This report presents some of the highlights of ILCA's research and training and information programme. The highlight described for the Cattle Milk and Meat Thrust focuses on helping national agricultural research systems (NARS) make better use of their livestock production data. The highlights of both the Small Ruminant Meat and Milk Thrust and the Animal Traction Thrust center on crop-livestock integration, integrating forage legumes into the farming systems of the Sahel and the subhumid zone of West Africa. The traction thrust focuses on ILCA's work in the Ethiopian highlands.

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) began operations in 1995 with the consolidation of two Consultative Group on International Research (CGIAR) - sponsored livestock research centres: the International Laboratory for Research on Animal Diseases (ILRAD), in Kenya, and the International Livestock Centre for Africa (ILCA), in Ethiopia.