ETHOPIA – Between 15 and 17 November 2011, scientists, experts and development practitioners from the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture, universities and non-governmental and international organisations gathered in Addis Ababa to share research results on trypanotolerance in indigenous local cattle breeds in Ethiopia (Sheko, Abigar, Horro and Gurage) and experiences with community-based sheep breeding.

The Sheko breed got high attention in the workshop. It is small in number – almost endangered – yet highly trypanotolerant (resistant to sleeping disease/ nagana) in tsetse infested areas, but communities are reluctant to adopt the Sheko breed because of its endangered status.

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Lubango — The bilateral cooperation between Angola and Botswana, in agriculture and cattle, will bring advantages to be transformed into better quality of the meat that is produced, as well as boost the creation of cattle in Huíla Province, stated Thursday, in Lubango City, the secretary of State for Agriculture, José Amaro Tati.

Speaking to the press, during the visit of Botswana’s Agriculture minister, Christian Graaf, on Thursday in the southern Huila Province, the Angolan government official considered that the cooperation will bring about opportunities for local businesspeople.

Amaro Tati stressed that the reinforcement of ties between the two countries is crucial for the improvement of the quality of products.

Livestock prices have dropped by about 70 per cent in drought-stricken districts. A cow is selling for about Sh4,000 in these areas from Sh13,000.

A joint report by the government, World Food Programme, USAid and the Famine Early Warning Systems Network links the decline to lack of water and pasture.

The Kenya Food Security Report said 15 per cent of animals had died in Wajir, Mandera, Marsabit, Moyale, eastern Samburu and northern Isiolo.

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KENYA – The East African Dairy Development project which is implemented by Heifer International in partnership with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), TechnoServe, the World Agroforestry Centre and the African Breeders Service Total Cattle Management, has been working with farmers in east Africa since January 2008.

In the past two years, the project has focused on improving the dairy incomes of over 170,000 dairy farmers in Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. In Kenya, interventions to improve dairy production in Kenya’s Rift Valley province are transforming the lives of farmers like Florence Chepkirui.

Florence is a resident of Saoset village of Bomet district in Kenya’s south Rift Valley region. The district has a wonderful climate and beautiful farms on rolling hills and valleys. Her two-acre farm supports subsistence crop farming, two dairy cows and fodder that the cows feed on. Florence is one of many smallholder farmers in Saoset and despite her being blind, she has succeeded in earning a living from dairy farming.

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Gitarama — Clement Bizimungu, a widow and carer for three orphaned children, beamed broadly after receiving a heifer from the Bureau Social De Gitarama in Kabacuzi sector, where a cattle restocking is under way.

“This is the happiest day of my life; I will do whatever it takes to rear this cow well; most importantly, it may soon start giving me milk,” she told IRIN.

Bizimungu, an ethnic Tutsi, lost her husband and three children during the genocide. Like most people in the area, Bizimungu says it has been hard to come to terms with life after 1994, which in addition to leaving many orphans and widows, also led to the massive slaughtering of cattle, a hitherto vital economic asset and source of protein, in a country where “close to half of all children under the age of five suffer from chronic malnutrition”, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

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