News Overview

Since 2017, the International Livestock Research Institute-led project Market-based approaches to improving the safety of pork in Vietnam (SafePORK project) has been developing and evaluating market-based ways of improving the safety of pork to reduce the burden of foodborne diseases in the country. The project focuses on informal, emerging and niche markets targeting small- and medium-scale pork value chains. As

The International Livestock Research Institute-led Asian Chicken Genetic Gains project is improving smallholder chicken production by increasing access to locally acceptable, adapted and highly productive chickens in Southeast Asia. Launched in May 2021, the project is making available new and proven technologies to increase chicken production in Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the project team has made several

Livestock production is an important sub-sector within Ethiopia’s economy in terms of its contributions to both agricultural value-added and national GDP. Ethiopia has the largest livestock population in Africa, with 65 million cattle, 40 million sheep, 51 million goats, 8 million camels and 49 million chickens in 2020 (Central Statistics Agency, CSA, 2020a). However, given its potential, there is a

Ticks are a major cause of economic losses in the livestock sector in the tropics and sub-tropics. Ticks transmit the pathogens that cause livestock diseases such as East Coast fever, babesiosis and anaplasmosis which are responsible for the deaths of millions of cattle every year. In many African countries, tick control has recently been the responsibility of resource-poor livestock keepers

Tanzania has some of the largest livestock herds and flocks in Africa, comprising 34 million cattle, 33 million sheep and goats, and 88 million chickens. Increasing demand for consumption of meat, milk and eggs presents many opportunities for millions of livestock-rearing households to improve livelihoods, income, employment and nutrition. The main opportunity is to sustainably improve productivity and therefore increase

Livestock farming is practiced by at least 80% of the rural population and plays a key role in Mali’s economy. It contributes about 12% to the country’s GDP. Approximately 85% of Malians own small ruminants, especially women. Unfortunately, low productivity and marketing constraints limit the ability of ruminant livestock to provide a secure livelihood. Over 30 million sheep and goats

To commemorate this year’s World Food Safety Day (7 June) under the theme Safer food, better health, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) has launched an online food safety campaign and landing page to showcase its collaborative research on risk-based approaches to improving food safety in low- and middle-income countries. Visit the landing page to read key food safety messages

There is no food security without food safety. But every day, billions of people eat without knowing if their food will make them ill – or even kill them. The health burden of foodborne diseases is comparable to that of the ‘Big Three’ infectious diseases (malaria, HIV-AIDS, and tuberculosis), and the great majority of this burden is borne by those