Resource information
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 subject of the Animal Feed Resources Thrust highlight is ILCA's long-term investigation of range trends in the Gourma region of Mali. Trypanotolerant cattle are known to be more productive than non-trypanotolerant cattle where there is a risk of contracting trypanosomiasis. The results reported in the Trypanotolerance Thrust highlight demonstrate, for the first time, that this performance advantage extends also to lifetime reproductive performance - a key factor determining the overall productivity of a livestock production system. Two of the themes highlighted in the Livestock Policy Thrust are provision of information to policy makers in Africa's NARS and using socio-economic research to identify target audiences for commodity research. The highlight on ILCA's Training and Information Department features the Centre's comprehensive information services.
