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Opportunities for international research and development through the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Livestock Systems
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) awarded the University of Florida (UF) Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) a $49 million, five-year cooperative agreement to establish the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Livestock Systems. The grant supports USAID’s agricultural research and capacity building work under Feed the Future, the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative. The Livestock Systems Innovation Lab is led by UF/IFAS in partnership with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI).
The objective of the Livestock Systems Innovation Lab is to achieve sustainable improvements in livestock productivity and marketing to increase the incomes, nutrition and health of vulnerable livestock holders. The Livestock Systems Innovation Lab will design, lead and implement a program of livestock research for development and capacity building aimed at addressing key opportunities in the livestock sector, including those created from the increasing demand for Animal-Source Foods due to population growth, urbanization and rising incomes.
The primary focus of the Livestock Systems Innovation Lab will be in in East Africa, West Africa and South Asia.
The four Areas of Inquiry (AOI) of the Livestock Systems Innovation Lab are as follows:
Future Livestock Systems; Animal-Source Foods (ASF) Production and Marketing, Livestock Disease Management and Food Safety, and Enabling Policies for Livestock. Across these Areas of Inquiry, the Livestock Systems Innovation Lab will integrate the following cross-cutting themes:
The Role of Gender in Livestock Systems Research, Human Health and Nutrition, and Human and Institutional Capacity Development.
The Livestock Systems Innovation Lab is led by a Management Entity at UF/IFAS, with Regional Coordinators at ILRI centers in each of the target regions. The research will be mainly conducted through competitive sub-awards. The Management Entity engaged stakeholders in the livestock and public health industries in Nepal, Ethiopia Tanzania and Rwanda in a participatory research for development prioritization exercise in Spring 2016 and released a Request for Applications in April 2016. Another Request for Applications will be tentatively released in September 2016 seeking proposals for research for development projects in Mali, Burkina Faso and Cambodia, subject to USAID approval. These competitions are open to any qualified research, educational, governmental, private sector or non-profit institution. The projects selected for funding will fall within the objectives of the Livestock Systems Innovation Lab and contribute to the overall Feed the Future goals of reducing global hunger and improving food security.
Keywords: livestock, research, animal-source foods