Global agenda for livestock research: Proceedings of a conference on development of livestock research priorities in Asia

This proceedings presents the results and conclusions of ILRI's role in livestock research and development in Asia. It provides a detailed testimony of the success of the consultation, and especially about ILRI's commitment to form integrated programmes for livestock and agricultural research with national partners and others. Topics of discussion include ILRI's mission, vision, programme and collaboration; animal genetic resources in Asia, ILRI's Animal Health Improvement Programme, Sustainable Production Systems Programme; ruminant feed resources research, and partnerships with NARS for technology transfer

Evaluating the impact of the graduate fellowship programme of the International Livestock Research Institute. A tools and process report

Post graduate research projects are an effective method for building new research capacity in sub-Saharan Africa. The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) offers a graduate fellowship programme for scientists from developing and developed countries. This is done in partnership with universities in African and Asian countries, Europe, Australia and North America. To date such programmes have not been adequately assessed to find the impact on national research capacity, the graduate fellows and the partner institutions. To assess the value of this training, ILRI conducted an impact study of its graduate fellows in Kenya and Ethiopia between 1978 and 1997. This report presents the tools and methods used in this study. Others may use these freely, but appropriate acknowledgement of the source will be appreciated. Future users may modify these instruments for their own impact studies; and indeed are encouraged to do so. We recognise that many improvements could be made and request feedback from others on how they have accomplished this. This report also presents part of the results to enable those interested in future impact studies in Ethiopia or Kenya to use the data as a benchmark

Genome-Wide Association Study in BRCA1 Mutation Carriers Identifies Novel Loci Associated with Breast and Ovarian Cancer Risk

BRCA1-associated breast and ovarian cancer risks can be modified by common genetic variants. To identify further cancer risk-modifying loci, we performed a multi-stage GWAS of 11,705 BRCA1 carriers (of whom 5,920 were diagnosed with breast and 1,839 were diagnosed with ovarian cancer), with a further replication in an additional sample of 2,646 BRCA1 carriers. We identified a novel breast cancer risk modifier locus at 1q32 for BRCA1 carriers (rs2290854, P = 2.7×10-8, HR = 1.14, 95% CI: 1.09-1.20). In addition, we identified two novel ovarian cancer risk modifier loci: 17q21.31 (rs17631303, P = 1.4×10-8, HR = 1.27, 95% CI: 1.17-1.38) and 4q32.3 (rs4691139, P = 3.4×10-8, HR = 1.20, 95% CI: 1.17-1.38). The 4q32.3 locus was not associated with ovarian cancer risk in the general population or BRCA2 carriers, suggesting a BRCA1-specific associat

Programmes of the International Livestock Research Institute and their impact on human health

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) has been established to improve animal agriculture in developing countries through research and research-related programmes. The successful implementation of the Institute's programme will improve the welfare of rural and urban communities in developing countries. However, there are projects within the ILRI research programme that have an immediate impact on human health. ILRI's research on Theileria parva, the causative agent of East Coast fever, has shed new light on the processes involved in cell transformation. T. parva induces lymphoblastogenesis in its host. The role of the enzyme casein kinase II in this proliferative process has led to new discoveries about how human tumours may develop. New research by ILRI on peri-urban dairying will investigate if and how the adoption of crossbred cows can increase farm income and result in improved household health and nutrition. The research, in Ethiopia, is exploring the link between increased milk production and the consumption of macro- and micronutrients necessary for growth and proper physical and mental Development. ILRI's work to model the transmission and host-parasite interactions of trypanosomiasis and East Coast fever contributes to understanding the epidemiology of these diseases. The work has wider relevance for other infectious diseases, including those of man. Finally the paper describes ILRI's work showing that human nutritional status may be used as reliable non-economic indicators of the effects of improving control over animal diseases. The paper concludes by highlighting the possible interactions between research to improve animal health and production, and that to improve human health and nutrition

Animal agriculture in Africa - socio-economic issues

The paper briefly describes the 2.6 times increase in the human population of sub-Saharan Africa expecte by 2025. Livestock already contribute about 35 percent of agricultural domestic product. The population increase, and attendant annual 7 percent rate of urbanisation will drive animal agriculture to intensify and become more commercially based. The paper goes on to describe socio-economic issues that must be taken into account as animal agriculture develops and intensifies. These are the multiple roles of livestock, livestock and land use, the impact on households of the control livestock diseases, and women farmers-work, cash and extension advise. Local communities have traditionally led the Development of their agricultural systems to meet human and environmental needs. Now many traditional mechanisms are breaking down. New technologies that address these breakdowns and meet the requirements of intensified production must not ignore underlying socio-economic issues. Women are central to agriculture, and to animal agriculture. They already provide 46 percent of labour and produce 70 percent of Africa's food. However, many new technologies increase the work load of women. Furthermore, women often fail to directly receive extension advice, do not control resources or decision making, nor control the extra income generated. Research and extension systems must take account of these problems. Finally the paper argues that all levels of the educational process in sub-Saharan Africa must get agriculture and practical aspects of agriculture into the curricula. This is essential to ensure effective research, to achieve the best delivery of extension advice, and to create a new generation of farmers able to participate in the intensification and commercialisation of agriculture over the next 25 years

Partnerships with NARS for technology transfer

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) works through partnerships which are critical for two reasons: for collaborative research on key components and constraints and for the development, testing and transfer of technologies, based on farmer's needs. The ILRI programme designed to strengthen partnerships with NARS has a set of integrated activities, viz, training and training materials development, information products and services and networking. This paper briefly presents ILRI's activities in each of these three areas, and outlines some ways through which NARS and ILRI might together begin to strengthen opportunities for future collaboration in Asia

Strengthening partnerships with national agricultural systems for more effective livestock research

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) uses partnerships and collaborative arrangements to ensure that its limited human and financial resources for improving the productivity of animal agriculture are used to best effect. The most important partners for ILRI are national scientists in developing countries, but the capacity for livestock research in many such countries remains weak. ILRI has a programme Strengthening Partnerships with NARS (SPAN), designed to strengthen national and regional capacities for livestock research. This paper describes the activities and some of the achievements of collaborative research networks, training and information services and products that together make up SPAN; and which help to strengthen partnerships between national researchers in different countries, and between ILRI and national scientists. Examples are given to demonstrate the importance of ILRI's partnerships for effective livestock research

Capacity building for sustainable use of animal genetic resources

Africa has a challenge to meet the rising food demands that will come about due to increased population size and urbanization. Such challenges can be tackled in many ways that include improving livestock production and this entails making improvements in feeding and disease control, using appropriate genotypes and genetic improvement of livestock. Research and training are some of the major requirements to realization of improvements in livestock production. Sub-Saharan Africa has a number of colleges and universities and research stations that do postgraduate training and do research in animal breeding and genetics. It is important that training and research at these institutions is relevant to Africa s needs so as to produce scientists that will become trainers or take up leadership in research and Development in animal breeding including sustainable use of animal genetic resources. The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) have initiated a capacity building project. This project aims to address training of researchers in animal genetic resources by introducing a new model of capacity building which targets qualified lecturers and researchers working in sub-Saharan African universities and research stations with a specific focus on making graduate training in sub-Saharan Africa more relevant to the region. The paper describes the project in terms of identified needs and expectations of stakeholders, the capacity building model developed to address these needs and the activities that are to be undertaken to meet the project outcomes. The project activities include a training of trainers course, building partnerships and developing computer-based training resources for use by university lecturers and national scientists. The proposed project evaluation procedures are also presented

The systemwide livestock programme: A promising research-for development concept

Expansion of global population each year at the rate of approximately 90 million more than the current population of The Philippines will also necessitate unprecedented expansion of food production. As there is little room to bring more land under cultivation, almost all of the increase must come from productivity gains. The challenge being faced is much more complex than ever before, as never before have agricultural systems had to respond simultaneously to the triple goals of increasing food security, reducing rural and global poverty, and improving the management of natural resources. As with earlier challenges science is being looked upon to provide the solutions. New kinds of scientific partnerships will be required to respond to this triple challenge. Such partnerships must facilitate strong alliances among the international agricultural research centres of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), advanced research institutions in both developed and developing countries, and the national agricultural research systems of developing countries. These partnerships must lever the intellectual and material resources of their members, promote coherence and capitalise on synergies. The Systemwide Livestock Programme (SLP) of the CGIAR is offered as one such partnership model. How this Programme responds to the aforementioned challenges and its use of virtual networks and virtual laboratories to facilitate decentralised management, promote ownership and provide operational effectiveness and efficiencies within global partnerships are discussed in this paper