Under Sustainable intensification in smallholder crop/livestock systems, we work to improve system efficiency through better feed quality, health and animal performance – in a context of increasing competition for land and other resources (eg biofuels)
Livestock provides an important complement to cereal farming-based livelihoods in South Asia and can increase incomes for millions of crop-livestock farmers. Continue reading
The authors examine by means of a meta-analysis the argument that small-scale, mixed crop-livestock farming, a common livelihood among poor rural peoples, leads to environmentally sustainable agricultural practices. Continue reading
This week, the International Conference on Pulses for Health, Nutrition and Sustainable Agriculture in Drylands takes place in Morocco. ILRI and ICARDA scientists from the Livestock and Fish program are sharing experiences on the opportunities and limitations of multidimensional crop improvement in grain legumes to support increased productivity in mixed crop-livestock systems. Continue reading
Silvopastoral systems provide a broad range of environmental and productive benefits. The presence of trees in farm plots stabilizes hillsides, minimizes erosion, improves the soil’s water retention and nutrient balance, and provides feed and shade for cattle. These practices generate higher milk and meat yields while contributing to the resilience of production systems in the face of climate variability, which is manifesting in increasingly extreme ways in Central America. Continue reading
This research brief provides some insights into the pork and maize value chains in northwest Vietnam, highlighting the collaboration taking place between business partners in response to the lack of public support services for pig and maize production, processing and marketing. Continue reading
This paper synthesises ILRI’s experience with the Crop and Goat Project (CGP) in Tanzania from a gender perspective. Continue reading
The CIAT-led project ‘Sustainable Intensification of Crop-livestock Systems through Improved Forages’, funded by the USAID Linkage program with the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish aims to assess environmental impacts of tropical forage technologies. Continue reading
Increasing the productivity of small-scale production systems to make animal-source foods more readily available to poor consumers is a complex issue which requires a multi-faceted approach. With this concept in mind, scientists are working alongside territorial alliances to generate knowledge and initiatives to improve resource management through research. An example of this initiative, called the Learning Alliance. Continue reading
Writing in the November 2014 issue of Rural 21, Livestock and Fish researchers from CIAT argue that tropical forage grasses and legumes as key components of sustainable crop-livestock systems in Latin America and the Caribbean have major implications for improving food security, alleviating poverty, restoring degraded lands and mitigating climate change. Continue reading
‘Sustainable intensification of crop-livestock systems through improved forages’ is this year’s CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish and US university linkages winning proposal. ‘The core of the cooperation with Washington State University is to calibrate CropSyst for selected forages, support ongoing work on adding inter-cropping to the functionalities of CropSyst and apply it in case studies in Southern Africa. Continue reading
CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish 