April was a busy month – but then again, all months are busy!

Workshop on Delivery of Animal Health Services in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands

On 10-11 April, ILRI hosted a workshop on the delivery of animal health services in the arid and semi-arid lands of Kenya, organized by Henry Kiara and colleagues. I was privileged to welcome the participants at the opening of the workshop, which was part of an ongoing project with a range of partners. The focus of the workshop was reviewing the policy, legal and regulatory framework surrounding veterinary and animal health service delivery and the role of the public and private sector. It was recognized that much of the regulation is out of date and may mitigate against investment from the private sector. Although I could not attend the whole workshop, I was struck by the openness amongst all the participants – central government, county governments, veterinary profession, private companies – to work together to ensure better and more effective animal health service delivery, including working together on regulatory reform.

Seminar on the Nagoya Protocol

The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (ABS) is an addition to the Convention on Biological Diversity and entered into force on 12 October 2014. ILRI must comply with the national ABS regulations of countries (providers of genetic resources) which have ratified the Nagoya Protocol and that have implementing ABS laws, as well as the ABS regulations of countries of utilization such as the EU.

The Nagoya Protocol and national laws apply to genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge and the benefits arising from their utilization for research and commercialization activities.

On 11 April, Linda Opati gave a seminar on the protocol in Nairobi, with several staff and partners joining online. She explained that ILRI’s activities related to the conservation, research and distribution of plants and forages generally fall under the International Treaty on the use of Plant Resources for Food and Agriculture, which is an internationally recognized ABS system in itself. However, ILRI’s research utilizing animal genetic resources (AnGR), falls under the Nagoya Protocol and national ABS compliance requirements. These activities include:

• Field sampling and acquisition of genetic resources of animals, crops, forages, wild relatives for inclusion in the forages and animal genetic resources genebanks or breeding programs.
• Acquisition from different sources in different contexts e.g. collaborations with national partners for new collecting missions to obtain materials from in situ conditions in farmers’ fields or protected areas.
• In the context of joint research and breeding programs, genetic resources may be acquired from national agricultural research organizations, universities, private companies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), farmers and other private individuals.

Further information on the Nagoya Protocol and how it affects ILRI can be obtained from Linda Opati or Ephy Khaemba. More details on the protocol can be found here.

Courtesy call to the new Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture and Irrigation in Kenya

Romano Kiome, Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri, Jimmy Smith, myself and Chief Administrative Secretary, Andrew Tuimur (photo credit: ILRI).

On 16 April, Jimmy, Romano and I made a courtesy call to the new Cabinet Secretary at Kenya’s Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, Hon Mwangi Kiunjuri in the presence of the Agriculture Chief Administrative Secretary and our Board Member, Andrew Tuimur.

Board meeting

The ILRI Board of Trustees met in Addis Ababa on 22-25 April. As secretary of the Program Committee I worked closely with the new chair of the committee, Martyn Jeggo, on the agenda and the preparation for the meeting. During the ‘retreat’, which is an informal meeting held the day before the start of the formal board meeting, I gave a presentation on how ILRI’s research has evolved over the past 10-15 years, highlighting areas we have dropped, new research topics and how, even if some of the topics we work on might have the same title, the way we approach them is totally different. Livestock genetics and climate change are good examples of this.

AVCD National Conference

I gave the welcome address at the AVCD National Conference (photo credit: ILRI).

The Accelerated Value Chain Development (AVCD) National Conference: Developing Value Chains to Farming as Business with Technology and Innovations in Kenya was held at ILRI Nairobi on 26-27 April. The AVCD Program is a USD25 million program, part of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-supported Feed the Future Program in Kenya which aims to improve several key agricultural value chains in Kenya: dairy; drought-tolerant staple crops (sorghum/millet and root crop systems) and pulses for the semi-arid areas; and livestock in arid and semi-arid lands of northern Kenya. It is led by ILRI along with the International Potato Center (CIP) and the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) with many partners from central government, county governments, NGOs, community-based organizations, and private companies. The conference was to showcase the achievements of the program, discuss lessons learned and consider the program sustainability. It was a huge success and a real highlight for the CGIAR Centres and partners involved.

HE Uhuru Kenyatta, president of Kenya, addressing exhibitors at the AVCD National Conference (photo credit: USAID).

The program was informative, exciting and stimulating. The stories told by the partners were inspiring: from a lady who now has a thriving business making and selling Brachiaria hay, to the county governments implementing electronic surveillance of animal diseases. It is estimated that from the USD25 million investment that the added value of the program is already USD88 million and it has still 6 months to run. The highlight of the conference was the visit and address by the President of the Republic of Kenya, His Excellency Uhuru Kenyatta, who emphasized how his government wants to use science to drive the growth of the agriculture sector. Congratulations to all who contributed to this great event.

Till next month.

Iain