FAO reviews stakeholder dialogue in support of sustainable livestock development

Last week, the Committee on Agriculture of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) discussed options for “stakeholder dialogue in support of sustainable livestock sector development” as a contribution to the so-called “Global Agenda of Action in Support of Sustainable Livestock Sector Development.

The Global Agenda of Action focuses on the improvement of resource-use efficiency in the livestock sector to support livelihoods, long-term food security and economic growth while safeguarding other environmental and public health outcomes.

Download the Committee document

Read a statement on the proposals by the League for Pastoral Peoples and Endogenous Livestock Development

 

The future of hunger: How animal science supports global food security

In the past few weeks, Madeline McCurry-Schmidt has published a series of short pieces exploring ways that animal scientists can help feed the world’s growing population.

Published on the American Society of Animal Science ‘Taking Stock’ blog, the five articles covered:

Part 1 – explored the coming food crisis from a livestock perspective
Part 2 – looked at how animal scientists use new nutrition research and technology to increase feed efficiency
Part 3 – looked at how new research and technology related to animal breeding can make animal production more efficient
Part 4 – looked at ways animal scientists can treat and prevent the diseases that threaten animal and human health
Part 5 – looked at the challenges of applying animal science research around the world.

All five parts can also be downloaded as a single PDF file

 

Coping with drought: Assessing the impacts of livestock insurance in Kenya

In January 2010 the index-based livestock insurance (IBLI) pilot project was launched in Marsabit District of northern Kenya as an effort to help pastoralists manage drought risk, and its pernicious ex ante and ex post effects.

A Brief from the I4 Index Insurance Innovation Initiative reports results based on the impact of insurance on households’ anticipated changes in their coping behavior after receipt of their October 2011 IBLI insurance payouts. It gives a preliminary appraisal of the impact of drought insurance on household well-being.

The IBLI index insurance contract uses satellite-based measures of vegetative cover to predict average livestock mortality experienced by local communities. Households receive a payout if the predicted average livestock mortality rate reaches 15%. In October-November 2011 the first IBLI payouts were made to households who had purchased insurance earlier in the year. Households in our study received an average payout of about 10,000 Kenyan Shillings (or roughly $150).

The IBLI pilot was implemented in connection with a rigorous impact evaluation. This long-term research design will allow researchers to explore whether the beneficial effects of insurance (on both ex ante and ex post coping strategies) are large enough to warrant increased development of similar products. While we await those long-term findings, this Brief reports results based on the impact of insurance on households’ anticipated changes in their coping behavior after receipt of their October 2011 insurance payouts. By comparing these anticipated coping changes with those of their uninsured peers, we are able to arrive at a preliminary appraisal of the impact of drought insurance on household well-being.

Download the Brief

 

Royal Veterinary College launches new postgraduate certificate in intensive livestock health and production

The Royal Veterinary College, of the University of London, is launching a Postgraduate Certificate in Intensive Livestock Health and Production, due to commence in September 2012.

This is a new part-time blended, distance-learning course that will be of interest to those working within the agri-food sector and will promote the development of advanced level skills in pigs and poultry. Graduates are expected to contribute further to the intensive livestock industries in the veterinary, public health or production sectors.

More information

 

IPMS project updates shared with steering committee

The Improving Productivity and Market Success (IPMS) project held its semi annual steering committee meeting on April 17, 2012 in Addis Ababa. Representatives from the Oromia, SNNP and Tigray bureau’s of agriculture/research; IPMS rural development officers; CIDA representatives; and IPMS headquarters staff attended. Iain Wright chaired the meeting.

The main agenda of the day was to: i) survey results of the IPMS project impact, ii) report on IPMS activities in the past six months, and iii) review proposed activities for the coming nine months (April – December 2012).

Berhanu Gebremedhin, senior economist of IPMS, presented the project impact on each commodity IPMS intervened on crosscutting issues like HIV/AIDS and gender mainstreaming. Valuable experiences and lessons learned both by smallholder farmers and IPMS researchers and development practitioners over the years were highlighted on Berhanu’s presentation. View the presentation.

One of the highlights of IPMS activities in the past six months is training and execution of mass insemination of dairy cows in the four regions. This intervention, which is an action research area for IPMS, attracted a lot of attention and commitment from the regional governments. Tigray region has moved quickly in scaling out this intervention by allocating a huge budget (20 million birr) for mass insemination. In the past two months, a rigorous mass insemination campaign was carried out, which resulted in the insemination of 12,500 cows of smallholder farmers in Tigray. Oromia, SNNP and Amhara regions are actively moving on this.

The afternoon session started with a visit to the mobile cattle crush (animal handling facility), constructed by ILRI’s physical plant unit with very close supervision from Dirk Hokestra (IPMS project manager) and Azage Tegegne (IPMS Animal scientist). The cattle crush is designed and constructed in such a way that it increases the efficiency of the service delivery by technicians and reduces stress on the animals during the process.

In the remaining nine months of IPMS, further work on capacity development in the education and extension system on issues of mass insemination and other IPMS interventions; promotion and documentation of results; and other knowledge management activities are planned.

Story by: Fanos Mekonnen

 

An innovation story: Livestock fattening in Metema, Ethiopia

This innovation story narrates the experience of the Improving Productivity and Market Success (IPMS) project on livestock fattening in Ethiopia.

The video documents how a 2005 alliance between the local government office of agriculture, the IPMS project, and local livestock farmers and traders in western Ethiopia took advantage of livestock market opportunities in neighbouring Sudan.

Through dialogue with local actors, the team worked out a “new way of doing business.” This brought knowledge to farmers, connected them to animal health providers, encouraged shopkeepers to sell feed for fattening, and reached out to farmers through community institutions like the church.

What went right in Metema? First, farmers were empowered through sharing of new ideas – on fattening and on market opportunities. Second, the team addressed issues beyond production, reaching out to input providers and others. Third, the team worked with farmers and input suppliers who volunteered to try fattening, with their own resources.

Some of the critical building blocks to sustain and scale out this approach include: Effective partnerships among all actors in the value chain; appropriate knowledge for farmers on many topics; stronger input supply systems; stronger support systems for farmers to get hold of services; and efficient market information systems.

View a poster

Watch the video:

 

Small scale livestock farming and climatic variability focus of VSF report

As part of a development education/awareness programme in Europe, Vétérinaires Sans Frontières Europa and its partners recently carried out a study on the importance of Small Scale Livestock Farming in the context of climate variability.

Part of a ‘campaign’ to sensitize and mobilize people in favour of small scale livestock farming, the study “shows that small scale livestock farming has a potential to cope with and adapt to climatic variability, especially in some determined regions in the world. Moreover, due to its specific functions, small scale livestock farming can also be considered as an important way to mitigate carbon emissions from livestock sector.”

The report contextualizes the role that small-scale livestock farming (SSLF) plays in the climate change (CC) debate and its potential contribution to food security. It addresses three principal questions:

1. how small-scale livestock farming systems are sustainable and could contribute to CC mitigation;
2. how they are efficient at producing animal source foods for the growing populations and contribute to future food security challenges;
3. how SSLF communities have traditionally adapted to climate variability and whether these strategies can be valid for CC adaptation.

To address these questions, the authors propose three main categories of livestock farming:

• small-scale livestock farming (SSLF), which includes pastoralism, small ranching, backyard pig and poultry production, and small mixed farming (both irrigated and rain-fed);
• medium-scale livestock farming (MSLF), with the highest variability of farming types, including large ranching and large mixed farming (both irrigated and rain-fed);
• and large-scale livestock farming (LSLF), defined fundamentally by landless industrial production.

The report critically assesses the existing literature in terms of livestock production and mitigation alternatives and, drawing on cases in Turkana (Kenya), Alaotra Lake (Madagascar), Khar-o-Touran (Iran) and Huancavelica (Peru), it presents adaptation measures undertaken by small scale livestock farming communities.

Download the executive summary of the report

View a photographic exhibition as part of the project

 

New consortium to investigate environmental changes spreading diseases between animals and people in Africa

Malawi crop-and-livestock farmer (photo credit: ILRI/Susan MacMillan).

One of the drivers of disease in Africa, a continent with a particularly heavy disease burden, are environmental changes that help to spread infectious pathogens between animals (both wild and domestic) and people. That is why the start of a new research program, in which the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) is participating, to investigate these links is good news.

‘An innovative £3.2m research programme exploring the connections between ecosystems, health and poverty in Africa has begun at the STEPS Centre and 16 other research institutes in Africa, Europe and the US.

‘The Dynamic Drivers of Disease in Africa Consortium (DDDAC) brings together natural and social scientists in a unique partnership to embark upon an integrated approach to understanding zoonoses—those diseases which pass from animals to humans.

‘More than 60% of emerging infectious diseases over the past few decades have been zoonotic. While some quietly decimate poor people’s lives and their livelihoods, others have the potential to create dangerous global threats. . . .

”Through fieldwork and modelling work, DDDAC researchers will generate vital new knowledge on the impacts on zoonotic disease of ecosystem change such as climate change and habitat loss, ecology, and the interactions between humans and animals. . . .

‘Funded by Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA) for three and a half years, the DDDAC will see environmental, biological, social, political, and human and animal health scientists working on four zoonotic diseases, each affected in different ways by ecosystem changes and having different impacts on people’s health, wellbeing and livelihood.

These are:

• Lassa fever in Sierra Leone
• Henipa virus in Ghana
• Rift Valley fever in Kenya
• Trypanosomiasis in Zambia and Zimbabwe

The DDDAC partners are:
In the UK: STEPS Centre; University of Cambridge; Institute of Zoology, London; University of Edinburgh; and University College, London.
In Ghana: Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission, University of Ghana.
In Kenya: International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi; Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI); and the University of Nairobi.
In Sierra Leone: Kenema Government Hospital; and Njala University.
In Zambia: the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries; and the University of Zambia.
In Zimbabwe: the Ministry of Agriculture; and the University of Zimbabwe.
The Stockholm Resilience Centre and Tulane University, US, are also DDDAC partners.

ESPA is funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

Read the whole article at the Institute of Development Studies website: ‘STEPS convenes multidisciplinary research team to tackle animal-to-human disease transmission’, 19 Mar 2012.

 

Learning route on innovative livestock marketing in Kenya

Participants in a ‘learning route’ on Innovative Livestock Marketing just completed their trip through Kenya.

Organized by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the PROCASUR Corporation, the route is a participatory practitioner-to-practitioner training to increase awareness about channels and strategies to diversify livestock production and marketing.

Read stories from the route …

How do innovations travel? In people’s mind. Kenya Learning Route on Innovating Livestock Marketing

Bridging the gap: Connecting Maasai pastoralist communities to livestock markets.

From pastoralists to terminal market: journey along the livestock value chain.

M-PESA: The power of mobile technology in livestock marketing.

The power of camel milk: the story of the Anolei Camel Milk Cooperative.

An earlier route looked at ways rangelands can be better protected for local rangeland users, including pastoralists, in East Africa

 

GALVmed ‘Livestock 2012′ e-discussion – Ways to improve livestock development in Africa

GALVmed – the Global Alliance for Livestock Veterinary Medicines – just published an ‘Impetus Strategy Paper’ that  puts forward ideas on the directions Africa’s livestock sector needs to take to maximise prospects for  African livestock farmers, based on evidence and opinion from Sub Saharan Africa.

To validate and extend the discussions, GALVmed has set up an e-discussion where livestock experts can give their opinion about the ideas contained in the paper.

The e-discussion agenda is as follows:

• 14th  –27th March: The State of Africa’s livestock sector;
• 28th March – 14th April: Improving animal health services for the rural farmers;
• 15th  – 28th  April:  Feeding Africa’s Ruminants for food security and prosperity;
• 29th April- 16th May: Small livestock farmers increasing their income – trade and market access.

Read the Impetus Strategy Paper

Join the e-discussion

Visit the GALVmed web site