I recently made my first visit to Pakistan in over 9 years.  I worked on a project in Pakistan over 10 years ago, before I joined ILRI.  We now have a new project, funded by USAID ($30M over 4 years), led by CIMMYT working with IRRI, AVRDC, University of California, Davis and ICARDA which involves undertaking research to improve the performance of Pakistan’s agricultural sector and building research capacity.  ILRI leads the livestock component of the project which will focus on dairy and small ruminant value chains, fodder and rangelands.

I also made my first visit to Uganda to see the work of the Smallholder Pig Value Chain Development Project. After spending two days at a partner workshop to consider impact pathways and at which the wide range of participants agreed to establish a national pig platform, I visited a number of pig farmers in one of the project sites. The challenges and opportunities are similar to those facing the smallholder pig farmers that I worked with in NE India.

This month Azage Tegegne was recognized by his for former university in Australia, James Cook University which selected him as a 2013 Outstanding Alumnus. Azage will receive his award later in July. We all congratulate Azage in this achievement.

On 25 June we presented the new ILRI strategy to a group of stakeholders in Ethiopia.  This was part of a series of meetings in different regions at which Shirley Tarawali is presenting the strategy and receiving feedback.  The meeting was well attended with a range of stakeholders including donors, development projects, NGOs and research partners.  The strategy was well received and discussions focused on the implications for Ethiopia.  The participants welcomed ILRI’s commitment to working with partners and to ensure that our research outputs result in outcomes and impact.