News Overview

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

Effective communication and constructive dialogue on inclusive ways forward between policy-makers and informal milk vendors can help to bridge the gap between policy and reality in Kenya’s informal milk sector, according to a new research study published in Development Policy Review (May 2022). Around 80% of milk in Kenya is sold informally, providing livelihoods and contributing to the food security

One of the biggest challenges in taking effective and sustainable climate action is the lack of linkages between policymaking, climate research and disseminating innovations for adaptation, and mitigation. To overcome this challenge and create such linkages, the International Livestock Research Institute, together with research and development partners, government agencies, private sector players and the Government of Kenya, has since 2019