Browsing by Author "International Livestock Research Institute"

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  • Impact methods to predict and assess contributions of technology (IMPACT): Final report
    Texas A&M University (College Station, Tex.: Texas Agricultural Experiment Station. Impact Assessment Group, 2000)
    This report covers research done for the USAID Office of Agriculture and Food Security of the Center for Economic Growth and Agriculture (Global Bureau). The overall objective was to develop and evaluate methods to assess the impact of the introduction and use of technology resulting from USAID investments in agriculture and natural resources for developing countries. A suite of integrated, interactive models was created for use in developing countries to assess the economic, environmental, and societal impact of such technologies. The research, conducted in East and West Africa, involved acquiring relevant databases and expert opinions through collaboration with national and regional partners; establishing a spatial framework using GIS methods to organize and analyze spatially explicit information; developing biophysical models to estimate production and environmental consequences of new technology; and adapting and using economic sector and farm-level models to estimate their economic consequences. Environmental consequences were estimated at field, area, and watershed levels. Methods were developed and evaluated to estimate the adaptation of new technology to geographically similar zones in areas that were both contiguous and noncontiguous to the locations where the technology was developed. The approach involved using research sponsored by USAID as case studies for developing and evaluating methodology. This provided both new methodologies and illustrative examples of the utility of the products. The project has proven the concept for the approach and, while the resulting products are judged to be imperfect, they are usable for the stated purposes. Further development is being continued under the Global Project of the SANREM CRSP.
  • Indigenous genetic resources: A sustainable and environmentally friendly option for livestock production in areas at risk from trypanosomes
    d'Ieteren, G.; Kimani, K.; International Livestock Research Institute (2002)
    Trypanosomiasis is one of the major constraints on animal production in areas of Africa that have the greatest potential for significant increases in domestic livestock populations and livestock productivity. While various methods are being used by farmers to control the disease, major public efforts have been directed towards control of tsetse flies and on the use of trypanocidal drugs. Continent-wide fly eradication has recently been advocated as the ultimate solution needing public effort. Due to their nature, there are difficulties in sustaining the current methods of tsetse control. However, the efficacy of currently available trypanocidal drugs is also decreasing, due to drug resistance developing faster than generally thought. There is little hope that a conventional anti-parasite vaccine will be produced in the near future. Although less attention has been focused on the use of naturally disease tolerant livestock to cope with the disease, farmers in 19 out of 40 countries in the most humid parts of West and Central African countries affected by the disease are using these livestock as a major, if not only, option to cope with the problem in an economically sustainable and environmentally friendly way. There is increasing recognition that Africa possesses animal genetic resources probably unparalleled in any other continent. The natural innate resistance possessed by breeds of cattle such as the N'Dama and the West African shorthorn to trypanosomiasis and to several other important infectious diseases should be an increasingly important component of national and regional disease control programmes. Researchers are providing support for this environmentally healthy solution which has been demonstrated to be economically viable at both public and private levels. --Article Summary