Better lives through livestock
Better lives through livestock:
ILRI in East Africa - Focus on dairy
Amos Omore
Webinar to highlight opportunities and initiatives for the development of sustainable dairy farm
systems in East Africa. Sustainable Food Systems Ireland / Irish Forum for International Agricultural
Development, World Milk Day - 1 June 2021

2
Outline
ILRI globally
Unleashing dairy potential in East Africa (EA)
Examples of ongoing dairy R4D by ILRI and
partners in EA: Integrated and genetics research
Lessons

Reduce
poverty
Improve
food and
nutrition
security
Improve
natural
resources
and
ecosystem
services
ILRI’s mission is
to improve food and nutritional security
and to reduce poverty in developing countries
through research for
efficient, safe and sustainable
use of livestock —
ensuring better lives through livestock.
ILRI and CGIAR
ILRI strategic objectives
• …develop, test, adapt and promote science-based
practices….
• …provide compelling scientific evidence…
• …increase capacity amongst ILRI’s key stakeholders
and the institute itself
• ILRI is one of 15 CGIAR
research centres
• Livestock contribute indirectly
to all 17 SDGs and directly to at
least 8 of the goals.

4
ILRI is co-hosted by both the
governments of Ethiopia and Kenya,
with offices in 14 other countries: in
Africa (Burking Faso, Burundi, Mali,
Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania,
Uganda and Zimbabwe); in Asia
(China, India, Nepal, Pakistan and
Vietnam); and staff hosted in
Scotland and Costa Rica.
About 700 staff comprising 40%
female
ILRI offices and
staff worldwide
ILRI staff skill sets:
animal nutrition, breeding,
health, feeds & forages,
economics, rangeland ecology,
environmental sciences,
modelers, gender specialists,
capacity development experts.

ILRI’s livestock research: solutions for food and nutritional security, poverty,
environmental and human health
Mitigating climate change, enhancing
resilience and increasing livestock
productivity
Sustainable Livestock Systems
Taking livestock solutions to scale for inclusive
development
Impact at Scale
Delivering solutions for livestock,
zoonotic and foodborne diseases
Animal and Human Health
Platforms: e.g., One Health, AMR Hub)
Efficient livestock production driving
inclusive growth and employment
Policies, Institutions & Livelihoods
(including gender)
Improving genetics for better productivity
and profitability
Livestock Genetics
Accelerating Africa’s agricultural
development through biosciences
BecA-ILRI hub
Better nutrition for improved animal
productivity
Feed and Forage Development
Capacity development; communications; knowledge management
Research delivered
through multi-centre
Livestock CRP flagships
and piloting on the
ground in priority
countries, e.g., Tanzania
dairy (Maziwa Zaidi).

Projected growth in demand for milk to 2030
0
50
100
150
200
250
E.Asia
Pacific
China
South
Asia
SSA
High
income
Estimates of the % growth in demand for animal source foods in different World regions, comparing 2005 and 2030. Estimates were
developed using the IMPACT model, courtesy Dolapo Enahoro, ILRI.
• Consumption is still low: annual per capita consumption of about 45 kg vs over 200 kg in HICs
• Strong demand presents an opportunity to transform local smallholder dairy systems for “better
Lives” : nourishment, health, income & employment
• If demand is not met locally, imports will fill the gap with reduced benefits!
Projected growth in demand for milk and
other livestock products in SSA
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
35000
40000
Beef Milk Mutton Pork Poultry Eggs
1000 Mts
2010 2030
Projected growth in demand for milk: SSA vs globally

Unleashing the dairy potential
More investments are need in inputs and services to
exploit the demand
• Kenya and Rwanda: 6-8% of GDP – attributed to investments
• Tanzania dairy: 1.5% of GDP - attributed to history of low
investments despite vast land and animal resources
• “The 20% of livestock keepers using extension services earn
thrice more than those who don’t” (FAO/NBS, 2013)
Catalyzing investments (public and private) in inputs and
services is an important outcome for ILRI’s research and
planning engagements (e.g., Tanzania Livestock Master
Plan)
Key issues to address:
• Strengthening private sector and
participation by smallholders in
markets
• Catalyzing rural commercialization as a
key mechanism for value chain
upgrading
• Integrating scale-ready innovations and
delivery models for uptake

Two examples of ongoing dairy R4D by
ILRI & partners in East Africa

MAZIWA
ZAIDI
More Milk in Tanzania
• Since 2019
• Integrated research building on Phase I that was
supported by Irish Aid & other bilateral funds 2011-16
Strategy Integrated components: demand – driven Key changes
a. Increase capacity of
dairy agribusiness
(focus on youth and
women) to:
 Incubation
 Bundle technologies
 Strategic alliances
 Grow their agri-
businesses
i. Increased
agribusiness
performance:
 Increased product
portfolio
 Bundled
products/services
 Client
orientation/outreach
ii. Value chain actors
adopt innovative
packages
b. Package and test
profitable &
environmentally
sustainable
technologies
c. Influence policy and
investment
1. Maziwa Zaidi II: Agri-entrepreneurship, technology uptake and inclusive
dairy development in Tanzania
Goal: Investors replicate and catalyze an inclusive and sustainable development of the dairy value chain
Maziwa Zaidi partnership
Increased
Productivity,
income
&
consumption
Health
Genetics
Feeds
Gender
Environment

Maziwa Zaidi II: Prioritized technologies for packaging MAZIWA
ZAIDI
More Milk in Tanzania
• Proven priority technologies that are scale-ready
 Brachiaria grass (or other improved forage options)
 East coast fever vaccine
 Manure management
 Artificial insemination; leveraging ADGG herd recording
platform
• Capacity development supporting market access, safer products,
effective collective action, CLEANED packages (uses ex-ante tool to
estimate impacts of production on water and soils), gender
responsiveness, as well as business and soft skills necessary to be
profitable.
• Main delivery mechanisms: Capacitated agripreneurs using digital
platforms (ADGG platform and others)
• Scaling scan to set ambitions, pathways, critical factors, challenges,
https://hdl.handle.net/10568/105706
https://hdl.handle.net/10568/10838

Pilot
Sites
Maziwa Zaidi II: Assumptions being tested
• Design: before/after; with/without
• Overlap with AgResults in Tanga region - Potential co-evaluation of both
capacity building and payment for results incentives discussed.
More Milk in Tanzania
MAZIWA
ZAIDI

2. Africa Dairy Genetics Gains (ADGG)
Being extended to other countries
in EA with more partners
Pilots in Tanzania and
Ethiopia since 2016

Africa Dairy Genetics Gain (ADGG)
Source: Okeyo Mwai, ILRI
Lactation curves in dairy farms in Kenya
• Herd recording is the basis of improvement of
production efficiency in many countries, but low
uptake by smallholders
• How can we indigenize herd recording and
feedback for national and farmer decision making
in these settings?
• ADGG has established genetic gains platform that
applies ICT and genomic technology
• Testing use of on-farm records for genetic &
genomic evaluation to identify superior cross-bred
bulls for AI delivery and planned natural mating
• Feedback provided through a private company -
iCow platform (e.g., https://icow.co.ke/) via SMS
• First national animal parades held in Tanzania
(2019) and Ethiopia (2021 – virtual).

ADGG Achievements: https://portal.adgg.ilri.org/
Landing page for Tanzania:
(access levels for accredited & non-
accredited users)
Driving towards…
• Country ownership of breeding program
• Promoting use of top ranked bulls
• Building and refining platform including integration with other data platforms
• Extending to other EA countries

Lessons so far on inclusive VC
upgrading…
• Linkages starting with forming new farmer groups are slow in terms
of process to catalyze rapid and sustainable dairy value chain
upgrading. Significant public investments needed for private sector
to leverage
• Linkages involving agri-entrepreneurs is a more promising entry
point for promoting sustainable technology uptake and productivity
(testing this further)
• Structured skills training of youth and women agri-entrepreneurs
with appropriate content could quicken inclusive scaling up process
• ICT provides significant new opportunities!

THANK YOU