ILRI Blog Posts and News Updates

CGIAR supports Kenya’s reform of seed sector and plant genetic resources laws

Grace Oduor — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

A seed may be tiny, even barely visible between two fingers, but the laws that govern it can have far-reaching implications for Kenya’s agriculture and food systems. Seed and plant genetic resources laws influence how seed and other planting materials are developed, conserved, accessed, produced, exchanged and marketed, and how the genetic resources underpinning future crop improvement are governed. These laws affect farmers’ access to quality and diverse seed, communities’ conservation and use of farmer and indigenous varieties, incentives for breeding and seed-sector innovation, and the conservation and sustainable use of Kenya’s plant genetic resources.

Recognizing the importance of this legal framework, Kenya’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD) is leading a review of the country’s seed and plant genetic resources laws. The review includes the draft Seeds and Plant Varieties Bill 2026, which is intended to replace the existing Seeds and Plant Varieties Act (Cap. 326) and strengthen regulation of Kenya’s seed sector. It also includes the draft Plant Genetic Resources Institute Bill 2026, which seeks to strengthen the conservation, access, and sustainable use of Kenya’s plant genetic resources. Together, the bills aim to preserve gains under the existing framework while addressing gaps and emerging needs in Kenya’s evolving seed system.

In the earlier stages of the review, several issues were identified for consideration, including farmers’ and breeders’ rights, more inclusive seed systems, quality assurance, access to and conservation of genetic resources, food security, and alignment with constitutional and international commitments. The reform process is considering how these varying interests, functions and responsibilities can be accommodated within a coherent legal framework.

Given the breadth of these issues, the review has drawn input from a wide range of stakeholders and areas of expertise. In response to the ministry’s request for evidence and technical input, CGIAR mobilized seed systems expertise through the CGIAR Policy Innovations Hub for Kenya and participating centers to support the nationally led process.

Against this backdrop, MoALD convened a four-day technical workshop at Lake Naivasha Resort from 7–10 July 2026 to advance the review of the two draft bills. Participants included the committee of experts and representatives of public agencies, research organizations, farmers, community seed actors, breeders, the private seed sector, and civil society.

At the workshop, Joseph Karugia from the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) encouraged the technical team to look beyond the immediate interests of farmers and breeders and consider the economic, livelihood, and food system implications of a well-functioning seed system across the value chain. In that context, he emphasized the contribution that research and policy engagement can make to nationally led reform.

“CGIAR, through its policy science and innovation work—including the CGIAR Policy Innovations Hub for Kenya, hosted by ILRI—is heavily invested in translating inclusive and progressive research gains into sustainable policies and policy action for social good,” he said.

From consultation to detailed drafting

The Naivasha technical workshop on the draft Seeds and Plant Varieties Bill 2026 and the draft Plant Genetic Resources Institute Bill 2026 marked a shift from gathering and consolidating stakeholder comments to collectively considering those inputs and working through draft legal text. It built on earlier consultations, including the 12 May 2026 MoALD–CGIAR dialogue at ILRI.

Following that dialogue, seed-systems policy experts from seven CGIAR centers consolidated technical inputs into a joint memorandum for the ministry and Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS). The July workshop considered those recommendations alongside submissions from farmer and community- seed organizations, plant breeders, the private seed sector, research institutions and other stakeholders.

The secretariat had organized stakeholder submissions into clause-linked matrices. Technical groups considered the comments, recorded how they were treated—whether taken forward for drafting, modified, left for regulations or guidelines, or retained for further consideration—and reviewed proposed changes in plenary. This approach strengthened traceability by linking each issue to the relevant provision, drafting response and implementation considerations.

Kennedy Anahinga of MoALD placed the exercise within the wider objective of the review, describing the task as producing a document that benefits all the actors, not just those present at the workshop:

“This intervention underscores the importance of finding workable provisions across a diverse seed system and its many constituencies.”

Working through those diverse positions also required sustained consensus-building. Simon Maina of KEPHIS encouraged participants to remain constructive even when views diverged, echoing the collaborative approach that had characterized earlier engagements.

Key discussion areas of the technical review

The technical review covered a broad range of issues. Four interconnected areas capture much of the discussion and illustrate how stakeholder inputs were considered in relation to drafting, regulations, and issues requiring further consideration.

Inclusive seed pathways and quality assurance: Participants considered how conventional certification can coexist with proportionate quality-assurance approaches for farmer-managed and community seed systems. Quality Declared Seed (QDS)—a pathway through which seed meets defined quality standards under requirements adapted to local production systems—featured in discussions alongside the roles of counties, KEPHIS, community seed banks and the current Genetic Resources Research Institute (GeRRI), which the draft legislation proposes to transition to the Plant Genetic Resources Institute (PGRI). The detailed institutional and operational arrangements remain matters for the evolving draft provisions, regulations, and guidelines.

Farmer varieties, community interests and benefit-sharing: Discussions explored fit-for-purpose approaches for identifying, documenting, recognizing, and listing farmer and indigenous varieties while preserving evidence of community origin and prior use. They considered registration in relation to identity and traceability, recognition and protection of community custodianship and farmers’ rights, and, where appropriate, commercialization through applicable quality assurance pathways. The workshop also considered how commercial use of farmer-managed seed or associated knowledge relates to prior informed consent—agreement given before access—and mutually agreed terms setting out conditions of use and benefit-sharing. Detailed procedures and safeguards may be elaborated through regulations and guidelines.

Making the two bills work together: A recurring plenary theme was the need for the draft Seeds and Plant Varieties Bill 2026 and the draft Plant Genetic Resources Institute Bill 2026 to operate coherently, including through compatible definitions, institutional mandates, and cross-references. Participants also considered access to plant genetic resources for research and breeding, confidentiality, and the boundary between ordinary commercial seed trade and access to genetic resources. Martin Oulo of the Inter-sectoral Forum on Agrobiodiversity and Agroecology (ISFAA) captured the relationship between the instruments in a phrase that resonated in plenary: “They are twins, and we agree to treat them as ‘conjoined’.”

Balancing inclusion, quality, conservation, and innovation: The workshop considered how the evolving framework can accommodate farmer access to diverse and quality seed, farmer-managed systems, conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources, and predictable conditions for breeding and seed enterprise. This balancing challenge was reflected in interventions from different parts of the seed system. Joyce Karanja of the Seed Trade Association of Kenya emphasized an enabling environment for innovation and efficient seed markets alongside seed quality and farmer confidence, while Miriam Kinyua of the Plant Breeders Association of Kenya emphasized accommodating different perspectives while keeping farmer access to quality seed at the centre of the review.

The discussions also sat within a wider regional policy context. Gloria Otieno of the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT noted that alignment with the emerging African Union Seed Policy Framework could position Kenya to showcase “a progressive, inclusive and forward-looking seed regulatory framework.” Her observation linked the national review to ongoing efforts to strengthen seed policy coherence across the region.

Participants review and discuss proposed amendments in plenary before the agreed changes are reflected in the revised draft bills (photo credit: MoALD/Lily Chepkemoi).

Maintaining momentum and next steps

CGIAR’s contribution has remained facilitative, bringing evidence and comparative experience into the review, helping organize technical inputs so they could be considered against specific provisions, contributing expertise during group work and plenary review, and supporting engagement around a nationally-led process. Colleagues from ILRI, the International Potato Center (CIP), and the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT participated directly in the Naivasha technical review, building on the wider CGIAR contribution consolidated after the May dialogue.

The ministry has since circulated the workshop report, revised draft bills, and actioned stakeholder comment matrices to workshop participants. Further technical work is expected as the instruments are aligned with the draft national seed policy and move through the ministry-led review, consultation and public-participation processes. In closing the Naivasha convening, Anahinga acknowledged the technical and financial support provided through the CGIAR Policy Innovations Hub for Kenya and encouraged participants to sustain the collaborative spirit demonstrated during the review.

As the reform moves forward, continued evidence, dialogue and stakeholder participation will be key to building a stronger, more inclusive and forward-looking seed and plant genetic resources framework for Kenya.

A technical group works through stakeholder comments and proposes legal text during the Naivasha drafting workshop (photo credit: MoALD/Lily Chepkemoi).

Acknowledgements and further reading

The ministry acknowledges the CGIAR Policy Innovations Hub for Kenya, co-hosted by ILRI, and the Inter-Sectoral Forum on Agrobiodiversity and Agroecology (ISFAA) for financial and technical support. CGIAR participation also drew on longer-term regional engagement. In Kenya, a related regulatory instrument on vegetatively propagated seed, separately co-facilitated by CIP, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and KEPHIS, was awaiting gazettement at the time of the Naivasha workshop. Seed-system teams led by Kwame Ogero at CIP have supported policy development and related products in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, while Gloria Otieno has led the Alliance’s agrobiodiversity and seed-policy work across several countries in sub-Saharan Africa and with the African Union Commission. The Alliance also committed follow-on support to align the draft bills with the draft national seed policy.

Further reading: Evidence-Informed, Locally Led: Advancing Seed Sector Legislative Reform in Kenya.

From crisis to infrastructure: Ethiopia launches Ethio-Seed Hub to strengthen food systems planning and transformation

Daniel Hailemichael — Fri, 18 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

The Ministry of Agriculture has taken ownership of a national digital platform that brings seed demand and supply information together, alongside a new publication documenting the mapping and digitalization of Ethiopia's seed system

Ethiopia has officially launched and taken ownership of the Ethio Seed Hub, a web-based platform designed to improve access to timely information on seed demand, supply and distribution. The Ministry of Agriculture received the platform at a ceremony in Addis Ababa that also marked the launch of the “Mapping and digitalization of the Ethiopian seed system” publication.

The platform grew from a CGIAR response to disruptions exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic under the then CGIAR Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH) collaborative research program. Under A4NH, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) coordinated the work, the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas”(ICARDA) led seed-system mapping, and the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT (CIAT Biodiversity) led digital tool development. Initial mapping focused on wheat and onion value chains, before expanding to cereals, pulses, oilseeds, vegetables, fruits, roots and tubers, and forage seeds.

The Hub was developed through a co-creation and consultation process, testing and national validation, and two rounds of training of trainers for seed systems actors from all the 12 regional states and two urban administrations of Ethiopia. Addis Ababa University led the technical development of the digital platform. The Hub’s responsive platform offers public and protected access. It provides a crop and variety catalogue; information on seed-system actors; seed supply by variety, class, producer and location; demand data at regional, zonal and woreda levels; marketing and distribution information; and seed balance sheets. Before the launch, the system received the required certification and approval from the ministry's information and communications technology team and Ethiopia's Information Network Security Administration.

Information connected to national priorities

In her keynote address, Namukolo Covic, head of the CGIAR Liaison Office for Africa and the ILRI director general's representative to Ethiopia, placed the Ethio Seed Hub within Ethiopia’s broader food systems and nutrition agenda. She said the launch was about strengthening national capacity to transform agrifood systems. She emphasized how the hub could contribute across all seven clusters of Ethiopia's Food Systems Transformation and Nutrition (EFSTN) roadmap.

“A functional seed information system supports food availability, dietary diversity, evidence-based policy, climate resilience, efficient markets, natural-resource stewardship and stronger food-systems governance,” said Covic. “Farmers need the right seed in the right place and at the right time. Government, researchers, seed producers, cooperatives, regional authorities, investors and development partners also need a common evidence base to guide planning and strengthen accountability.”

She also highlighted that the hub includes information on forage seeds used to grow feed for livestock. Ethiopia’s crop and livestock systems must advance together, she said: improving livestock productivity requires better feed, and producing better feed requires access to suitable forage seeds. By supporting this connection, the hub can contribute to Ethiopia’s Yelemat Tirufat livestock development agenda and Green Legacy development priorities. Access to climate-adapted crops and forage varieties can also help farmers strengthen resilience to changing climatic conditions.

Dr Namukolo Covic CGIAR Head of Liaison Office for Africa ILRI Director General’s Representative to Ethiopia (a.i) CGIAR Ethiopia Country Convenor (a.i), delivering Keynote speech (photo credit: ILRI/Agegnehu Alene).

Covic emphasized that digitalization must answer practical questions about where seed is available, where demand is emerging, where gaps exist and how institutions should respond. "The success of this hub must not be measured only by the technology itself,". The more meaningful measures of success will be whether farmers gain access to seeds, diverse and nutritious foods become more available, markets work more efficiently, livestock producers obtain improved forage seeds and decision-makers act on better information.

National ownership and operational use

Ato Abera Lemma, representing the state minister for investment and agricultural inputs at the Ministry of Agriculture, said the hub was developed to bridge information gaps by supplying accurate and timely data that can improve farmers' access to quality seed. He described seed as central to agricultural production and a strong seed system as essential to raising productivity and strengthening food security. Farmers, he said, need reliable information on which seeds are available, where and when they can obtain them, the quantities in stock and the volumes required for production.

Abera called on Ethiopian regional governments, research institutions, universities, seed producers, private-sector actors and development partners to support the implementation of the hub, noting that success will depend on sustained commitment across Ethiopia's seed sector.

Other contributions addressed the platform's path from concept to national use. Degifie Tibebe of the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT traced its genesis. Ato Anteneh Legesse, the Ministry's Lead Executive for Information Communication and Technology, discussed institutionalization and operations; Melkamu Beyene of Addis Ababa University demonstrated its main features; and Ato Tefera Zeray, Seed Systems Advisor to the Ministry, addressed enforcement and use. Also present at the launch was a representative from the FAO.

Official launch of a book on “Mapping and Digitalization of Ethiopian Seed System”, Dr. Getachew Diriba (left), Ato Abera Lemma (middle), Dr Namukolo Covic (right). (photo credit: ILRI/Agegnehu Alene)

A panel moderated by ILRI’s Getachew Legese explored implementation priorities for the Ethio-Seed Hub, with panelists highlighting its value and their readiness to support regional adoption. An Oromia Regional State representative outlined plans to raise awareness and build capacity at different administrative levels, supported by a robust monitoring and evaluation system to promote effective use. A representative of the Ethio-Seeds Partnerships Project called for dedicated staff at regional and woreda levels, as well as at major seed production and distribution points, to oversee implementation. He also pledged the project’s technical and implementation support over the coming year. The Deputy Head of the Amhara Regional State Bureau of Agriculture reaffirmed the regional government’s commitment to implementing the hub as part of efforts to transform the seed sector and the wider agrifood system.

Official handover and launch of the Ethio Seed Hub, with Dr. Getachew Diriba and Dr. Namukolo Covic

The event concluded with the launch of the mapping and digitalization publication and formal handover of the Hub. Getachew Diriba, Special Advisor to the Minister of Agriculture, received the Hub on behalf of the Minister from Dr Covic to made the handover on behalf of the partnership that worked together to develop and institutionalize it. the task-force members and participating institutions were recognized. National ownership now places emphasis on data population, user training, governance, maintenance and routine use of the system in seed-sector decisions.

Access to the platform and publication

Why the initiative matters

For Ethiopia, the Ethio Seed Hub offers a national capability to identify demand and supply gaps earlier, coordinate responses and improve the availability of quality seed. For ILRI, the inclusion of forage seeds and its conversion of research and partner knowledge into decision support aligning with translated national priorities and ILRI’s common agenda for productive, resilient and sustainable livestock and food systems into action. For CGIAR, the hub demonstrates how research centers can come together to address national priorities combining science, digital innovation and national partnerships around a country-owned public service. At continental level, it gives practical expression to the African Union's Kampala CAADP Declaration by supporting more productive, resilient and inclusive agrifood systems through stronger institutions, reliable evidence and digital innovation.

The Ministry of Agriculture and CGIAR partners recognized the contributions of key research, development, and implementation organizations, including ILRI, ICARDA, the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, Addis Ababa University, the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research, the Ethiopian Seed Partnership and Stichting Wageningen Research Ethiopia, Catholic Relief Services and its USAID-supported seed work, GIZ, Land O'Lakes Venture37. They also recognized seed enterprises, regulatory bodies, regional and local agricultural authorities, cooperatives, private seed producers, universities, task-force members and the many specialists who supported mapping, platform development, testing, training and validation.

New partnership between ILRI and livestock off-takers targets stronger markets, better feeds and climate resilient livestock in Kenya.

Daniel Hailemichael — Wed, 16 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

NAIROBI, Kenya, 11 September 2026 - The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) hosted representatives from the Kenya Pastoralist Market Development (KPMD) network and its member off taker companies who at its Nairobi campus on 9 September 2026, for a meeting focused on capturing value and building supply-ready herds across Kenya's small ruminant sector. Off-takers included institutions, traders, businesses, processors, and buyers who purchase livestock from farmers and move them into the next stage of the value chain.

This session, themed “Unlocking Value and Bringing Supply-Ready Herds,” brought together off taker companies working in 10 counties in Kenya, and ILRI's research programs and technical teams to discuss how closer collaboration between ILRI and KPMD off takers could strengthen the small ruminant value chain from arid and semi-arid areas to export market.

Discussions throughout the day returned to a single organizing idea: that a resilient supply chain starts with the farmer. Participants examined the technical building blocks of a market-ready herd, from breeding and genetics to the forage and nutrition that sustain animal growth, to the health interventions that prevent losses, and the climate resilience needed to withstand an increasingly unpredictable environment.

Off takers raised specific, practical needs: access to animal breeding programs at scale, reliable and climate-smart forage options to meet growing demand, stronger herd health support to reduce losses before animals reach market, and better use of data to inform decisions across the supply chain.

ILRI’s programs director for Livestock Genetics, Nutrition and Feed Resources, Anu Lawale, hailed this partnership as a game changer in the livestock value chain, explaining that the presence of a dependable market affects the economics of livestock farming. He added that, “If farmers are certain that there is a market for quality animals, then they will make investments in feeding and proper care as an economic venture.”

The event featured research and innovations that can assist in preparing livestock for a changing climate and increase their economic value.
Participants explored forage diversity and management, aggregation, livestock nutrition and health, as well as climate risk reduction to meet market requirements. Brian Okello, an off-taker representative from ABF United Company limited agreed that, “Drought resistant and tolerant forage varieties and better feeding practice are crucial. Improved forage does more than helping animals survive the dry season, it sustains their productivity and health, protects them through drought, and increases their sale value”.

The Kenya Pastoral Market Development (KPMD) initiative representative Professor Ruth Kiraka described the partnership as a new dawn in livestock management. She insisted that, “Such an opportunity lies in the formation of a value chain where science, markets, and farmers march together. Where innovation can reach farmers, farmers produce for markets, and markets provide the incentive for further investments. Rather than a one-off information session, the meeting was framed as the start of an ongoing relationship. Participants agreed that translating ILRI's research into practical, will be central to how the partnership develops.”

ILRI, KPMD network and off takers agreed to continue the conversation with a structured collaboration framework, covering genetics, forage and nutrition, health, and climate resilience.

For more information or for interview requests, contact

Paul Waweru Nyambura

Communications Officer

About KPMD

KPMD is an initiative under Strathmore University Agri-Food Innovation Center (SAFIC), that works to strengthen the connection between pastoralist producers and formal livestock markets by bringing together communities, private-sector off-takers, service providers, researchers, government and other partners. The programme supports pastoralists to access reliable markets, quality inputs, animal health services, feed and aggregation systems while building their capacity to participate more effectively in livestock value chains.

Partner

Strathmore University agri food nnovation center

Turning backyard chickens into profitable businesses: Poultry operations run by women take off in Tanzania and Kenya

Susan MacMillan — Tue, 15 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Raising chickens in East Africa is a woman’s business—but rarely, until now, a woman’s opportunity

Across East Africa’s rural areas, chickens are ubiquitous. Not the plump, all-white broilers that end up on supermarket shelves, but the lean, long-legged, small-bodied, and multicolored native village birds known locally as “kuku wa kienyeji”. Some are distinguished by (and prized for) naked necks, frizzled feathers, or tuft-like beards under their beaks. In rural areas, they are ubiquitous, scratching for insects and worms, grains and seeds, grasses and kitchen scraps around homesteads and providing eggs and meat for special occasions or small sales at local markets.

Chickens are a woman's business here, one of the few livestock enterprises culturally open to them. Yet turning those small flocks into profitable ventures has long been out of reach for most women. Restrictive gender norms and limited access to healthy chicks––especially of improved breeds––as well as veterinary care, poultry markets, and financing have locked millions of women out of the growing poultry economy.

Meanwhile, demand for chicken eggs and meat is rising fast in this region, alongside human populations, incomes, and urbanization. In millions of urban households, eggs and poultry meat are no longer occasional treats but everyday staples. This creates a paradox, with rural households raising almost all the indigenous chickens and urban households doing most of the chicken eating. And while city markets pay a premium for indigenous chicken meat, prized for its flavor and "natural" reputation, a rural farmer with a small flock has no way of reaching urban customers directly, so her birds fetch only low village prices.

Linking village flocks to urban markets

This rural-urban gap is what the Women in Business (WiB) social research innovation set out to close. Piloted in Tanzania and now expanding into Kenya, WiB is shifting how rural families raise, buy, and sell chickens, while challenging restrictive gender norms that keep women out of the livestock business.

Developed by scientists at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), WiB has young women veterinary graduates at its core. They buy day-old chicks of improved native breeds from hatcheries, brood them in controlled environments, and deliver them by motorbike to smallholder farmers. These farmers raise the chicks to maturity and sell them back to the vendors, who connect with urban buyers willing to pay premium prices. The model is simple but transformative: women farmers gain access to quality chicks, reliable animal health care, affordable feed, and profitable markets.

In 2025, WiB was one of five winners of the CGIAR Scaling Fund, an annual competitive grant and technical-support program that helps promising CGIAR innovations move from small pilots to lasting, wide-scale impact. The Scaling Fund is part of CGIAR's Scaling for Impact program and is coordinated by the Impact at Scale program at ILRI.

Dismantling gender barriers

Technical fixes alone weren’t enough. Because the biggest barriers facing women in livestock businesses are often social, ILRI partnered with Shujaaz Inc., a popular private social media company, to launch “Binti Shujaaz” ("heroines" in Swahili). Through radio talk shows and in-person community dialogues, the initiative sparked conversations about why women should be allowed—and encouraged—to run livestock businesses.

The impact was striking. In Tanzania's Kilimanjaro and Lindi regions, young women vets who ventured into "chicken vending" found far more acceptance than they would have a few years earlier. With improved breeds like the dual-purpose Kuroiler, which is faster-growing and more productive than unimproved native birds, they delivered chicks and veterinary advice to rural farmers, returning weeks later to collect mature chickens for urban markets. The result: real income gains and improved household diets, especially through eggs and meat.

Women participating in profitable chicken business (photo credit: ILRI).

Scaling through different pathways

As WiB has matured, it has evolved differently in each country.

In Tanzania, where the model was first piloted in 2019, the focus shifted to two persistent barriers: lack of finance and unaffordable chicken feed. To tackle the financial hurdle, ILRI and partners co-designed the Kuku Bundle ("kuku" means “chicken” in Swahili), a loan product tailored for women and youth chicken producers and vendors. At the same time, teams explored black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) as a protein-rich, climate-resilient feed option.

In Kenya, ILRI partnered with the non-profit-oriented media production company Mediae to write the WiB model directly into the storylines of its “Maisha Makutano” TV series, a Swahili-language edutainment program that aired weekly on Citizen TV, a Kenyan broadcaster, and on YouTube. Over its 13 episodes, the show followed the fictional agripreneur Mwende Baraka as she built a poultry business, giving millions of viewers practical tips while also modeling husbands and communities that support, rather than resent, a woman's growing income.

A main component of the Scaling Fund support comes through hosting Innovation Packages and Scaling Readiness (IPSR) workshops, where participants design realistic action plans. These expert-guided sessions bring together everyone with a stake in an innovation's success: the researchers who developed it; the farmers, vendors, and business owners expected to use it; the financial institutions and companies that might invest in it; the government officials shaping the operating environment; and civil society and community representatives intimate with local realities.

Alessandra Galiè, who leads ILRI's Women in Business project, talks with a participant at the IPSR Women in Business workshop held in late 2025 in Machakos, Kenya (photo credit: ILRI/Susan MacMillan).

The Kenya IPSR workshop: Turning awareness into action

The first Scaling Fund IPSR workshop for WiB was convened in Kenya’s Machakos Town in late 2025. It brought together two dozen farmers from Machakos, Kitui, and Makueni counties, representatives from two commercial banks (Equity and Kenya Commercial Bank), Mediae communication professionals, government officials and livestock officers from all the three counties, and local input service providers. The workshop's objective, in the words of ILRI researcher Humphrey Jumba, was “to convert the enormous public awareness generated by ‘Maisha Makutano’ into real farmer action”.

Participants identified a familiar cluster of barriers: limited access to loans suited to poultry businesses, an unreliable supply of affordable chicken feed, and restrictive gender norms that discouraged women from starting or growing a livestock business, even after watching a television show that said they could. Against those barriers, the group identified “enablers” of this innovation already within reach. These included strategic partnerships with media companies, banks, government agencies, and women's organizations; business incubation support for the young women vets and para-vets acting as vendors; and further gender-transformative programming delivered through both media and in-person workshops.

From here, the workshop participants built a set of concrete "work packages" to carry the innovation forward, including developing loan products tailored specifically to women chicken farmers, strengthening partnerships with banks and government stakeholders, and working with women’s organizations to advocate for gender-equitable policies.

The Tanzania IPSR workshop: Designing a loan product and integrating a new feed technology

The Scaling Fund IPSR workshop held in Moshi, Tanzania, in June 2026 designed a loan product for women and youth in the chicken business. Participants hammered out the borrowing terms, including acceptable interest rates and repayment schedules, and official government-backed guarantee schemes that could cover up to 80% of the required collateral for women borrowers. Those represented included farmer groups, Tanzania's Agriculture Development Bank, CRDB Bank, NMB Bank, and the Financial Sector Development Trust, alongside the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, Tanzania Livestock Research Institute, and the University of Dodoma.

A telling insight from the workshop was that many young people preferred to receive loans in the form of goods—chicks, feed, or freezers—rather than money. Thus, the participants developed the "Kuku Bundle" loan product primarily around in-kind goods rather than cash, which lowers the risk to financial institutions.

The Tanzania workshop also explored BSFL feed integration. Three business pathways were mapped:

1. Vendors purchase and retail ready-made BSFL feed supplements or live/dried BSFL from large private companies and sell them to smallholder chicken farmers.

2. Vendors or farmers hatch BSF eggs, rear the larvae using organic waste, then sell live or dried larvae and the frass by-product to chicken farmers.

3. Vendors or chicken farmers undertake the full BSF production cycle, including breeding, egg production, larval rearing, and feed processing, and then sell the larvae, frass, or BSFL-supplemented feeds to chicken farmers.

Participants recommended piloting these pathways to identify the best fit for local capacities and business realities.

Betting on chickens

For women vets delivering chicks and veterinary advice on motorbikes to remote villages, for farmers inspired by watching “Maisha Makutano”, and for bankers now willing to lend against a flock of insured birds, backyard chicken farming has never looked so good. What was once a traditional woman’s business is fast becoming a profitable woman’s business.

Acknowledgements

Participants in discussion at the IPSR Women in Business Workshop held in late 2025 in Machakos, Kenya (photo credit: ILRI/Susan MacMillan).

IPSR

IPSR (Innovation Packaging and Scaling Readiness) is CGIAR’s framework for mainstreaming scaling across its research-to-impact pathway. Rather than treating scaling as a final step, IPSR embeds it as a continuous, stage-gated process that accompanies innovations from early characterization through to sustained use. In IPSR workshops, diverse actors identify innovations and their complementary enabling conditions—capacity development, policies, market access, institutional arrangements—and bundle them into coherent packages designed to achieve significant impact in specific contexts.

Acknowledgements

The Women in Business model and its scaling work are supported by the CGIAR Trust Fund and the CGIAR Sustainable Animal and Aquatic Foods (SAAF) Science Program. The 2025 CGIAR Scaling Fund was made possible by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the CGIAR Trust Fund.

WiB partners

• AKM Glitters Company Ltd, Tanzania

• CRDB Bank, Tanzania

• Financial Sector Development Trust, Tanzania

• Mediae and Citizen TV’s Maisha Makutano TV series, Kenya

• NMB Bank, Tanzania

• Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), Netherlands

• Shujaaz Inc’s Binti Shujaaz social media campaign, Tanzania

• Sokoine University Graduate Entrepreneurs Cooperative (SUGECO), Tanzania

• Tanzania Agriculture Development Bank

• Tanzania Career Development Consultancy Company (TACADECO)

• Tanzania Livestock Research Institute (TALIRI)

• Tanzania Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries

• Women-led Tanzanian district farmer groups

• World Bank Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest (CGAP) project

• WorldFish

Bringing Madagascar's National Livestock Master Plan to life through science and regional cooperation

Lamine Diedhiou — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Even the best-laid plans will fail if not put into action. That's why Madagascar is plunging ahead with the implementation of its new livestock master plan, which was developed with support from the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and its partners. The country is looking to science and regional cooperation to succeed.

Making the shift from planning to implementing was the purpose of a working visit in early July 2026, when a high-level delegation led by Madagascar's Minister of Livestock, Riana Nantenaina Randrianomenjanahary, spent a week at ILRI's campus in Nairobi. The mission brought together decision makers, researchers, and technical experts to identify what innovations and partnerships can translate the master plan into real value for the millions of Malagasy families who depend on livestock for their livelihoods.

The visit built on a partnership that has grown step by step. In February 2026, the directors general of five CGIAR centers, including ILRI, traveled to Madagascar to align their research with national priorities, an engagement that produced a memorandum of understanding between ILRI and the National Center for Applied Research in Rural Development (FOFIFA). The July mission carried that momentum into practical questions of what to do next, and how.

For Appolinaire Djikeng, ILRI's director general, the exchange showed why cooperation among African countries matters:

“This visit allowed us not only to share what we do at ILRI, but also to learn from Madagascar and understand the realities the country faces," he said. "It confirms that our countries have a great deal to learn from one another. That is the value of South-South cooperation.”

ILRI Director General Appolinaire Djikeng highlighted the value of South-South cooperation during the Malagasy delegation’s visit, emphasizing what countries can learn from one another (photo credit: ILRI/Lamine Diedhiou).

Turning science into practical advice

Much of the weeklong visit was spent learning how research becomes practical advice.

In ILRI's forage plots and laboratories, the Malagasy researchers followed the full chain of feed analysis, from sampling forage and preparing feed through testing for contaminants such as mycotoxins, interpreting the results, and using them to formulate rations and advise producers.

Reliable data, the discussions emphasized, allows institutions to anticipate feed shortages, improve early-warning systems, and tailor climate services to livestock keepers. ILRI researchers shared digital tools such as AgDataHub and iSAT that can help turn that data into information that producers can act on.

For Erline Razananoro, a veterinarian and researcher at FOFIFA, the mission was above all a chance to build national expertise.

“Madagascar already has real strengths in research and innovation," she said. "This mission lets us test them against other experiences, identify technologies suited to our context, and build the skills of our researchers and technicians.”

Madagascar’s Minister of Livestock Riana Nantenaina Randrianomenjanahary, ILRI Director General Appolinaire Djikeng and members of the two teams visit ILRI’s demonstration plots to explore forage options and research innovations relevant to Madagascar (photo credit: ILRI/Lamine Diedhiou).

Lessons from across the region

Beyond the laboratories, the Malagasy delegation saw how ILRI’s innovations reach farmers in Kenya. At ILRI's Kapiti Research Station, integrated approaches combining pasture restoration, improved forage, animal health, and genetics directly address some of the challenges Madagascar knows well: degraded rangelands and a variable climate.

At the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization Dairy Research Institute, the visitors saw how a national institution moves innovations from research through extension to producers.
And at the Muki dairy cooperative in Naivasha, a single enterprise linking milk collection, quality control, veterinary services, processing, and marketing, showed that a value chain succeeds as much on the strength of its organization as on its technology – a message that the delegation heard repeatedly during the visit.

The Malagasy delegation visits Muki Dairy Cooperative in Naivasha, learning how milk collection, quality control, veterinary services, processing and marketing are brought together within a single value chain (photo credit: ILRI/Lamine Diedhiou).

A partnership geared toward action

These lessons informed strategic discussions between Madagascar’s Ministry of Livestock, Malagasy technical institutions, and ILRI. During the discussions, Madagascar’s Minister of Livestock highlighted several immediate priorities, including access to quality forage seed, notably lablab (Lablab purpureus), buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris), and Sugargraze forage sorghum. He also stressed the need to strengthen climate services and animal health, while supporting promising value chains such as small ruminants, poultry, pigs, and dairy. He noted that building national capacity in vaccination, disease surveillance, and market development could create greater economic opportunities for producers.

Madagascar and ILRI also reaffirmed their intent to deepen their partnership over the long term, including by continuing discussions about ILRI's institutional presence in the country and a planned roundtable to start raising the investment the master plan will require.

“South-South cooperation is not only about sharing experiences,” said Djikeng. “It is about building, together, solutions suited to the realities of each country.”

From the CGIAR directors’ visit in February to the ministerial delegation in July, one conviction runs through the partnership: transforming Madagascar's livestock sector will depend on institutions working together, generating knowledge, and adapting innovations to local conditions. Anchored in the master plan, the shared goal is to make science, innovation, and cooperation practical levers for more productive, more resilient livestock systems.

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Tropical livestock systems course equips researchers to advance Ethiopia’s dairy sector

Haimanot Seifu — Fri, 04 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Kefale Eniyew, a PhD candidate at the University of Gondar, is studying agroecological transition pathways in dairy systems under Ethiopia's extension services. These pathways are the steps farmers and communities take to shift from conventional livestock production toward more sustainable systems, balancing the need for food security and improved livelihoods with the long-term goals of climate resilience.

When Kefale joined an international course on tropical livestock systems in Hawassa, Sidama Region, the lessons complemented his academic focus. A field visit to the dairy value chain around Yirgalem in southern Ethiopia made that connection tangible, linking classroom theory with the realities of milk production, processing, and marketing.

Kefale Eniyew, a PhD candidate at the University of Gondar.

“We visited a commercial farm, a milk processing factory, a smallholder cooperative, and an agro-livestock input dealer. All these stops offered a clear picture of how the dairy value chain operates in practice, showing both the opportunities for growth and the challenges faced every day,” Kefale said.

Laying out a strategy

Ethiopia has the largest livestock population in Africa. The sector feeds families, creates jobs, and generates export earnings. Yet it stands at a crossroads. Expanding production to meet rising demand for animal-source foods risks increasing emissions and straining resources. At the same time, millions of smallholder households depend on livestock for their livelihoods.

Designing a way forward requires more than technical fixes. It calls for systems thinking; understanding how economic, environmental, and social drivers interact, and which priorities shape the response. This was the central theme of the weeklong course, “The future of tropical livestock systems”, held in Hawassa on 6–10 July 2026.

Over the five days, Kefale was one of 18 PhD candidates selected from universities across Ethiopia along with one postdoctoral researcher from Germany who engaged with lectures, expert talks and case studies covering five broad subject areas: mixed crop–livestock systems, sustainable transition pathways, integrated sustainability assessment, and social inclusion, with a focus on gender and youth.

The program opened with an introduction to systems thinking, system boundaries, components, interactions, and feedback loops. Other sessions examined dairy development at farm, value chain, and sector levels, reflecting on colonial legacies in livestock development. Climate interventions, scaling approaches, and system modeling rounded out the curriculum. Alongside lectures, participants worked in groups to analyze real livestock systems, debated sustainable development pathways, and reflected on how the material applied to their own research.

Exploring the dairy value chain

The field visits brought theory to life. JoJo, a milk processor in Yirgalem’s industry park, was the first stop. The Chinese-owned factory sources its milk locally but relies on imported sweetening ingredients. Despite having the capacity to process more than 10,000 liters of milk per day, the factory collects only around 1,200 liters daily due to the current fuel shortage.

Inside JoJo's milk processing plant. Photo credit: Haimanot Seifu/ILRI

At Sina Hara Cooperative, 450 members, including 175 women, supply milk that is quality-tested twice; at collection and again on arrival at the cooperative. With support from the government, USAID, and SNV, the cooperative provides processed feed, milk containers, cooling facilities, training of milk collectors, and links to artificial insemination (AI) and animal health services. Previously, it supplied Shola Milk, a major dairy processor in Addis Ababa, but the contract was cancelled due to the fuel shortage. Sina Hara now supplies around 500 liters a day to local restaurants and hotels.

Participant speaks with Desalegn Tilahun, a commercial dairy farmer. Photo credit: Haimanot Seifu/ILRI

Participants then visited Ato Desalegn Tilahun, a commercial dairy farmer who started with two calves and two Holstein cows in the early 1990s and has grown his flock to 22 Holstein cows, each averaging 18 liters of milk a day. Feed is his largest production cost, at USD 1,290-1,935 a year, with prices ranging from USD 41.9 to 48.4 per 0.1 ton of compound feed depending on the supplier.

At a dairy farmers' school in Mesincho Kebele, around 18 farmers meet monthly to work through a 14-topic curriculum covering cow comfort, watering, reproduction management, calf and colostrum management, and clean milk production. Their sessions are complemented by home visits and voice message reminders.

The field visit ended at a livestock input dealer on the outskirts of Hawassa, run by a Hawassa University animal science graduate supplying mixed rations, silage-making materials, and veterinary products across the Sidama region and parts of Oromia. Across the value chain, participants heard recurring concerns: rising feed and forage costs, water scarcity, low farm-gate milk prices, demand fluctuation (particularly during fasting periods), fuel shortage affecting transportation of milk to the market, and the rising cost of improved dairy cows (over USD 1,800).

The visiting delegation and the local agro-dealer exchange a token of appreciation at the close of the visit. Photo credit: Haimanot Seifu/ILRI

Strengthening capacity and collaboration

For Hawassa University, hosting the course reinforced an existing partnership with co-organizers Wageningen University & Research and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). It also underscored the university’s role in nurturing talent, with three of the 19 selected PhD candidates coming from Hawassa.

“The course also revealed gaps in Ethiopian PhD and MSc curricula, particularly around livestock system modelling. Organizers are discussing whether to make this course an annual offering, paired with joint research projects on priority livestock issues,” said Sintayehu Yigrem, associate professor at Hawassa University and one of the resource experts.

The course aligns with ILRI’s 2024–2030 strategy on partnership, capacity development, and scaling research into impact. Kindu Mekonnen, a senior scientist at ILRI who led sessions on concepts central to mixed crop–livestock systems and crop–livestock integration for climate action, noted: “Crop–livestock integration lies at the heart of climate-smart transitions in tropical livestock systems. Training the next generation of researchers with systems thinking is key to translating science into impact.”

By bringing researchers face to face with farmers, cooperatives, and businesses, the course showed how knowledge and community can work hand in hand. This training is vital for Ethiopia’s dairy industry, equipping the next generation of scientists to strengthen a sector that sustains livelihoods and food security across the country.

Acknowledgment

The Future of Tropical Livestock Systems course was organized by Wageningen University & Research, the International Livestock Research Institute (through Livestock, Climate and Environment (LCE) and Policies, Institutions and People (PPI) programs) and Hawassa University.

African ministers commit to scaling up livestock innovations to achieve greater self-reliance

Daniel Hailemichael — Fri, 04 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Kigali, September 3 — African ministers of livestock and agriculture, and their representatives from eight countries, pledged to work together to strengthen the livestock sector during a roundtable at the Africa Food Systems Forum in Kigali, Rwanda. Their goal is to strengthen livestock value chains, unlock investment, expand market and trade, and build partnerships needed to scale livestock solutions across the continent.

The pledge responds to a widening gap between Africa's potential and its performance. Africa spends between $70 billion and $100 billion on food imports annually, driven in part by lagging productivity compared to other regions. Africa holds around a fifth of the world's cattle but produces just five percent of its milk. Meanwhile, animal-source foods are the most expensive food group for Africans, for whom healthy diets are the furthest out of reach, with demand projected to grow 280 percent by 2050. Ministers agreed that closing this gap is central to food security, job creation, and economic transformation across the continent.

Ministers or their representatives from Nigeria, Uganda, Niger, Mali, Malawi, Rwanda and Ethiopia as well as Honorable Mokgweetsi Eric Keabetswe Masisi, former President of Botswana, took part in the session, convened by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR), and hosted by AGRA.

They discussed the most promising interventions for improving livestock productivity, from livestock genetics to quality feed and animal health initiatives, as well as what large-scale delivery actually requires, and the conditions needed to move from livestock plans to implementation.

The private sector was given a direct voice in the ministerial discussion. Mucai Kunyiha, Group CEO of CKL Africa, laid out what it takes for the market to deliver at scale. With ruminant vaccinations, he said, the critical challenge is not producing more doses, but to build a sustainable system in which governments, producers, manufacturers, veterinarians, communities and regional institutions continuously build together over time. “Vaccination is a system, not an event,” he said. That, he added, is what transforms a vaccination campaign into a vaccination system and unlocks private sector investment.

“Clearly Africa doesn't lack solutions for its livestock sector. What it lacks is scale and productivity. Closing this gap between what Africa produces and what it imports is the key to delivering on the promise of the continent’s $1trillion annual agribusiness potential,” said Appolinaire Djikeng, ILRI Director General. “Today's commitments show ministers are ready to move from proven innovations to the investment and regional trade that turn them into a continent-wide blueprint for self-reliance.”

Dairy served as this year's illustrative value chain, one proof point among several the Ministerial Platform will examine in future editions. Ethiopia's experience anchored the discussion: the country raised its milk production from 7.1 billion liters in 2022 to 15.7 billion liters in 2025/26, a 122 per cent increase. This was made possible through the government's Yelemat Tirufat (“Bounty of the

Basket”) initiative, with more than 36,000 new dairy villages and 5,000 dairy clusters, and new cross-border trade agreements. Ethiopia's representative was candid that feed production, though it has more than doubled over the same period, remains the binding constraint on further growth.

“Africa does not lack livestock potential. We do not lack animals. We do not lack farmers. We do not lack science and technical knowledge. We certainly do not lack demand. And, increasingly, we do not lack policy recognition. What we have lacked is the ability to connect all these pieces and deliver at scale. Africa’s livestock priority is no longer recognition. It is delivery,” explained Professor Lindiwe Majele Sibanda, Chair of Council Zimbabwe National University of Science and Technology, extraordinary Professor University of Pretoria, Co-Chair Food Planet Prize.

Ministers discussed how transformation happens only where production, trade and governance advance together, rather than as parallel tracks. This is the logic behind the Integrated Regional Livestock Value Chain (IRLVC) program, led by AU-IBAR, which is already backing more than 30 regional projects, including a dairy market program in East Africa and a regional poultry health program in West Africa, with partners including the European Union, IFAD and the World Bank.

“We already know what works. The task now is coordinating policy and trade across borders, so proven livestock solutions can scale from one country to a continent. That is what the Integrated Regional Livestock Value Chain program is built to do, and what today's commitments move us closer to,” said Dr. Huyam Salih, Director of the African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR).

Every country that took the floor asked for the Ministerial Platform to continue. The recommendation from the session is to institutionalize it as the political and learning platform for delivery of the African Union's Integrated Regional Livestock Value Chain Program — a ten-year program to 2035 reporting through the CAADP Biennial Review. Anchored in the annual Africa Food Systems Forum and building toward the First African Union Summit on Animal Resources Transformation, it would give ministers a standing role in continental delivery rather than an annual conversation.

Five priorities were identified

Financing built for livestock: patient capital and terms matched to biological production cycles.
Open borders to trade: harmonized standards, mutual recognition of certification, coordinated disease control.
Data that proves progress: national herd data, animal identification and traceability, and a shared baseline from Kigali.
Livestock's place in government: dedicated ministries, budget share against the CAADP 10% commitment, representation in AfCFTA.
Peer learning between countries: starting with the unresolved question of who pays for animal health.

Closing the session, Professor Djikeng, ILRI’s Director General, pledged that the Institute would deepen its engagement with governments between Forums: “It is my pledge that our institution will continue to participate in this — in between, not just when we meet at the next forum” adding that ILRI will continue to work closely with AU-IBAR to support delivery on commitments made during the livestock ministerial roundtable.

For more information or for interview requests, contact

Anne-Marie Schryer-Roy

Team Leader, Strategic Communications and Outreach

About ILRI

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) works to improve people’s lives in low- and middle-income countries through livestock science that contributes to equitable and resilient livestock systems to deliver food systems transformation with climate and environmental benefits. It is the only one of 15 CGIAR research centers dedicated entirely to animal agriculture research for the developing world. Co-hosted by Kenya and Ethiopia, it has regional or country offices and projects in East, South and Southeast Asia as well as Central, East, Southern and West Africa. www.ilri.org

About AU-IBAR

The African Union InterAfrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) is a specialised technical office of the African Union Commission's Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment.Established in 1951 and headquartered in Nairobi,Kenya, AU-IBAR provides continental leadership on animal health, livestock value chains, fisheries and aquaculture, and pastoral systems. Through the Integrated Regional Livestock Value Chain programme, it works with Member States, Regional Economic Communities and partners to scale proven livestock solutions and strengthen regional trade. www.au-ibar.org

New report makes the investment case for the world's rangelands

Anne-Marie Sch… — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Rangelands Rising, launched at UNCCD COP17, calls on investors and governments to recognize the world’s largest overlooked landscape and to back the 500 million pastoralists who sustain it

Rangelands cover more than half the planet's land surface, hold a third of its key biodiversity areas and generate benefits worth an estimated US$21–47 trillion a year (up to US$5,000 per hectare). Yet these landscapes remain almost invisible to the people who finance and govern the natural world. A new global report launched today at the 17th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) makes the economic case for investing in rangelands and recognizes the labor and stewardship of the 500 million pastoralists who manage them.

Rangelands Rising: Investing in Sustainable Management and Restoration—published by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), GIZ, the Economics of Land Degradation Initiative, UNCCD and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)—overturns a century-old assumption. Mobile livestock herding has long been blamed for driving land degradation.

Research increasingly demonstrates that many rangelands have evolved with grazing and that well-managed pastoral systems have created and maintained some of the world's most biodiverse landscapes. Yet that stewardship is under growing strain, as drought intensifies and grazing land is lost to crop expansion, urban encroachment and fragmentation.

“For too long, the world has looked at rangelands and seen empty, degraded land, and looked at pastoralists and seen a problem to be fixed,” said Prof. Appolinaire Djikeng, Director General, ILRI. “The evidence tells a different story. These are among the most valuable landscapes on Earth, and the people who manage them are their frontline investors.”

Far from being the wasteland they are often taken for, rangelands are a mainstay of the food supply, producing high-value animal protein — meat, milk and more — from land that could not support crops without heavy and costly inputs. In Sub-Saharan Africa, pastoralism contributes an estimated 5–10% of national GDP and accounts for 15–40% of the value added in agriculture. But their full worth — in water, carbon, biodiversity and protection against drought — stays invisible to markets. The cost of that neglect is steep. Land degradation drains trillions of dollars a year in lost services, while restoring rangelands typically returns US$4–6 for every dollar invested, and, where public benefits such as water supply are counted, as much as 36 to one.

The report's most striking economic finding is a mismatch between who does the work and who captures the value. In Jordan, reviving a traditional practice of resting grazing land returned just US$0.80 for every dollar the herders themselves spent. But the return to Jordanian society as a whole was 18 to one, driven mainly by groundwater recharge.

It is a vivid illustration of the report's central argument. Pastoralists are already the primary investors in rangelands, putting in labour, knowledge, livestock and generations of stewardship, yet they cannot capture the value they create for everyone else. Public investment is needed to reward that stewardship and unlock the private capital that follows.

“We are not asking for rangelands to be treated as a special case. We are asking for them to be counted. A landscape worth up to US$47 trillion a year cannot remain a blank space on the investment map,” Jonathan Davies, co-author of the report and independent rangelands researcher.

For governments, the report also reframes a familiar budget line. Drought response is overwhelmingly reactive, with aid typically arriving well into a crisis, after families have already started to lose their animals. The bill can be enormous: drought relief reached an estimated 7% of national GDP in Niger during the 2021 crisis. Yet, one evaluation cited in the report found that every US$1 spent on timely support is worth an estimated US$3 in later humanitarian spending. The report's central call to funders and finance ministries is to shift from paying for disasters to investing in resilient rangeland management before they strike.

The report also guides where money should go, noting that the strongest returns come not from the most degraded land, but from restoring lightly to moderately degraded rangelands. Restoring the latter can cost as little as US$20 per hectare, against more than US$70,000 for severely degraded land. It also cautions against “green” fixes — planting trees on natural grassland, or ploughing drylands for crops — that often damage ecosystems adapted to open grazing. For most drylands, the smartest investment works with the pastoral systems already there rather than replacing them.

But money alone is not the answer. The report is clear that financial investment on its own often fails without the conditions that let it work: secure land rights, strong community institutions and inclusive governance. Where tenure is contested or pastoralists are shut out of decisions, restoration funding may go to waste. Where rights are secure and communities lead, it endures. Getting the governance right, the report argues, is as important as the finance itself.

“Rangelands are not marginal landscapes. They cover more than half of the world’s land and are fundamental to food security, biodiversity, water security and resilience to drought,” said Dr. Barron Joseph Orr, UNCCD Chief Scientist. “This report shows that investing in rangelands is not simply about restoring degraded land. It is about recognizing the value of these ecosystems and supporting the pastoralists whose knowledge and management have sustained them for generations. As governments gather at UNCCD COP17, the evidence provides a strong case for putting rangelands more firmly into land restoration, drought resilience and investment decisions.”

The climate opportunity hiding in plain sight

The report makes the case that rangelands’ neglect is the starkest when it comes to climate policy. The word “rangelands” appears in the national climate plans of just 24 countries under the Paris Agreement; “forests” appear in the plans of 181 countries.

That blind spot overlooks two climate services rangelands already provide at scale: they are a vast carbon store and they are one of the world's most effective natural defences against drought.

Rangelands offer mitigation, adaptation and resilience to climate change from a single investment across more than half the planet's land. Writing rangelands into national climate plans, and directing climate finance towards them, represents one of the largest and most cost-effective opportunities for governments and investors seeking greater climate returns.

The report’s launch comes during the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists and at UNCCD COP17 in Mongolia, one of the world's great pastoral nations, where the future of rangelands and the communities who depend on them is a major focus of the conference agenda. The findings bring new economic evidence to COP17 discussions on land restoration, drought resilience and sustainable rangeland management.

Notes to editors

Funding: This work was funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Interviews with report authors and pastoralist representatives are available before and during the launch.
Media contact: Anne-Marie Schryer-Roy, ILRI, a.schryer-roy@cgiar.org

Read the full report: Rangelands Rising: Investing in Sustainable Management an…

A roadmap for scaling improved indigenous chicken breeds across Kenya

Susan MacMillan — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000

The chicken gap

In Kenya today, farmers and county officials wanting to buy one of Kenya's three well-known improved indigenous chicken breeds—KC1, KC2, or KC3—routinely have to wait up to three months. The demand is real, broad, and growing as the country’s counties order the chicks in bulk to support livelihood programs and more and more smallholders invest in locally adapted dual-purpose chicken enterprises, which can grow from a backyard flock of 20 birds to a professional operation of thousands within a few years.

Yet supply of these highly desired breeds persistently falls short. The Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), which developed and maintains the KC breeds, has been unable to consistently meet the demand for them. The gap is due not to any failure in KALRO’s breeding work but rather to insufficient infrastructure to commercialize the breeds.

That infrastructure gap was the subject of a 2.5-day workshop held in Naivasha, Kenya, in May 2026. Organized by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and KALRO and attended by researchers, hatchery operators, county government officials, private-sector poultry actors, development partners, cooperatives, agro-dealers, and NGOs, the workshop set out to convert the KC breeds from promising research products to profitable rural enterprises.

The breeds

The KC1, KC2, and KC3 breeds were developed by KALRO over many years. They are dual-purpose birds, producing both eggs and meat, and do so while remaining adapted to Kenyan conditions in ways that exotic commercial breeds cannot match.

KALRO’s genetically improved dual-purpose chicken breeds (left to right)—KC1 (black-and-white spotted plumage), KC2 (predominantly black), and KC3 (brown)—were developed to deliver high yields of both meat and eggs to Kenya’s millions of smallholder farmers (photo credit: KALRO).

KC1 is valued for its hardiness, early maturity, scavenging ability, and low feed requirements. KC2 is a higher productivity breed, with strong weight gain, high egg numbers and egg weight, and disease tolerance. KC3 is fast-growing and high-laying and has achieved strong market and cultural acceptance, particularly in western Kenya.

What unites the three breeds is the growing demand for them. Christian Tiambo, an animal breeding and genetics scientist at the Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH) and ILRI’s Livestock Genetics, Nutrition and Feed Resources (LGNFR) program who has worked with KALRO for many years, explains. “The breeds are wanted and outperform many others in the country’s smallholder and low-input systems. And consumers, who find the local birds tastier than exotic commercial lines, are willing to pay twice the normal market price for them.”

A new role for KALRO

Until now, KALRO has functioned both as the developer of the chicken breeds and as their primary distributor, selling the birds directly to farmers and county governments. The Naivasha workshop established a clear alternative. KALRO should no longer operate as a direct-sales chicken producer, the workshop participants agreed. Instead, it should function as the genetic and quality authority at the center of a broad poultry network.

Evans Ilatsia, KALRO’s deputy director for livestock, at the workshop (photo credit: ILRI/Susan MacMillan).

As explained by Evans Ilatsia, KALRO’s deputy director for livestock: “In this ‘controlled hybrid model’, KALRO retains exclusive control over the nucleus flocks, parent stock, breed standards, certification, and the KC breed brand. Licensed private hatcheries, accredited multipliers, county governments, cooperatives, agro-dealers, savings and credit cooperative organizations (SACCOs), and NGOs take on the scaling functions of multiplying and distributing the birds, supporting and supplying chicken farmers with inputs, and linking the farmers to markets.”

In this way, KALRO produces parent stock that flows to licensed hatcheries that produce day-old chicks, which move through brooding and mother units to aggregated distribution channels, and from there to farmers, cooperatives, and ultimately markets. Each link in the chain has a defined owner. KALRO anchors the chain at its genetic source, certifying the quality of what flows from it.

Fara Ratalata, who leads business development and industry engagement at ILRI, and a graphic of Kenya's commercial chicken value chain (photo credit: ILRI/Susan MacMillan).

Finding, and fixing, the bottlenecks in scaling

The second day of the workshop made use of a structured, step-by-step method developed by CGIAR for determining both the readiness of an innovation for going to scale and the surrounding “enabling factors” that must be in place for that scaling to happen. What CGIAR’s Innovation Packaging and Scaling Readiness analysis made clear was that the KC breeds themselves are not what is constraining their wide use. The bottleneck, rather, lies in the “systems”—in the organizational, financial, legal, and informational infrastructure needed for KALRO’s innovation to scale.

Graphic showing the 10 levels of an innovation's use, a component of CGIAR's IPSR framework (credit: ILRI and CGIAR).

Nucleus flock: The first and most foundational need is to restructure the grandparent breeding program to provide a stable genetic core. ILRI has offered KALRO its support in developing expanded breeder populations, controlled mating protocols, rigorous performance recording, and strong biosecurity on KALRO’s on-station facilities.

Franchise model: A formal franchise and licensing architecture is also needed. A workshop-proposed “KALRO Chicken Franchise Model” would establish who is accredited to multiply and distribute the breeds, under what operational standards, with what reporting obligations, and with what consequences for non-compliance.

Data systems: Data and traceability systems are also needed. The workshop proposed a “Chicken Data Intelligence System” to track birds from nucleus flock to farm, enable performance monitoring, and give franchise operators near-real-time intelligence about supply, quality, and farmer outcomes.

Contracts: Already existing contracts and memoranda of understanding with multipliers, county governments, feed millers, SACCOs, and NGOs need to be fully activated.

Staffing: In partnership with universities and ILRI, KALRO needs to recruit and train more breeders able to run a sustained genetic improvement program.

Financing: Many small-scale farmers are too poor to buy the birds, feed, and infrastructure needed to become commercial operators. The workshop proposed providing financial support through a “Rural Kenya Credit Guarantee Scheme” and other models as well as group purchasing mechanisms through cooperatives and SACCOs.

As Fara Ratalata, who leads business development and industry engagement at ILRI, put it: “A stronger, healthier, and productive KALRO chicken isn’t just a genetics upgrade—it’s real money in real pockets. KALRO and ILRI are scaling more than a chicken breed—we’re scaling farmers’ incomes.”

The big ambition declared by the workshop participants..

The tangible opportunity

The growing demand for the KC1, KC2, and KC3 chicken breeds is one of Kenya's most tangible opportunities for simultaneously raising smallholder income, improving household nutrition, and creating jobs, particularly for young people and women. Joining up relevant research expertise, scaling methodology, and commercial logic, the new KC breed portfolio offers a practical structured path to meet that demand.

Participants of the workshop (photo credit: ILRI/Susan MacMillan).

Acknowledgements

The May 2026 Naivasha workshop was supported by ILRI's livestock genetics team, including new staff with expertise in commercial poultry systems; by ILRI’s Impact at Scale program, which includes experts in the CGIAR IPSR method used in the workshop; and by a new CGIAR “Scaling Hub for East and Southern Africa”, which is led by the CGIAR Scaling for Impact program and hosted at ILRI’s Nairobi campus.

See a comprehensive report of the Naivasha Workshop results and business plan. Further descriptions of all three new KALRIO breeds appears in a Jul 2026 article in the Star newspaper: Kalro now unveils improved indigenous chicken breeds. For more information, contact the authors, Ijudai Jasada (i.jasada [at] cigar.org) and Nicoletta Buono (n.buono [at] cigar.org).

Farmer-to-farmer learning helps Kenyan dairy producers adapt to new climate realities

Grace Oduor — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000

When more than 100 dairy farmers recently gathered on a 10-acre farm in the quiet hills of Lulusik village in Bomet County, they did not come to listen to government extension workers or agricultural researchers. Instead, they came to learn from three innovative farmers, known as adaptation pioneer farmers.

With climate change impacts intensifying in Kenya, a few resourceful farmers are developing effective adaptation techniques. As local experts, they are well placed to share what works with others in their communities.

“The success of the adaptation pioneer farmer model lies in its simplicity. Farmers identify practical solutions that work under local conditions, evaluate them on their own farms, and then share them with neighbors,” explained Emmaculate Kiptoo, a research associate with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI).

ILRI and its partners are supporting farmer-led field days for adaptation pioneer farmers to share their innovations with their communities, enabling even more farmers to maintain productive livestock systems under changing climate conditions.

An adaptation pioneer farmer shares climate solutions

Joseph Bett is one of the adaptation pioneer farmers who hosted a field day in Bomet County.

“We decided to host the field day because we wanted other farmers to benefit from what we have learned,” said Bett. “I wanted them to know how to better feed their livestock and how to plan for times of scarcity. I showed them how to do rotational grazing through paddocks, how to make silage, and how to grow nutritious feeds to cope with the dry spells that are becoming longer and more unpredictable. Many were surprised that some of the resources needed were already available on their own farms.”

Farmers learning about silage making from Pioneer Farmer Joseph Bett. Photo credit: ILRI/Polycarp Onyango

By relying on diverse feed strategies, Bett ensures that his 20 Ayrshire and Friesian cattle have a balanced diet throughout the year. During normal times, the animals graze on his seven paddocks, covering about 7.5 acres.

“Pasture plays a very important role on this farm, because it is our primary source of livestock feed, and without pasture our livestock cannot do very well,” Bett said.

Bett also gives his cows a mix of high-protein feeds such as sesbania, lucerne, and sweetpotato vines. An earth dam guarantees access to water throughout the year, and tools to cut and mix fodder help optimize the nutritional content of feed.

In combination, these solutions mean that Bett gets around 10 liters of milk per cow per day — more than what most farmers achieve.

“We need to treat dairy farming as a business,” Bett said. “At the end of the day, we need income for school fees and other family needs. So, our goal is to keep fewer cows that are better fed and more productive.”

Adaptation pioneer farmers boost agricultural extension services

According to Cheruiyot Langat, Bomet County director of livestock production, the adaptation pioneer farmer model is changing how counties such as Nandi and Bomet are reaching communities through agricultural extension services:

“This strategy has become an eye-opener for our extension officers and for the county at large. We have noted that farmers are very interested in learning from other farmers. When the pioneer farmers share information in the local language, with real on-farm demonstrations, other farmers understand it better and are more convinced to adopt those practices. Also, our extension workers are few and can only be in one place for a brief period, but the pioneer farmers remain within the community.”

One participant in the farmer field day was Caroline Tanui, a dairy farmer from the nearby Sachangwan village:

“The field day has been a great day for me because I have learned a lot from other farmers. I discovered better ways of making and storing silage and learned about high-protein livestock feed crops like lucerne and desmodium. I know I will implement these practices and also teach others who could not attend.”

She left the gathering with contact details for people working in artificial insemination, savings groups, and other farm enterprises.

Caroline, a farmer in Bomet County, on her farm. She participated in a farmer-led field day, where she learned alot from other farmers. Photo credit: ILRI/Polycarp Onyango.

The field days also enable adaptation pioneer farmers to generate additional income by selling fodder planting materials and livestock-related products to visitors, while their guests leave with new ideas they can implement immediately.

Building lasting change

Since 2022, ILRI — through its HABITAT project and previous initiatives — has supported more than 25 farmer-led field days in Bomet County. In May 2026 alone, six field days reached close to 1,000 people, with participation from the County Government of Bomet, Kenya Animal Genetic Resources Centre, Equity Group Foundation, and Sistema.bio.

Farmers learning about silage making from Pioneer Farmer Joseph Bett. Photo credit: ILRI/Polycarp Onyango

ILRI and its partners are documenting lessons from the adaptation pioneer farmer model to strengthen farmer-led field days and support wider use of locally developed climate adaptation solutions. Drawing on these lessons, the Bomet and Nandi County governments are developing guidelines to integrate the farmer-to-farmer learning approach into the extension system and explore its use beyond the dairy sector.

To Bett, the adaptation pioneer, success is defined not only by the performance of his own farm, but also by the progress of those around him. His belief is simple: when one farmer succeeds, an entire community can benefit. And in Bomet County, his dairy farm is showing that the most effective path to stronger, more climate-resilient livestock systems may begin with farmers learning from fellow farmers.

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