The International Livestock Research Institute or ILRI is an international agricultural research institute within the CGIAR – formerly the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research. It was established in 1994 by merger of the International Laboratory for Research on Animal Diseases in Nairobi in Kenya, and the International Livestock Centre for Africa in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia.: 6 : 1 It is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation.: 71 Its research is intended to help to build sustainable livestock pathways out of poverty in low-income countries and to help people in those countries to keep their farm animals alive and productive, to increase and sustain their livestock and farm productivity, and to find profitable markets for their animal products.[self-published source?] Research covers five broad areas: the natural environment; food; gender; health; and prosperity..
Climate change is projected to exacerbate food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) by reducing crop yields and soil fertility. Many climate change impact studies in SSA have overlooked long-term effects of soil fertility on crop yield. We evaluated maize yields under different scenarios of soil fertility (using soil organic carbon as a proxy) and climate change (considering changes in temperature, rainfall, and CO2) at four sites in SSA. Using an ensemble of 15 calibrated soil-crop models, we found a strong consensus that, without fertilization, soil fertility declines over time, impacting maize yields more strongly than changes in temperature, rainfall, or CO2. The model ensemble indicated that when accounting for soil fertility changes, the yield benefits of combined application of organic and mineral inputs increase over time, even under climate change. These findings highlight the importance of considering long-term change in soil fertility when assessing impacts of climate change and integrated nutrient management on crop production in SSA.
Drought-related emergency assistance in the drylands is shaped by understandings of vulnerability that are often not commensurate with the socioeconomic dynamics that structure everyday life in pastoralist contexts. Forms of humanitarian assessment and targeting undertaken before the implementation of assistance programmes tend to be oriented towards vulnerability measurements and assessment criteria that focus on individuals or households. These approaches often fail to account for existing local systems of sharing, redistribution, and resource pooling. Recent research into locally-led social protection, resilience, and livelihood change in the pastoral drylands highlights how pastoralists respond to crises through collective and networked practices, which take on diverse forms but are founded on a common understanding of vulnerability. Differences in how vulnerability is both understood and responded to mean that aid organisations and local communities often do not see eye to eye, which results in mistrust and inefficiencies. This article draws on research undertaken among pastoralist communities in the cross-border area of northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia to explore local conceptions of vulnerability. In drawing out implications, it asks whether humanitarian agencies might be able to move towards an alternative approach grounded in the more relational, networked understandings of vulnerability that shape life in the drylands.
Ethiopia ranks first in Africa and tenth globally in livestock population. However, this resource contributes only minimally to the national economy, with ticks and tick-borne diseases posing major constraints. A cross-sectional study was conducted from April 2020 to June 2021 to identify the prevalent ticks and delineate suitability of the local habitants for spatial distribution of dominant tick species in the Wag-Lasta area, Ethiopia. The tick infestation data were collected from georeferenced sampling sites, ticks were identified based on morphological characteristics, and bioclimatic variables were obtained from the WorldClim 2.1 database. The results identified three tick genera: Rhipicephalus (52.5
Bovine milk has shown a positive association with child growth rates, but access in Hyderabad, India, is variable and milk-borne hazards are of concern. The aim of this study was to investigate how milk value chains (VCs) in urban Hyderabad influence microbiological and toxicological milk safety and their intersection with child stunting. A mixed-methods approach was used, encompassing a thematic reflexive analysis of qualitative interviews conducted with 12 VC key informants and risk-based sampling of 42 milk, 24 animal feed and 20 water samples that were subjected to microbiological and aflatoxin testing. Key themes identified were financial instability, trust-based processes, milk safety concerns and power imbalances in the VCs. The microbiological analysis showed contamination in unpasteurized milk at various nodes, with high levels of total colony count, faecal coliforms, Staphylococcus aureus and yeast/mould, while water used in the VCs also showed microbial contamination. A total of 67% of dairy feed samples tested positive for total aflatoxins; all of them were within Indian regulatory limits. Opportunities for safer and more nutritious milk that could help to reduce child stunting include improved food safety practices, enhanced awareness of milk-borne hazards, institutional accountability and increased agency of VC actors. This article is part of the theme issue 'Biological, biomedical and environmental drivers of stunting'.
Wild meat, commonly known as bushmeat, is a cultural, economic, and nutritional staple food in many regions of the world, including sub-Saharan Africa. Wild meat value chains face major hygiene and sanitary regulation challenges, but only a few studies have investigated these challenges, focusing instead on market dynamics and biodiversity issues. This study examines the hygiene practices, attitudes, perceptions, and knowledge of public health risks among actors in the Lagos (Nigeria) wild meat value chain, and its consequences for food safety. We employed a qualitative study design, using in-depth interviews of key informants (n = 34) purposively selected from the wild meat value chain's hunter, wholesaler, processor, and retailer nodes. An inductive thematic approach was used for data analysis. Results revealed three overarching themes: culture, infrastructure, and regulation. Social norms, poor infrastructure, and lack of regulation were the main drivers of the hygiene practices in the value chain. Actors showed poor knowledge of the health risks associated with wild meat, prioritizing taste over its safety. Women were more at risk of contracting zoonotic infections due to gender biases, which exposed them to riskier nodes of the value chain. The wild meat value chain in the megacity of Lagos constitutes a high-risk platform for zoonotic and food-borne pathogen transmission, due to poor knowledge, infrastructure deficits, and economic resource pressure, which leads to unhygienic practices of its actors. We recommend intervention approaches that integrate people's cultures, provision of infrastructure, enforcement of sanitary standards, actors' education, and further empirical research to stimulate the establishment of hygiene guidelines for the regulation of urban wild meat value chains globally.
