Drs Rushton and Haesler will be working on the following project: Livestock 2012 - Urgency, Innovation, Action - Economics in Africa, along with Tom Randolph and Steve Staal at ILRI.

Dr Rushton explains what it will involve: "Africa is dynamic and has dynamism, evidenced by its growing populations and cities, the evolving cultural dynamics and the growing economies. These all imply a growing market for livestock products and the need for livestock food and product systems to adapt to meet new demands. The challenge is what institutional environment would provide the best opportunities for the people involved (and who want to be involved) in livestock inputs, production, processing and marketing to benefit. How do we harness the dynamism in the continent to ensure that livestock are a potential route out of poverty? Answering this question requires a wider look at the livestock sector than is normally taken. It requires reviewing the literature on economics, development, animal science and animal health, and exploring the innovations that are emerging within these bodies of literature.

"Three key areas will be covered in the review: understanding the differences in the economics of Africa; identifying the critical role of livestock within the African economies; and how these livestock are linked to the lives of poor African people. Therefore we will look from a macro scale moving to the lives and livelihoods of the poor and women within Africa. This will provide a basis of a final paper that examines how livestock production and its associated value chains can provide hope to poor people and give them opportunities towards a more certain and sustainable future."