News Overview

Ruminants play a vital role in the economic and nutritional fabric of sub-Saharan Africa. However, cattle have faced criticism for their disproportionately large negative environmental impact, particularly regarding greenhouse gas emissions. The true extent of African livestock systems’ contribution to global emissions remains poorly understood, however, primarily due to a lack of evidence-based research. At the International Livestock Research (ILRI)

Tick-borne diseases pose a significant threat to smallholder livestock keeping in Kenya and the East Africa region at large. One of these tick-borne diseases is babesiosis, caused by the protozoan parasite Babesia. Babesia bigemina is endemic and widespread in East Africa while the status of the more pathogenic Babesia bovis remains unclear despite the presence of the Rhipicephalus microplus tick

Buffalo cow in Nepal (photo credit: ILRI/Susan MacMillan) Buffalo are well-suited to Nepal’s lowland and mountainous terrain, offering diverse products and economic benefits right along agri-food value chains from production to consumption. They are a major contributor to the agricultural sector, second after rice in the contribution to agricultural gross national product. They provide more than half of meat and

In a complicated and uncertain world, identifying strategies for building policy coherence and responding to crises is an increasingly urgent task. On 17 May 2022, ILRI Nairobi hosted the Kenya launch and inception meeting of National Policies and Strategies for Food, Land, and Water Systems Transformation (NPS), a new One CGIAR initiative working in six countries. Featuring a high-level panel

The livestock sector in Kenya is vital to peoples’ livelihoods. Many households depend on the sector for income through the sale of animal products, employment, and as a source of food. The livestock sector is also a major benefactor to the Kenyan economy as it contributes about 12% to the national gross domestic product (GDP) and 42% to agricultural GDP.

Wild animals harbour many pathogens that can infect livestock and people. Because of this, epidemiological studies on these pathogens should include wildlife sampling to generate data on their distribution patterns in natural ecologies. This has been the overriding interest under the Co-infection project, which is led by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). It uses a collaborative, multisectoral, and transdisciplinary

We congratulate Delia Grace, professor of food safety systems at the Natural Resources Institute and joint appointed scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), on winning the 2022 Arrell Global Food Innovation Award in the research innovation category. Delia Grace is a renowned scientist with unique and transformative impacts on the safety of food systems and public health in

The rapid evolution of global food safety systems in response to population growth, urbanization, climate change and other socio-economic factors poses many food safety challenges. Globally, unsafe food causes an estimated 600 million illnesses and 420,000 deaths annually, with Africa disproportionately bearing the highest burden of foodborne diseases. To effectively tackle the challenge of foodborne diseases in Africa, a team