Livestock health priorities in the Tanzania livestock master plan

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundatio

Animal health strategy and vision for Tanzania

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundatio

Red meat production in the Tanzanian livestock master plan

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundatio

Animal breeding and genetics in the Tanzania livestock master plan

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundatio

Perspectives on development in Arid and Semi-Arid areas: Results of a ranking exercise

Decentralization and community participation are major themes in current development policy. This study investigates perspectives on development held by individuals in arid and semi-arid areas of northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia that are predominantly used for pastoral production. Using a ranking exercise, individuals were asked to identify the most helpful types of development interventions in their opinion in the past, and also indicate their priorities for future development interventions. Results suggest there is relative consensus around a few key development interventions. Interestingly, the highest ranked interventions for both the past and the future are not explicitly related to pastoral production. Across country differences are not very large, though across site differences are pronounced. In a similar fashion, individual characteristics seem to matter less than household level characteristics within sites

Avenues for Enhancing Traditional Livelihoods from Grasslands: Income Diversification Among Pastoral Women’s Groups in Southern Ethiopia

The rangelands of Africa remain home to millions of people who try to make a living by raising livestock on natural forage. Recent increase in human and livestock populations, however, along with a lack of economic development, has relegated many people to poverty and vulnerability. The semi-arid Borana Plateau of southern Ethiopia is a case in point. About 250,000 people herd one million head of livestock there. Thousands of animals die in periodic droughts and people are food insecure. It has been proposed that one way to better manage risk in this system is through economic diversification to reduce vulnerability (Desta & Coppock, 2002). The need to better address problems requires that local human capacity be built and solutions carefully targeted. To this end some members of the USAID-funded Pastoral Risk Management (PARIMA) project have adopted participatory research methods where scientists, communities, and development agents share power in a process of problem solving

The effects of Moringa stenopetala on blood parameters and histopathology of liver and kidney in mice

Background: Moringa stenopetala and related species are commonly used in folk medicine for various human diseases such as antimalarial, antihypertensive, antidiabetic and as antispasmodic. Objective: The aim of the study is to evaluate the effects of aqueous extract of M. stenopetala on blood parameters, and histopathology of liver and kidney in experimental mice. Methods: Fresh leaves of M. stenopetala were collected from Arbaminch area, Southwest Ethiopia, in November 2005. The leaves were dried and extracted with water. Three month-old Swiss albino male mice, which were kept under uniform laboratory conditions, were randomly divided into four groups (one group of controls and three experimental). (The control group was orally given 0.5 ml of distilled water, and groups II, III and IV were given the aqueous leaf extract of M. stenopetala using intragastric tube to achieve the required doses of 600, 750 and 900 mg/kg body weight, respectively once a day at 24 hours intervals for six weeks and then sacrificed). Blood sample was collected from each mouse and examined for hematological and biochemical parameters. Liver and kidney were removed, stained and examined for histopathological profiles. The effects of treatment with aqueous extract of M. stenopetala on hematological, biochemical and histopathology features were compared with control group following standard procedures. Results: Mice treated with 900 mg/kg of the extract per kg of body weight showed a significant increase in body weight compared to the controls (P=0.014). Neither a significant change in the weight nor in histopathology of liver and kidney were observed in the animals treated with aqueous extract of M. stenopetala compared to those of the controls. Serum glucose level (P=0.034) and serum cholesterol level (P=0.016) decreased significantly after six weeks treatment. Conclusion: The aqueous leaf extract of M. stenopetala is shown to increase body weight and reduce serum glucose and cholesterol level in mice. This indicates nutritional and medicinal values, but we cannot yet recommend its therapeutic use before more and complete studies are done