Knowledge for Development

S&T Organisations / Web resources


ILRI - International Livestock Research Institute

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) works at the crossroads of livestock and poverty, bringing high-quality science and capacity-building to bear on poverty reduction and sustainable development. ILRI works in Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean, with offices in East and West Africa, South and Southeast Asia, China and Central America. ILRI’s research portfolio comprises four issue-oriented themes: Targeting and innovation; Improving market opportunities; Using biotechnology to secure livestock assets; and People, livestock and the environment.

25/05/2007


GLiPHA - Global Livestock Production and Health Atlas

The Global Livestock Production and Health Atlas (GLiPHA), is a user-friendly, highly interactive electronic atlas. It provides a scaleable overview of spatial and temporal variation of quantitative information related to animal production and health through the combination of maps, tables and charts. The objective of the system is to facilitate access to large amounts of information stored in databases of governmental and international organizations. The information contained in GLiPHA is organized into five layers or themes: biophysical resources; socio-economics; livestock populations and production; animal health; and, trade in livestock and livestock products. The information can be displayed as map, table or graph.

25/05/2007


OIE - World Organisation for Animal Health

The missions of OIE (World Organisation for Animal Health) are : (1) to ensure transparency in the global animal disease situation; (2) to collect, analyze and disseminate veterinary scientific information; (3) to provide expertise and encourage international solidarity in the control of animal diseases; (4) to safeguard world trade by publishing health standards for international trade in animals and animal products; and (5) to improve the legal framework and resources of national Veterinary Services. The OIE collects and analyzes the latest scientific information on animal disease control. This information is then made available to the Member Countries to help them to improve the methods used to control and eradicate these diseases. Guidelines are prepared by the network of 156 OIE Collaborating Centres and Reference Laboratories across the world. Scientific information is also disseminated through various works and periodicals published by the OIE, notably the Scientific and Technical Review.

25/05/2007


EMPRES - Emergency Prevention System for Transboundary Animal and Plant Pests and Diseases

GREP - the Global Rinderpest Eradication Programme. In addition to Rinderpest, EMPRES runs normative and operational activities on the containment and progressive control of various other serious transboundary diseases such as African Swine Fever, Avian Influenza, Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia, Foot-and-Mouth Disease, Haemorrhagic Septicaemia, and Rift Valley Fever.

25/05/2007


GLCRSP - Global Livestock Collaborative Research Support Program

The goal of the GLCRSP is to increase food security and improve the quality of life of people in developing countries while bringing an international focus to the research, teaching and extension efforts of U.S. institutions. This goal is to be met through collaboration between U.S. land-grant institutions and national and regional institutions abroad that are active in livestock research and development. GLCRSP projects include: (1) Beef as a Source of Vitamin B-12, Iron and Zinc to Improve Development of Infants Fed Low Amounts of Animal Products; (2) Enhancing Child Nutrition through Animal Source Food Management; (3) Forage Monitoring Technology to Improve Risk Management by Herders in the Gobi Region of Mongolia; (4) Health for Animals and Livelihood Improvement in the Rungwa-Ruaha Ecosystem, Tanzania; (5) Increasing Animal Source Foods in the Diets of HIV-infected Kenyan Women and Their Children; (6) Livestock Information Network & Knowledge System for Enhanced Pastoral Livelihoods in East Africa; (7) Livestock Trade in Ethiopia and Kenya; (8) Improving Pastoral Risk Management on East African Rangelands; (9) Early Warning System for Monitoring Nutrition and Livestock Health for Food Security of Humans in East Africa.

25/05/2007


Animal Sciences Group - Wageningen University and Research Centre

The Animal Sciences Group of Wageningen UR is a knowledge organization with an international reputation in the field of animal husbandry and animal diseases. Its core activities feature scientific and practice-based research, academic education and the development of systems and innovations. The Animal Science group develops, innovates and distributes know-how, products and services in the fields of animal production and infectious diseases. The Animal Sciences Group has practical research centres at various locations in the Netherlands where there are application-oriented locations for research into cattle, poultry and pig farming. The Department of Animal Sciences, which is the university section of the Animal Sciences Group, contributes to the Biology, Animal Sciences, Aquaculture and Fisheries study programmes and also to the Organic Agriculture, Nutrition and Health, Bioprocess Technology and Molecular Sciences.

25/05/2007


AU/IBAR - African Union/Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources

The mandate of AU/IBAR is to enhance AU member states and their regional economic communities to sustainably improve the contribution of animal resources to the nutrition and incomes of their communities, especially the rural poor. This mandate has been organized into three core strategic programme thrusts (animal health, animal production and trade and markets) that are supported by cross-cutting pillars covering livestock information, communication and knowledge management, quality assurance of livestock and products of animal origin and the harmonization of livestock related policies and legal framework. AU/IBAR has given top priority to the control of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) as well as major transboundary animal diseases such as rinderpest, African swine fever, contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP), foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), peste des petits ruminants (PPR), Newcastle disease, and the African horse sickness.

25/05/2007


A-AARNET - ASARECA Animal Agriculture Research Network

The Animal Agriculture Research Network of the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in East & Central Africa (ASARECA) was established in May 1997 by the ASARECA Committee of Directors as its tool to address the regional collaborative research agenda for livestock development in East and Central Africa. The mission of A-AARNET is to facilitate and strengthen collaborative research to increase the availability and utilization of technologies, knowledge and information that will sustainably improve the productivity, competitiveness and revenue from animal agriculture, particularly for poor livestock keepers of East and Central Africa. A-AARNET’s top priorities are: (1) Improving animal health through disease control and prevention strategies; (2) Improving utilization of feed and water resources; (3) Enhancing utilization of animal genetic resources; (4) Strengthening farmers' organizational capacity and bargaining power in the input/output markets; (5) Innovative marketing strategies and technologies for value adding; (6) Improving adoption of appropriate innovations that enhance market opportunities; (7) Developing strategies to enhance access to market information; (8) Assessment of demand for market based innovations; (9) Identification and agreement on appropriate standards and regulations in the ECA region that affect market access; and, (10) Identification and characterization of niche markets.

25/05/2007


FAO Fisheries Department

The Fisheries Department focuses its activities, through programmes in Fishery Resources, Fishery Policy, Fishery Industries and Fishery Information on three medium-term strategic objectives: Promotion of Responsible Fisheries Sector Management at the Global, Regional and National Levels; Promotion of Increased Contribution of Responsible Fisheries and Aquaculture to World Food Supplies and Food Security; and Global Monitoring and Strategic Analysis of Fisheries.

25/05/2007


SSA Feeds: Sub-Saharan Africa Feed Information System

'SSA Feeds', launched in October 2006 by the CGIAR Systemwide Livestock Programme, is a web-based software and associated database that provides information on the nutritive value of feedstuffs used in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It is intended for extension, development and research agents to design scientifically-based feeding systems for meat, dairy and draught animals. This unique resource is the culmination of 26 years of extensive research and data collection. It makes available twelve years of initial data collection that started in 1981, and is now being updated with thousands of additional entries encompassing 14 years of subsequent research. This makes SSA Feeds the Web’s most comprehensive and authoritative resource on the nutritional values of livestock feeds in African agriculture.

25/05/2007


ITC - International Trypanotolerance Center

The International Trypanotolerance Center is a partner to the key players in Animal Production and Health Research and Development in the West African Region. To co-operate effectively and to establish a wide network, Memoranda of Understanding have been signed with institutions and agencies within and outside of the West African sub-region. ITC’s research agenda includes: (1) Disease Risk Assessment; (2) Disease Control Strategies; (3) Levels of Production & Nutrition vs Disease Resilience; (4) Crop - Agroforestry - Livestock – Integration; (5) Genetic Improvement (Pure Breeding); (6) Crossbreeding; (7) Feeding Strategies; (8) Novel Techniques in Health, Reproduction & Genetics; (9) Veterinary Public Health; (10) Socio-Economics & Policies; and (11) Training & Information.

25/05/2007


PAAT - Programme Against African Trypanosomiasis

The Programme Against African Trypanosomiasis (PAAT) was created in order to harmonize and coordinate the activities of the four mandated international organizations (AU, FAO, IAEA, WHO) in relation to tsetse, trypanosomiasis and sustainable agriculture and enhance international assistance to tsetse affected countries. PAAT has established an information system (PAAT-IS), a unique source of information, data and relevant links. PAAT-IS promotes and facilitates the dialogue among PAAT stakeholders, scientific and technical staff, policy-makers and planners worldwide, with particular focus on Africa. PAAT-IS is made up of several components: the PAAT website, a Geographical Information System (GIS), the Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis Information (TTI) Bulletin, the Technical and Scientific Series, PAAT–Link (an electronic mailing list), and the Knowledge Base and Resource Inventory (data and documents).

25/05/2007


Fodder Innovation Project

The overall focus of the project is on improving the livelihoods of the rural poor through increasing their options to feed livestock. Initial project activities showed that the issue of addressing fodder scarcity was much more complex than simply providing technologies such as improved germplasm. Accordingly the project changed its learning approach from technology to a partnership mode for alliance building and finally towards a facilitated multiple-actor and institutional perspective. Current project activities experiment with ways of building capacity required to innovate in order to address issues of fodder scarcity in equitable and sustainable ways. Project locations are in Nigeria and India.

30/06/2009


CaribVET - Caribbean Animal Health Network

The Caribbean Animal Health Network (CaribVET) is a joint network of institutions and professionals aiming to improve animal health and the quality and safety of animal products throughout the Caribbean. Its members include veterinary services, veterinary laboratories, government agencies, research institutes, farmers’ associations, NGOs and universities mainly from the Caribbean but also from North, Central or South American countries.The latest report produced by CaribVET covers the 6th meeting of the Epidemiology Working Group of CaribVET. The meeting took place in Cuba in June 2010 and focused on territorial-based methodology for the risk assessment of animal transboundary diseases.

17/02/2011


Grazing of cattle pastures can improve soil quality

Researchers with the USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) found that if cattle are managed so that they graze moderately, soil quality can be restored and emissions of carbon dioxide can be reduced. The researchers varied the number of cattle per acre and assessed how the soils responded to different grazing scenarios. Under each scenario, they looked at the amount of soil compaction that occurred, the amounts of organic carbon and nitrogen in the soil, and the amounts of surface plant residues, which help prevent erosion. They also looked at how the soil responded to three different fertilizer treatments (inorganic, mixed inorganic and organic broiler litter). From an environmental standpoint, grasslands have traditionally been viewed as best managed by leaving the land unused. But the team found that while fertilizer type made little difference, different grazing scenarios produced different effects, and the grazed land produced more grass than the ungrazed land and had the greatest amount of carbon and nitrogen sequestered in soil. Sequestering carbon and nitrogen in soil has become a major goal for agriculture, since sequestration reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Further research findings will be published in the March 2011 issue of Agricultural Research magazine. (Source: USDA ARS, March 2011)

22/03/2011


Agreement on a common African position on animal health standards

African delegates to the OIE (World Organisation for Animal Health) agreed on a common position on animal health standards. The Interafrican Bureau for Animal resources of the African Union (AU-IBAR), under the scope of the project Participation of African Nations in Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standard Setting Organizations (PAN-SPSO), convened the third meeting for OIE delegates, Directors of Veterinary Services (DVS) and Chief Veterinary Officers (CVOs) from 2nd to 4th May 2011 in Nairobi, Kenya. The Pan-African meeting examined the proposed changes of the OIE Terrestrial and Aquatic Codes submitted for adoption at the 79th General Session of the World Assembly of OIE Delegates scheduled for Paris, France from 22nd to 27th May 2011. The African OIE Delegates and the representatives of RECs agreed on common positions that the 52 African member countries of OIE will present in Paris.

7/06/2011


Kenyan farmers use fodder shrubs to increase milk production

Fodder shrubs are a kind of animal feeds, rich in protein with high contents of butter that increase milk quality and quantity. Farmers around the country are being encouraged to plant the shrubs to save on the costs of buying animal feeds to increase milk production, among other benefits. Once mature, fodder shrubs can be harvested throughout the year, providing fodder even during dry seasons. These can be planted along the farm boundaries to leave more space for the crops, along soil conservation terrace to stabilize the soil on the terraces or even around homesteads to act as a fence. The shrubs can be harvested after every 8 to 12 weeks in a year. Once harvested, each cow is fed on 6kgs fresh fodder per day for maximum production of at least 24 litres a day compared to animals fed on dairy meal which produce 15 litres a day. Fodder shrubs of both local and exotic species like calliandra, trichandra, mulberry and tree lucern are known to increase milk yields significantly.(News from Africa via New Agriculturalist, May 2011)

21/09/2011


Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) Platform

Food industries are the biggest purchasers of agricultural raw materials. In order to rely on a constant, increasing and safe supply of agricultural raw materials, these must be grown in a sustainable manner. In 2002 Nestlé, Unilever and Danone created the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) Platform, a non-profit organization to facilitate sharing, at precompetitive level, of knowledge and initiatives to support the development and implementation of sustainable agriculture practices involving the different stakeholders of the food chain. The SAI Platform today counts over 30 members, which actively share the same view on sustainable agriculture seen as a 'productive, competitive and efficient way to produce agricultural products, while at the same time protecting and improving the natural environment and social/economic conditions of local communities'. Among the latest services and deliverables produced, the SAI Platform published Principles and practices for the sustainable production of arable and vegetable crops, Principles and Practices for the sustainable production of Coffee, Fruit and Dairy; a Benchmark Study of Agriculture Standards and a Short Guide to Sustainable Agriculture.

16/08/2012


Feedipedia: an online encyclopaedia of animal feeds

Feedipedia replaces the FAO's AFRIS website and supplements the work done by the Association Française de Zootechnie (AFZ) and INRA on composition and nutritive value tables for raw materials intended for livestock. This online database is intended for anyone researching animal feeds. It provides: (i) quality information, with references (description, distribution, constraints on use, environmental impact, etc.) as well as; (ii) quantitative information (composition and nutritive value tables) on feeds. 201 sheets describing the different products obtained from a given plant or raw material and providing up-to-date information on more than 600 feeds and fodder types, are available. The information has been compiled by more than 25 researchers and engineers from the AFZ, CIRAD and INRA, based on bibliographical references from the scientific and technical literature. Visit Feedipedia’s website.(via CIRAD, 21/11/2012)

11/02/2013