Questions as to whether public investment in international agricultural research is a ‘Good Thing’ or not may best be addressed using two arguments: (1) justifications based on whether or not past investments have yielded substantial benefits to societies and the resource-poor; and (2) that future investments need to be made as effectively and efficiently as possible, which means they must be t...

The ongoing trend towards livestock product consumption in many Asian countries has been accompanied by growth in some countries’ imports of feedgrains for their domestic livestock sectors. It has also has put pressure on available grain supplies for human consumption. With regard to China, this contributes to the ongoing debate over future levels of her grain imports. Yet published projections...

Structure, Conduct and Performance (SCP) is used as an analytical framework, to make relations amongst market structure, market conduct and market performance. The objective of this study was to analyze the factors, which affect SCP of livestock markets in the Butana area, Sudan in 2011. A total sample of 222 livestock traders were surveyed using structured questionnaire in seven primary and se...

Consumption of feedstuffs contaminated with ergot alkaloids has a broad impact on many different physiological mechanisms that alters the homeostasis of livestock. This change in homeostasis causes an increased sensitivity in livestock to perturbations in the ambient environment, resulting in an increased sensitivity to such stressors. This ultimately results in large financial losses in the fo...

Mixed farming systems involving varying degrees of crop–livestock integration are found in many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. Increasing population combined with climatic, economic, social, and institutional changes are transforming systems for producing crops and livestock—from systems based on extensive, shifting cultivation and grazing to ones that are more intensively managed and are based o...

92% of the 38 responding countries conduct livestock census, of which 18 follow scheduled programmes. Of the 15 countries that have an ad hoc programme, only 8 have legislation supporting livestock census either within the veterinary services, the central statistics authority or to a limited extent within the Ministry of Livestock/Agriculture. There was no apparent relationship between absence ...

We carried out a study to determine ethno-veterinary knowledge used to treat and prevent livestock diseases in Toteng Village in Ngamiland District, northwestern Botswana. Primary data were collected through simple random sampling of 45 households in Toteng. Respondents were either livestock owners or cattle herders. Respondents were interviewed using a structured questionnaire which had both o...

Habitat overlap can increase the risks of anthroponotic and zoonotic pathogen transmission between humans, livestock, and wild apes. We collected Escherichia coli bacteria from humans, livestock, and mountain gorillas (Gorilla gorilla beringei) in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda, from May to August 2005 to examine whether habitat overlap influences rates and patterns of pathogen trans...

Over the past 50 years, the scale and intensity of livestock farming have increased significantly. At the same time, Western societies have become more urbanised and fewer people have close relatives involved in farming. As a result, most citizens have little knowledge or direct experience of what farming entails. In addition, more people are expressing concerns over issues such as farm animal ...

SETTING Arusha, Tanzania. OBJECTIVE To assess risk factors that might influence TB control in the general population and in livestock-keepers. METHODS Of 242 villages in four districts, 27 were selected randomly. In each village, a general and a livestock-keeping group were selected at random. The households were home-visited and 426 family members were interviewed. RESULTS On average, th...