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Welcome to ‘The Boma’—a new podcast about livestock in the developing world—the cattle, camels, sheep, goats, pigs and poultry—that provide billions of people with nutrition, income, resources and livelihoods. How can small scale livestock systems be sustainable, as well as profitable? How can they help protect the environment? Do they harm or enhance human health? Check out The Boma to hear diverse perspectives on some of the hottest topics debated today and dive deep into the best and latest scientific research on livestock and development. ****** The Boma is hosted by Global Livestock Advocacy for Development (GLAD), a project of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
27 Episodes
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Across the world, millions of people eat a 'hidden meat' - bushmeat, or wild meat. But handling or eating bushmeat can pose a higher risk of transmitting zoonotic disease - diseases which affect both animals and humans. This episode looks at a pioneering study led by scientist Ekta Patel of ILRI that investigates how people understand that risk - and whether that understanding changes eating habits. Read more: New study assesses disease risk perceptions of wild meat at the border of...
Is there a conflict between supporting animal welfare, and supporting the wellbeing of the world's poor? Can we talk about animal welfare in the same way in the global North and South? Or are there important moral distinctions to be made? To explore these questions we're joined by Peter Singer, an Australian philosopher and bioethicist, Rebecca Doyle, who leads ILRI’s efforts on animal welfare, and Michel Dione, a senior scientist in Animal Health at ILRI.Further reading:Peter Singer:One...
In the second of our episodes featuring writer Roger Thurow, we hear about what inspired his most recent book, 'The First 1000 Days'. What exactly is this crucial period of life - and what is its impact on the rest of a child's life?Malnutrition is a terrible burden to bear, but as Thurow warns, it ultimately affects us all. Further reading and listening:Roger Thurow | The Chicago Council on Global AffairsListen to our podcast featuring child nutrition expert Lora Iannotti from Season 2 of Th...
Roger Thurow is a senior fellow for global agriculture and food policy for the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. He writes about many of the same issues that animate the work at the International Livestock Research Institute - nutrition, development, hunger, and aid for subsistence farmers. As a writer, Thurow conveys what the lives of the poor are like in vivid, granular detail. We hear from him about what inspired him to focus on these issues - and how he has seen the lives of smallholder ...
Where does digital technology fit in with livestock farming? Can flying animal vaccines in by drone to remote regions help address gender inequality? Find out on this special episode of The Boma!In this podcast, we hear about the barriers to digital technology and farming difficulties that women face, then follow how ILRI and the CGIAR are working to close that divide from the example of an innovative vaccine-delivery project in Ghana.We hear from Agnes Loriba, program lead and Ghana project ...
Every director general knows, at the time they are appointed, exactly when they're supposed to leave because their appointment letter tells them so, says Jimmy Smith, who has been the director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) for the past 11 years. But "I didn't realise how difficult it would be to say goodbye to ILRI and the staff."In this special episode of The Boma, Jimmy reflects on his time as director general, the state of the livestock sector, and ...
"You guys are coming when we have really suffered, when we have lost half of our herd and also when the vultures are descending from the sky."So said a Kenyan pastoralist at a meeting about drought response. What is being done to anticipate drought, rather than to deal with the consequences? In this episode we look at the effects of the ongoing drought in the Horn of Africa, with 17 million people facing hunger and a fifth rainy season on the way. Experts from the Jameel Observato...
In 2014 a survey found that a quarter of children under 5 in Siaya County, western Kenya, were stunted. Stunting creates lifelong, chronic health issues and worse mental development. Better nutrition can help avoid stunting, but can be a struggle for families that are already lacking money, resources and access to support.What if there was a way to empower families by improving a simple resource they already have? Such as chickens, a small but ubiquitous livestock in rural communities. But pr...
Droughts have always occurred in the Horn of Africa, but in the past few years they have begun happening much more frequently. An award-winning scheme of index-based livestock insurance could provide a lifeline for millions of pastoralists whose livelihoods are affected by drought. There is no need to wait for a drought to become severe, for animals to die, or people to starve. Instead this scheme can help resilent pastoralists deal with climate shocks before they happen.Presenters Bren...
Many countries locked down in the burgeoning COVID-19 pandemic, trying to protect the public from infections and illness. But a new wave of research is examining how containment measures came with costs, too. Particularly for the 1 in 12 people in the world who are also smallholder farmers, responsible for producing most of the food in low- or middle-income countries.Brenda Coromina and Elliot Carleton hear from ILRI scientist Jim Hammond, whose team interviewed nearly 10,000 farmers across n...
"I’ve learned that using the simplest words doesn’t make you less of a scientist. It can actually make you a great scientist."Sarah Nyanchera Nyakeri is an MSc fellow at the International Livestock Research Institute where she is researching the development of a better vaccine for contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP). She is also the winner of the recent ILRI CapDev challenge which seeks to find the best science communicators amongst the next generation of livestock researchers. She is al...
In the early 1900s, cattle herds across South Africa were devastated by a new livestock disease. Today, more than 100 years later, that disease is called East Coast fever, and despite scientists' best efforts to control it, the disease continues to devastate cattle and livelihoods across the dozen African countries where it is endemic. In this episode, presenters Elliot Carleton and Brenda Coromina speak with ILRI scientist Vish Nene as they examine what makes East Coast fever such a dev...
Little is known about how bacteria spread through different sections of a city. Now the most extensive study of its kind uncovers some critical answers of how bacteria move through Nairobi, lessons that could have implications for the wider world. After all, what is being seen in Nairobi today could easily be in New York or Paris by tomorrow morning.Presenters Elliot Carleton and Brenda Coromina hear from ILRI scientists Dishon Muloi and Eric Fèvre as they find out how urbanisation could prod...
If you're not a researcher, why should you care about science? Why does science communication matter to research?In the second of a two-parter featuring ILRI Emeritus Fellow Susan MacMillan, Brenda Coromina and Elliot Carleton question what the difference is between science communication, and science advocacy, finding out how the International Livestock Research Institute's (ILRI) communications have changed over the years, and why. "We're not science for science's sake," says Susan of I...
Susan MacMillan knows why livestock matter. An ILRI Emeritus Fellow, she has led public awareness and advocacy communications at ILRI for nearly 33 years. In the latest episode of The Boma, Elliot Carleton and Brenda Coromina find out how Susan went from being an Ohio native who had never even glimpsed a living cow, to becoming one of the most passionate advocates for livestock farming in developing countries today. In a wide-ranging and informative talk she explains how the modern stigma aga...
Livestock provide vital nutrition and income for numerous households in developing countries. And it's often women who do the bulk of the work caring for the animals. But this doesn't mean they reap the benefits. In many communities, women are excluded from making management decisions about livestock, like when to sell them, or how to treat them. They also don't get to control the income that the livestock generate, or the valuable livestock products made. And this is particularly the case fo...
There's a growing problem across the world, one that could make keeping livestock outdoors almost impossible in just a few decades, and jeopardize the health and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people. That problem is heat stress, caused by rising temperatures and global warming. It's a serious problem which is already affecting livestock health and welfare, particularly in outdoor farming, and subtropical or tropical zones. In the last episode of this season, presenters Brenda Co...
As long as we have had ways to destroy microbes, microbes have been fighting back. Alexander Fleming, who discovered the world's first antibiotic, penicillin, warned that misusing antibiotics could lead to antimicrobial resistance (AMR). He was right. Today AMR can be found worldwide and is a serious problem. If it is not tackled now, by 2050 one person will die every three seconds because of AMR.The Boma presenters Brenda Coromina and Elliot Carleton explore how resistance develops...
Livestock farmers use antibiotics to treat infections in their animals, and may also use them as a preventative. But overuse of antibiotics can create 'superbugs' - antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) bacteria which threaten human lives and wellbeing, as well as those of livestock animals.Presenters Brenda Coromina and Elliot Carleton explore one approach that ILRI scientists are taking to combat the AMR problem - phages. These 'bacteria-eating' viruses, which naturally exist in the environment, ar...
As the pandemic pushes global malnutrition to rates not seen in more than a decade, how can livestock products like milk, meat and eggs help? And how do we weigh the nutritional benefits of livestock, particularly in the developing world, against the fact that livestock can be a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions?In this episode of The Boma, presenters Brenda Coromina and Elliot Carleton talk to Lora Iannotti, a specialist in child and maternal nutrition, as they explore why conte...
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