News Archive

AgHealth blog

Nairobi is rapidly losing its green spaces: this could open the door to more diseases

Hundreds of trees have been felled along Nairobi’s Uhuru and Waiyaki highways to make space for a new expressway. CELINE CLERY/AFP via Getty Images Eric Fèvre , University of Liverpool and James Hassell , Yale University There’s been widespread concern in Kenya over the shrinking of green spaces in...

ILRI clippings

‘Genomic time travel’ for better African cattle—New paper describes a ‘rich mosaic of traits’ and an ‘evolutionary jolt’

Scientists from ILRI, Korea and other partners have discovered a new set of genetic markers in African cattle that signal beneficial characteristics, with a view to harnessing them for future generations. ‘In a multi-national collaborative effort, scientists have announced the discovery of a new...

ILRI clippings

ILRI’s Kapiti Research Station to serve as conservancy and critical wildlife corridor for Nairobi National Park

ILRI’s Kapiti Research Station (photo credit: ILRI/Jake Meyers). ‘Nairobi National Park wildlife ecosystem has more than doubled its land size to 78,000 acres after two institutions agreed to integrate their land with the wildlife conservancy. On Thursday, 24 Sep 2020, the Kapiti Research Station...

ILRI News

ILRI Forage Genebank duplicates one-third of its collection for safe, long-term storage in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault

Alieu Sartie in the seed storage cold room at the ILRI Forage Genebank in Jan 2020 (photo credit: ILRI/Apollo Habtamu). For the third time, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) last month shipped a set of its forage genebank collection, comprising 302 accessions representing 74...

CGIAR Research Program on Livestock

Rangelands and drylands go global at the Global Landscapes Forum

Mary Letirok, a pastoralist from Oldonyiro, Kenya, describes a changing landscape threatens her livelihood. She calls for urgent landscape restoration to bring back the rain and vegetation her community’s livestock need to survive. Rangelands and drylands, together with the people whose lives and...

ILRI clippings

Deadline for submitting abstracts for the Joint International Grassland/Rangeland Congress extended to 23 Dec 2019

The deadline for submissions for papers and posters for the Joint International Grassland and International Rangeland Congress, to be held 24–30 Oct 2020, in Nairobi, Kenya, has been extended to 23rd December 2019. Submit your abstracts for posters and oral presentations and proposals for...

CGIAR Research Program on Livestock

Putting drylands and rangelands on the agenda of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration

Catch us at the Global Landscapes Forum in New York City on 28 September 2019 Rangelands are one of the biggest ecosystems in the world, with an estimated 500 million pastoralists alone who depend on them. Photo ILRI On 1 st March this year, the UN General Assembly announced the UN Decade on...

ILRI News

Buffelgrass: a drought-tolerant bunchgrass

Buffelgrass growing in a field trial in Bishoftu, Ethiopia (photo credit: Ricardo Sanchez Gutierrez/Ethiopia). Buffelgrass ( Cenchrus ciliaris L.) is a bunchgrass that grows in clumps, it can transform deserts into grasslands. It is one of the most popular forage species and is extensively grown...

ILRI News

Five years of the Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health: celebrating achievements and renewing commitments

CTLGH Principals & CSC group (left- right) Wayne Powell (SRUC), Steve Kemp (ILRI), Eleanor Riley (Roslin/UoE), Jimmy Smith (ILRI), Jamie Newbold (SRUC) & Appolinaire Djikeng (Roslin/UoE/CTLGH) (Photo credit: CTLGH/Maggie Bennett) As the Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (...

ILRI News

Better breeds for more milk: ​African dairy genetics gains bulls and cows exhibition

Role of African Dairy Genetics Gains platform (Artwork/ILRI: Eric Ouma, Ekta Patel) Today, thirty-five farmers and over fifty representatives from the Tanzanian government including Hon. Luhaga Mpina, Minister of Livestock and Fisheries, Tanzania, and Dr. Eligy Mussa Shirima, Director General of...

ILRI News

Africa’s animal genetic resources – the wealth within

Ankole cattle from southwestern Uganda (photo credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann). Today, more than a hundred key partners in African livestock development, including African ministers, senior policymakers and other dignitaries, have gathered in Nairobi, Kenya, to launch new and notable products that improve...

ILRI News

ILRI’s Jimmy Smith on farm animal diversity for more sustainable and resilient global food systems

Jimmy Smith, director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), this week made a short presentation at the annual meeting of the Food Forever Initiative held in Wilmington, Delaware, 23–24 Sep 2018. Food Forever is a global partnership to raise awareness on the importance...