The Genome Analysis Centre (TGAC), with partners in the UK, Colombia and Kenya bring together their leading expertise in forage breeding for animal nutrition, cutting-edge genomics and phenomics technologies to accelerate the improvement of Brachiaria, a vital livestock feed crop in central Africa and Latin America. Continue reading
Recently, ILRI director general Jimmy Smith signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement between the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish. Continue reading
Small-scale livestock farming in the tropics can become more intensive yet sustainable if more and better forage is used to feed the animals being reared. Continue reading
Last month, experts in feeds and forages discussed ways forward for the Feeds and Forages flagship of the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish, which held a virtual review and planning meeting 23–26 March 2015. Continue reading
To promote improved feeds for livestock in Uganda, a four-day training on the Feed Assessment Tool (FEAST) was held in Wakiso District in Uganda from 15-18 December, 2014 for non-technical feed experts and private and local government extension workers. Continue reading
Of the many virtues of grain legumes, one is little recognized. Visitors to the livestock fodder markets of West Africa are always surprised to see groundnut and cowpea haulms (stalks and stems of legume plants) sold at prices that exceed that of cereal grains and not infrequently even that of groundnut and cowpea seeds, particularly during periods when sheep keepers are fattening their animal for slaughter at festivities such as Tabaski. 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
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
The German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has just approved a small grant to the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) for a project entitled the ‘potential farm to landscape impact and adoption of forage technologies in smallholder dairy production systems in Tanzania.’ Continue reading
On August 5 and 6, 2014, the Livestock and Fish team conducted a Livestock and Fish Strategy and Implementation Planning Workshop for the Dual-Purpose Cattle Value Chain (DPVC) in Managua, Nicaragua. The purpose of this workshop was to generate an exchange with local partners to track ongoing efforts in the value chain development work in … Continue reading
CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish 