethiopia

When livestock is fed high-quality fodder, produced with the help of irrigation, they deliver better milk and meat, benefitting the nutritional health of their keepers and consumers. The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Small Scale Irrigation (ILSSI) and its partners are investigating best-bet...

ILRI News
ILRI News

Assessing the impacts of natural disasters and emerging and re-emerging livestock diseases on Ethiopia’s livestock sector

In Ethiopia, livestock is key in ensuring food security, generating rural income and employment, and contributing to national economic growth through foreign exchange earnings. But its contribution to the national economy remains low mainly due to among other challenges, natural disasters such as...

ILRI News
ILRI News

Higher quality and more accessible forage seeds - a pathway to better feed Ethiopia's livestock

Ethiopia faces a major challenge in feeding its large livestock population in a sustainable way. Most animals are fed on low-grade crop residues or graze natural pastures, which are suffering serious degradation. As a result, livestock remain relatively unproductive despite the key role they play...

ILRI News
ILRI News

COVID-19 and livestock development in Ethiopia: Enhancing national responses

Ethiopia has the largest livestock population in Africa, which is a vital part of the life of its people. More than 80% of the country’s p opulation depends on the sector for income, employment, and food and nutrition among other benefits. Since mid-March 2020, the sector’s development has been...