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INTERNATIONAL LIVESTOCK
RESEARCH INSTITUTE (ILRI)
ILRI belongs to the Consultative Group on International Agricultural
Research (CGIAR). This association of more than 50 governments
and public- and private-sector institutions supports a network of 15
Future Harvest agricultural research centers working to reduce poverty,
hunger and environmental degradation in developing countries. The
co-sponsors of the CGIAR are the World Bank, the United Nations Development
Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations, and the International Fund for Agricultural Research.
The aim of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)
is to give poor people in developing countries strategic options they
can use to transform their subsistence livelihoods into sustainable
and market-oriented livestock enterprises. ILRI’s strategy to 2010 is
to exploit the best of advanced science to alleviate severe problems in
tropical animal agriculture. The strategy addresses new opportunities
and threats presented by a demand for livestock foods in developing
countries that will double by 2020. ILRI maintains a holistic systems
perspective and works with a wealth of partners throughout the
developing and developed worlds
Who? ILRI
employs more than 100 internationally recruited scientists and specialists
from some 35 countries and representing some 30 disciplines, as well as
over 700 support staff from Ethiopia, Kenya and other developing
countries. A Board of Trustees comprising 10 leading livestock-related
research specialists from countries of the North and South provides
guidance.
What? ILRI and
its investor, farmer and scientific partners are together producing
research-based livestock technologies and knowledge that help farmers
increase their crop and livestock productivity while conserving their
natural resources. These research products also help governments
direct the benefits of improved livestock production and marketing
to poor and marginalized people. Livestock research products enhance
the livelihoods, assets, health and environments of the poor
Why? Most of the world’s livestock are raised in developing countries, where a
skyrocketing demand for milk and meat is driving a livestock revolution
that offers several hundred million people opportunities to leave a
subsistence existence by entering the global market economy. Without
research on the needs of small-scale farmers, large-scale enterprises
may capture most of this new market. This makes livestock research for
development essential for a more equitable and sustainable future.
Where? ILRI works in all tropical developing regions. These are, in order of ILRI’s
emphases (as determined by estimated impacts of improved livestock
production on world poverty): sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, Southeast
Asia, North Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and West and
Central Asia. Conditions in these regions are generally harsh for
animals and people alike. Livestock yields are just one-quarter those in
developed regions due to a dearth of livestock feeds, a devastating
disease burden, rapidly eroding livestock and forage biodiversity,
poor access to markets, unresponsive policy environments and degradation
of natural resources.
How? ILRI helps develop research products that reduce these severe problems. The
institute works with several hundred partners to tap the immense
development potential of the on-going livestock and scientific
revolutions to make these work for the poor.
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