Livestock research for Africa’s food security and poverty reduction

Jimmy Smith, Shirley Tarawali, Iain Wright, Suzanne Bertrand, Polly Ericksen, Delia Grace and Ethel Makila

The 6th Africa Agriculture Science Week, Accra, Ghana, 15-20 July 2013

ILRI’s strategy

Livestock research for food security

and poverty reduction

Strategy in context

• ILRI in the CGIAR

• Livestock in Africa

• Strategic issues

• Elements of strategy

• Topics for discussion

ILRI – a member of the CGIAR Consortium

CGIAR consortium

ILRI strategy

Global livestock issues

Why bother with the livestock sector in Africa?

3 out of 6 of the highest valueAfrican commodities are livestock

Source: FAOSTAT, 2013

FAO, 2012

Annual % growth in consumption of livestock products between 1995 and 2005

Strategic issuesPhoto ILRI/Collins

Strategic issues

Improve food security

Deliver at scale

Empower women

Employ diverse

approaches

Address health and

environmental problems

Use new science

Increase investments

Developcapacity

Ensure fit for purpose

Growth scenarios for livestock systems

• ‘Strong growth’– Where good market access and

increasing productivity provide opportunities for continued smallholder participation.

• ‘Fragile growth’– Where remoteness, marginal land

resources or agroclimatic vulnerability restrict intensification.

• ‘High growth with externalities’– Fast changing livestock systems

potentially damaging the environment and human health

• Different research and development challenges for poverty, food security, health and nutrition, environment

Mission (Purpose)

WHY ILRI exists

WHAT ILRI does

HOW the strategy is operationalized

Strategic objectives (informed by strategic issues

– external and internal environment))

Critical success factors performance areas

overlapping do NOT map to structure

Key elements

Mission and vision

ILRI envisions a world where all people have access to enough food and livelihood options to

fulfill their potential.

ILRI’s mission is to improve food and nutritional security and to reduce poverty in developing

countries through research for efficient, safe and sustainable use of livestock—ensuring better

lives through livestock.

What’s new?

• Long term strategy• Outcomes and impacts

(accountable; attribution; alignment)

• Diversity: trajectories; species; ILRI strengths; partners

• Livestock ‘goods’ and ‘bads’• Mainstreaming gender; human

health • Clientele: Beyond livestock

producers; partners; capacity development

ILRI acts in three (mutually reinforcing) areas

• To prove that better use of livestock can make a big difference in enough people’s lives through improved practice.

• To influence decision-makers so that they will increase investment in livestock systems.

• To ensure there is sufficient capacity in developing countries and among investors to use increased investment effectively and efficiently.

Strategic objective 1

ILRI and its partners will develop, test, adapt and promote science-based practices that—being sustainable and scalable—achieve better lives through livestock.

Strategic objective 2

ILRI and its partners will provide compelling scientific evidence in ways that persuade decision-makers—from farms to boardrooms and parliaments—that smarter policies and bigger livestock investments can deliver significant socio-economic, health and environmental dividends to both poor nations and households.

Strategic objective 3

ILRI and its partners will work to increase capacity amongst ILRI’s key stakeholders and the institute itself so that they can make better use of livestock science and investments for better lives through livestock.

The critical success factors

• The biomass crisis in intensifying smallholder systems

• Vulnerability and risk in drylands

• Food safety and aflatoxins

• Vaccine biosciences

• Mobilizing biosciences for a food-secure Africa

The biomass crisis in intensifying smallholder systems

The biomass crisis in intensifying smallholder systems

Why does it matter?• Increasing livestock populations are putting pressure on

demand for feed and increasing the competition for biomass

• Feed is at the interface of positive and negative effects of livestock

• Supports intensification , income and employment• Major input cost – feed:product price ratio increasing• Biomass production is major user of natural resources (land,

water)• Increased intensification increases feed efficiency and reduces

GHG emissions, water use, biomass use

The biomass crisis in intensifying smallholder systemsWhat are we doing about it?Supporting sustainable intensification to produce more product from less biomass. Using a value chain approach to: 1) make better use of existing feed resources, 2) produce more and better feeds; 3) encourage and facilitate feed trading, processing and small scale business enterprises around feed

• Tools for assessing feed resources and for prioritizing feed interventions

• Select, breed and disseminate improved food-feed crops and forages and identify new feed ingredients

• Identify feed surplus: deficit areas, facilitate fodder markets and design context specific feed processing approaches

• Consider environmental impacts, including competition for biomass (e.g. soil OM) in smallholder systems and GHG and water implications of intensification.

The biomass crisis in intensifying smallholder systems

What is the next frontier?• What will the trajectory of demand be in Africa and what are the

implications for biomass use?• Transitions vs sustainability • Technical vs. institutional solutions e.g.

• Cellulolytic biomass upgrading?• More efficient livestock value chains?

• Questions for discussion• What are the options for sustainable intensification through livestock

feeding?• How can we best deal with the competition for biomass between livestock

feeding and soil fertility?

Vulnerability and risk in the drylands

Vulnerability and risk in drylands

Why does it matter?• Lots of livestock produced in the

drylands• E.g. 80% if red meat consumed in

Kenya• Risk inherent to dryland livestock

production and risks are increasing• Renewed commitment from

governments and donors to build resilience

• Complex systems require innovative solutions from research and development

Vulnerability and risk in drylands

What are we doing about it?• Hosting a Technical Consortium to support investment

plans for resilience• Active partner in the Drylands CRP• Piloting Index – Based Livestock Insurance

• Northern Kenya, Ethiopia• Promoting equitable commercialization• Fostering better land management

Vulnerability and risk in drylands

What is the next frontier?• How can commercial pastoral livestock production

lead to growth in risk-prone drylands?• Is there a long term role for livestock insurance in

pastoral production systems?

Food safety and aflatoxins

Food safety and aflatoxins

Why does it matter?• FBD is the most common

disease in the world• FBD is the most serious

agriculture associated disease

• FBD is not just about illness: also livestock sector, trade and environmental impacts

Food safety and aflatoxins

What are we doing about it?• Targeting interventions to 9

high value, high nutrition, high risk livestock & fish chains

• Working with crop-centers to strengthen public health aspects of aflatoxins

Food safety and aflatoxins

The big questions?• How to assure food safety

in informal markets where most of the poor buy & sell?

• How to wed food safety and nutrition?

• Do aflatoxins stunt children as well as killing and causing liver cancer?

Vaccine biosciences

ILRI will initially focus on five prioritized diseases African swine fever (ASF) – swine

African disease threatens the global $150 billion/year pig industry

Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP) – cattleRegional losses to CBPP amount to ~ $60 million/year

East Coast fever (ECF) – cattleRegional losses exceed $300 million/year; kills ~ 1million cattle/year

Peste de petits ruminants (PPR) – small ruminantsLosses in Kenya alone amount to ~ $13 million/year

Rift Valley Fever (RVF) – small ruminants, cattle and human2006/7 outbreak in Kenya cost ~ $30 million309 human cases in Kenya, Somalia and Tanzania; 140 deaths

Vaccines save livestock and contribute to food security and poverty alleviation

Importance of animal health control in Africa

Vaccine Biosciences: new science platforms, new opportunities

Optimizing existing vaccines Thermostabilization of attenuated viral vaccines Establishing quality control and process improvement

Reverse vaccinology and immunology

Identification of vaccine antigens Assessing protein and gene-based vaccine formulations

Pathogen & livestock genomics

Host and pathogen gene expression profiles Pathogen population structure

Synthetic genomics Manipulating bacterial genomes Attenuating viruses by genome engineering

Vaccinology capacity in Africa?

How do we stimulate and sustain an African vaccine R & D pathway to achieve impact?

How can we grow a biotech and vaccine manufacturing sector in Africa?

Mobilizing biosciences for a food-secure Africa

Building biosciences capacity in Africa

Why?• Small holder agriculture is crucial for Africa• For the last 25 years the productivity of

small farmers has declined• Availability and widespread use of quality

farm inputs & technologies developed through biotechnology can improve productivity

Building biosciences capacity in Africa

What?

Capacity buildingCollaborative research

Food safety & security

Income generation

Increased trade

Climate change Environmental

sustainability

Technologies and services

Building biosciences capacity in Africa

• How can we build bio-sciences capacity in Africa to move from research results to development impacts?

• How can we keep the BecA-ILRI Hub relevant to the research needs and context of African scientists?

The presentation has a Creative Commons licence. You are free to re-use or distribute this work, provided credit is given to ILRI.

better lives through livestock

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