Category Archives: PA

Poverty pathways to be mapped across Kenya

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The Kenya Government on 23 June 2005 announced that it has enlisted the Nairobi-headquartered International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) to undertake an ambitious study investigating how, when and why Kenyan households move into and out of poverty. A deeper understanding of poverty dynamics can help developing countries better target and tailor pro-poor poverty interventions. ILRI has previously undertaken two similar studies on ‘Pathways out of Poverty and the Role of Livestock’, one in western Kenya and the other in Peru. These were undertaken in collaboration with the Pro-poor Livestock Policy Initiative of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations and Dr. Anirudh Krishna of Duke University, in the USA, who developed the participatory methods used in the study for similar research he first conducted in India. Remarkably, members of poor communities in India, Kenya and Peru all site the same factors that force households into poverty or help people climb out of poverty: loss or acquisition of livestock is, respectively, key to both. The new study in Kenya will be conducted across the whole country and will include all three of the country’s major livestock systems: pastoral, agro-pastoral and mixed crop-and-livestock production. The information on poverty will be collected in participatory ways and will be coupled with results of Kenya’s formal Welfare Monitoring Survey undertaken by the Ministry of Planning, ILRI’s partner in this new initiative, along with the Ministry of Agriculture. The breadth of the information obtained will allow scientists to answer a wide range of questions about poverty. The better understanding of poverty dynamics gained will help government policymakers and donor agencies better target and tailor pro-poor poverty interventions in this and other developing countries. The Kenya Government has awarded ILRI US$250,000 to undertake this study. 2004 Western Kenya Study: This study revealed that poor families move through six stages of progress out of poverty – from being able to secure food (stage one) to purchasing a sheep or goat (stage six). Fourteen stages were identified and these stages highlight the relative importance of livestock to the poor. The main findings are summarised in an ILRI Top Story. Click here to link to From Poor to Well-Off: Livestock can make a difference. Deep-seated customs can play a significant role in a family's descent into poverty and were identified as such by individuals surveyed. Raising awareness of the crippling effects of these customs, through a media campaign, could help get communities talking about the problems, and this could lead groups to actively seek solutions. The main findings are summarised in an ILRI Top Story. Click here to link to Funerals, Thefts and Bride Price: Livestock Loss Leads to Poverty. Click here to link to the full report Pathways out of Poverty in Western Kenya and the Role of Livestock. 2005 Peru Study: This study found that, overall, the number of households in poverty declined by 19% over 25 years in the 40 Andean communities studied. However, it also found that while some households escaped poverty, other households in the same communities fell into poverty and became poor. In addition to helping households escape poverty, stopping or at least controlling descents is essential to reducing poverty. The hole at the bottom must be plugged before there is any chance of filling the bucket. Else, households will continue slipping into poverty even as other households escape. Diversification of income sources – from livestock, crops and non-agricultural sources – are positively and strongly related to escapes from poverty. Market access, gains from small businesses, and community organizations are also positively and significantly associated with escaping poverty. On the other hand, health, land division, and social expenses (on marriages and funerals) tend to perpetuate poverty. Source: Excerpted from the draft working paper: The Hole at the Bottom of the Bucket: Household Poverty Dynamics in Forty Communities of the Peruvian Andes, Anirudh Krishna, Patti Kristjanson, Judith Kuan, Gustavo Quilca, Maren Radeny, and Alicia Sanchez-Urrelo

Biosciences for development

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Today the spotlight is on European partners in livestock biosciences for development.
European donors and research institutions working in partnership with ILRI and other CGIAR Centres to speed up agricultural development in poor countries will be highlighted at a breakfast meeting at the 2005 World Bank Sustainable Development European Forum entitled ‘Managing Ecosystems and Social Vulnerabilities in the 21st Century: Towards a More Secure World’, to be held in Paris on 14-15 June 2005. The Forum provides an opportunity to update European bilateral donors on the strategy and work program for the World Bank’s Environmentally & Socially Sustainable Vice Presidency. A significant portion of the agenda is reserved for in-depth, issues-based break-out sessions.

Examples of ILRI projects with European partners are summarized below.

Saving Africa’s unique indigenous cattle breeds critical to its poorest people
In 1998, with funding from Ireland Aid and other European donors, the Africa-based International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) teamed up with Trinity College, Dublin, to analyse the genetic diversity of indigenous African cattle populations. This project completed molecular diversity datasets from the two centres, unravelled the genetic make-up of African cattle and identified priority cattle breeds for conservation or utilization for the benefit of the farmer communities. The project also helped nations develop strategies for conserving these animals and broadening their use. The project supported evidence that the African continent was a likely center of origin of cattle pastoralism. The latter award-winning research, published in the leading research journal Science, raised awareness of the genetic wealth of Africa’s indigenous cattle populations. African countries are now taking steps to conserve, characterize and make better use of them.

A public-private partnership for technological innovation against a lethal African cattle disease
The East Coast fever vaccine project is an initiative funded by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) to design and disseminate a bio-engineered vaccine against a parasite that kills cattle across eastern, central, and southern Africa. A complex set of partnerships between public and private sectors across several continents, including the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), in Kenya, the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, in Belgium, and the University of Oxford, UK, has played an important role in moving the science forward. The multinational veterinary pharmaceutical company Merial, headquartered in France, is helping to produce the vaccine for trial and will be responsible for the delivery of the vaccine among poor countries. A high degree of complementarity exists between the major partners. ILRI has reached an advanced state of research on the protozoan parasite that causes East Coast fever, bovine immunology and the economic impacts of the disease. Merial produces the vaccine candidates and has been working with Oxford on novel delivery system with potential spin-offs for other human and veterinary vaccines. The project is an example of conceiving and funding a ‘system of innovation’ within the CGIAR, one which cuts across research institutions in new ways, building capacity across the widest possible spread of partners, including NARS.

Conserving a unique genetic resource and way of life among Ankole pastoralists in East Africa
In late 2003, with funding from Austria, scientists from the Africa-based International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the BOKU University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, in Austria, launched a project to identify indigenous selection criteria and genetic diversity in African longhorn Ankole cattle. The results of this project will improve and sustain the livelihoods of poor Ankole cattle keepers in the four East African countries where these unique cattle are found: Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania. Specifically, the project is facilitating community-based delivery of technical interventions that are genetically improving this breed to meet the needs of their pastoral owners. In the process, the project will help the pastoral communities sustain their environment and culture as well as the genetic diversity of their breed. Indigenous knowledge of animal husbandry and breeding are being captured, as well as selection criteria used by the pastoralists to assess intangible values of their unique Ankole genetic resources.

Development of a second-generation anti-tick vaccine
In late 2004, the Swiss Centre for International Agriculture (ZIL) began funding a project conducted jointly by the Swiss Tropical Institute (Basel), Pevion Biotech (Bern), and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI, Nairobi), to develop an anti-tick vaccine to control ticks and tick-borne diseases of tropical cattle. Current tick-control methods rely on regular treatments of animals with acaracides, which kill the ticks. Development of an anti-tick vaccine is one of the most promising alternatives to chemical control, being much safer for the environment and human health. The only commercial vaccine against ticks currently on the market, based on a hidden tick-gut antigenic molecule, requires a series of inoculations to boost the vaccine’s effectiveness. This project is developing a novel antigen-delivery system for use in cattle using virosomes. The aim is to improve the efficiency, handling, user friendliness and cost of the existing vaccine for smallholder farmers. The technology platform developed for the new vaccine may be applied in future against a range of livestock diseases.

Vets without frontiers: Doing it better

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VSF-Belgium and ILRI have teamed up in an innovative partnership arrangement that could serve as a super highway between livestock research and development activities in the field. Here the 'implementers' and the 'research & developers' have joined forces to "do it better together" to better serve the poor livestock keeper. VSF-Belgium and ILRI have teamed up in an innovative partnership arrangement that will facilitate communications between livestock farmers, veterinary scientists and vets in the field, and ultimately increase the impact of research. Dr Bruno Minjauw, Operational Project Leader of Innovative Partnerships at ILRI, has been appointed as VSF-Belgium's Regional Director – East Africa. Dr Minjauw will hold a joint position with ILRI and VSFB sharing his time between both organisations. Dr Minjauw said: "I am delighted with this appointment – this is new and exciting territory for all involved. ILRI and VSFB have similar and complementary missions – so this partnership makes sense. We are both trying to do the same thing – and I believe we can do it better together. Ultimately this partnership provides ILRI with a unique asset – a direct door to the voice of the poor." Els Bedert, Programme support for East Africa, of VSFB said: "What really excites us about this partnership with ILRI is that we now have a direct link to the livestock research component. Our (VSF) vets are on the ground working with poor farmers. Having access to scientists with the latest knowledge and resources is going to add considerable value to our role. Essentially, we can act as a link between the farmers and scientists and the scientists and the farmers." The new ILRI-VSF partnership has the potential to identify VSF activities that could benefit from existing information, methodologies and scientific expertise at ILRI, as well as identifying existing ILRI activities where VSF could play a role to increase the impact of research. So what does this mean in practice? Amongst other activities, VSFB is actively involved in a programme which aims to train farmers in basic veterinary skills and provide communities with treatments and vaccinations for their animals through an established decentralised animal health service, whilst also training community animal health workers on how to administer those drugs. VSFB have clear exit strategies built into their programs, so livestock keepers do not become dependent on them. Rather than offering drugs as 'handouts', VSF are making veterinary drugs more readily available for farmers to purchase. One example of the benefits of this new partnership is that VSF vets might identify that a particular technology, which could have a major impact if used by the farmers, is too expensive or in some way inappropriate, therefore farmers will not adopt it. VSFB could then inform ILRI and its partners of the situation and they could then look into ways of improving the technology, either by making it more appropriate or available at a lower cost, or even looking into alternatives, in order to encourage greater uptake by farmers. Similarly, scientists might find that adoption rates of a new technology is low and/or having little impact. VSF vets would be well placed to help establish why this is the case and could then feed back this information to scientists. These are just a couple of opportunities that could be seized to increase the impact on the ground. Vétérinaires Sans Frontières Europa (VSF Europa) is a non-profit international association comprising 8 European VSFs, including VSF-Belgium. Field activities are part of the VSF global programme and their mission is to improve the well-being of vulnerable populations in developing countries, by improving animal health and production. VSFB activities are mainly in three geographical areas in Africa – the Horn of Africa, the Great Lakes region and sub-Saharan countries in West Africa.