Enhancing dairy based livelihoods in India and Tanzania: Updates from the MilkIT project

The ILRI-led project on ‘enhancing dairy-based livelihoods in India and Tanzania through feed innovation and value chain development approaches’ – commonly known as MilkIT – has been implemented since 2012 with support from the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD). Two briefs from the Livestock and Fish research program provide mid-term progress reports from the project. Continue reading →

Experimenting with forage hybrids to improve mixed crop-livestock systems in Nicaragua

As part of the BMZ financed project ‘climate-smart crop-livestock systems for smallholders in the tropics: Integration of new forage hybrids to intensify agriculture and to mitigate climate change through regulation of nitrification in soil’, the Livestock and Fish program team has been working alongside farmers in rural communities of Nicaragua to improve productivity and mitigate … Continue reading →

Livestock and Fish program participates in ASARECA general assembly

At the recently concluded 2nd ASARECA General Assembly held from 9-13 Dec 2013 in Burund, a combined booth for the CGIAR Research Programs (CRPs) facilitated by the Livestock and Fish CGIAR Research Program showcased various research products from the CRPs. The exhibit showcased the Livestock and Fish research work with a special focus of the … Continue reading →

Improving Nicaragua’s dual-purpose livestock production through better breeds

The Livestock and Fish program team recently held an exchange with Nicaragua’s Ministry of Agriculture to discuss the country’s situation regarding livestock genetics and traceability efforts, and to identify points of collaboration through the ‘Better Breeds project’. The Better Breeds project, which began this September, aims to improve livestock traceability, intensify productivity, and increase farmers’ … Continue reading →

‘Grassroots action’ in livestock feeding to help curb global climate change

In a series of papers, scientists in the Livestock and Fish research program offer new evidence that a potent chemical mechanism operating in the roots of a tropical grass used for livestock feed has enormous potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Referred to as “biological nitrification inhibition” or BNI, the mechanism markedly reduces the conversion … Continue reading →

Developing a cassava-based livestock feed system in Africa

The government of Nigeria has initiated a ‘cassava transformation plan ‘to create a new generation of cassava farmers, oriented towards commercial production to generate a surplus dedicated to specific value-added chains. The overarching aim is to turn the cassava sector in Nigeria into a major player in local and international flour, starch, sweeteners, ethanol, and … Continue reading →

Improving aquaculture feed in Bangladesh: From feed ingredients to farmer profit to safe consumption

Use of manufactured feeds in aquaculture in Bangladesh has grown rapidly over the last five years. More than 1 million tonnes of commercially formulated feeds and 0.3-0.4 million tonnes of farm-made feeds were produced in 2012, and sectoral growth is projected to increase substantially over the medium term. This working paper summarizes findings from a … Continue reading →

Adapting and adopting improved animal feeding systems in Southeast Asia

Until recently, livestock husbandry in  Vietnam’s Central Highlands was not very productive. Animals were intermittently sold to free-up cash to put towards weddings or large purchases, and the rest of the time they were left free to graze on native pasture and crop residues. To help revitalize these livestock systems, researchers at CIAT have been … Continue reading →

CIAT team keen to implement dual-purpose cattle value chain in Nicaragua

The Livestock and Fish program director, Tom Randolph recently visited Nicaragua and Colombia. In Colombia he met colleagues in the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), a partner centre for the program, which leads forages research within the program’s feeds platform as well as the dual-purpose cattle value chain activities in Nicaragua. In Nicaragua, Randolph … Continue reading →

Feedipedia – open access resource on livestock feeds

The The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and partners recently launched an open access encyclopedia of animal feed resources that provides information, in the form of ‘Feed datasheets’, on nature, occurrence, distribution, chemical composition, nutritional value and safe use of nearly 1400 livestock feed resources. The main objective of Feedipedia is … Continue reading →