The Worldwatch Institute recently published their annual State of the World: ‘Innovations That Nourish the Planet’. This year’s synthesis is the result of an 18-month exercise to catalogue innovations to enhance food security in Africa.
I met Danielle Nierenberg, who spearheaded the work, during her year-long sojourn in Africa. She visited the Ethiopian campus of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in December 2009 and spoke to various staff. ILRI’s systems analyst Mario Herrero and others contributed a chapter of the book on livestock production systems. This chapter includes a section on livestock feeding that summarizes where we are. To quote:
“Much of the knowledge about improved feeding practices already exists. The slow uptake of improved feeding practices has been mainly due to costs, including heavy labor requirements. Persistent attempts to promote feeding technologies in the smallholder livestock sector have failed to understand this.”
You can read the chapter here:
Purchase the full report online at: www.nourishingtheplanet.com
Feeding innovation 