October 4, 2022

Roslin: CTLGH award helps bring genetic gains to smallholders

The Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health (CTLGH) has been awarded a further US$17.4 million of funding to support its work over the next five years in bringing the benefits of research in genetics to livestock production in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), the Roslin Institute, a founding partner of CTLGH, announced last month.

Building on the success of the first phase of CTLGH's work, the organisation has been awarded US$14 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and US$3.4 million from the United Kingdom through the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO).

The funding will be applied in partnership with a global network of farmer-facing organisations, to deliver the benefits of genetic gains in dairy cattle, poultry and other livestock.

Experts at CTLGH's nodes in Scotland, Kenya and Ethiopia will seek to apply insights from research into genetics to enable purpose bred animals that are more productive, healthy, feed efficient and resilient to climatic and environmental challenges, thus supporting the livelihoods of tropical livestock producers.

The funding tranche supports the CTLGH's current strategic plan, which will focus on the development of tools and innovations for resilient livestock smallholder systems over the next decade.

The Roslin Institute and CTLGH's other founding partner, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), will focus on research, capacity building and knowledge exchange to leverage partnerships and deliver strategic objectives.

CTLGH was established to harness advances in genetics, genomics, animal breeding and data science that are driving and sustaining genetic progress in advanced economies and apply them to livestock production systems in LMIC nations.

The launch of CTLGH's new phase was announced at an event at ILRI's headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.

- Roslin Institute