International Livestock Research Institute

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) is an independent [cite web
publisher=Cornell University
title=International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)
url=http://vivo.cornell.edu/pslengr/entity?home=11&id=5758
accessdate=2008-01-18] international institute based in Nairobi, Kenya, and founded in 1994 by the merging of the International Livestock Centre for Africa and the International Laboratory for Research on Animal Diseases. It is a member of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, and focuses on issues around livestock management in poor countries.

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) works at the crossroads of livestock and poverty, bringing high-quality science and capacity-building to bear on poverty reduction and sustainable development. ILRI works in Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean, with offices in East and West Africa, South and Southeast Asia, China and Central America.

ILRI is a non-profit-making and non-governmental organization with headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, and a second principal campus in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We employ over 700 staff from about 40 countries. About 80 staff are recruited through international competitions and represent some 30 disciplines. Around 600 staff are nationally recruited, largely from Kenya and Ethiopia.

Partnerships

All ILRI work is conducted in extensive and strategic partnerships that facilitate and add value to the contribution of many other players in livestock for development work. ILRI adopts an innovation systems approach to enhance the effectiveness of its research. Fundamental change in culture and process is envisaged to support innovations at all levels, from individual livestock keepers to national and international decision makers.

Why Livestock Research for the Poor?

Throughout the developing world, farm animals create means for hundreds of millions of people to escape absolute poverty. Livestock in developing countries contribute up to 80 percent of agricultural GDP; 600 million rural poor people rely on livestock for their livelihoods.

Globally, livestock are becoming agriculture’s most economically important sub-sector, with demand in developing countries for animal foods projected to double over the next 20 years. The ongoing ‘livestock revolution’ offers many of the world’s poor a pathway out of poverty.


Livestock not only provide poor people with food, income, traction and fertilizer but also act as catalysts that transform subsistence farming into income-generating enterprises, allowing poor households to join the market economy.


Livestock sustain all forms of agricultural intensification—from the Sahelian rangelands of West Africa to the mixed smallholdings in the highlands of East Africa to highly intensified rice production in Asia. Research is helping farmers exploit the potential of their animals to turn the nutrient cycling on their farms faster and more efficiently.

Holding back livestock development in poor countries are inappropriate policies, scarce livestock feeds, devastating diseases, degraded lands and water resources, and poor access to markets. Research by ILRI and its partners is helping to alleviate these problems by developing new knowledge as well as technological and policy options.

Governance

ILRI is guided by a board of trustees comprising 12 leading professionals in relevant research, development and management issues. The institute belongs to the CGIAR, an association of more than 60 governments and public- and private-sector institutions supporting a network of 15 agricultural research centres working to reduce poverty, hunger and environmental degradation in developing countries. The co-sponsors of the CGIAR are the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

Funding

ILRI is funded by more than 60 private, public and government organizations of the North and South. Some donors support ILRI with core and program funds whereas others finance individual research projects. In-kind support from national partners such as Kenya and Ethiopia, as well as that from international collaborators, is substantial and vital. This mix of generic, specific and in-kind resources is essential for the partnership research we conduct.

References

External links

* [http://www.ilri.org/ ILRI web site]