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.
About 14 % of the world's cattle and 21 % of its sheep and goats are found in Africa on a land base that comprises 25 % of the world's total area of rangelands. Most of these rangelands are or have in the past been managed under traditional systems of communal tenure. Regrettably, the wide variety of institutional arrangements, structures of governance and incentives that characterise these common property regimes have not been well understood or been the subject of much analysis.
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.
Poor nutrition because of poor quality feeds and fluctuating feed supply is a major constraint to tropical livestock productivity. The need to supply greater quantities of quality fodder requires development of both new forages and feeding strategies that will enhance the efficiency with which conventional on-farm feed resources are used. Research at ILRI has identified a range of herbaceous forages and fodder tree species which can be used to alleviate the constraints of lack of feed and which can be incorporated as part of sustainable farming systems.
This training manual emphasises an integrated approach to research on small ruminants. Eleven modules cover the topics in an integrated approach to improving small ruminant productivity in sub-Saharan Africa. It starts with describing small ruminants in various agro-ecological zones in sub-Saharan Africa with emphasis on the prevailing production systems. The user is then introduced to the concepts and methodologies of farming systems research to better understand the needs of the smallholder farmer.
The main objective of ILRI's Sustainable Production Systems Programme is to improve human welfare through the development of more productive and Sustainable crop-livestock sytems in developing countries. The programmes' focus is on market-oriented smallholder crop-livestock systems. In order to improve the productivity and sustainability of these systems, biological, environmental and socio-economic constraints have to be overcome. Therefore, opportunities for changing the systems in a sustainable manner have to be carefully identified and chosen.
A study on factors affecting honey production and indigenous knowledge of the Kibwezi Communities
in honey production was conducted using formal and informal interviews by questionnaires between January and
Sepicmber, 199). Honey plants were determined using pollen analysis, field observation and indigenous
knowledge. Botanical composition of trees and shrubs in unsettled University of Nairobi site and adjacent settled
area was determined and data ana lysed for density: frequency: diversity. similarity and dissimilarity indices.
