ISSN 2027-1238
E-Newsletter No. 7
April 2010

CIAT's pioneering work to improve guinea pig production as a way of improving food security in war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) attracted international media attention recently. The story was covered in the New York Times, Washington Post, as well as BBC news and radio, and the Guardian newspaper.

It follows the surprise discovery last year of the rodents—native to South America—being kept as "micro-livestock" by rural households in the troubled North and South Kivu districts of the Central African country. It is hoped that improving production could increase the quality and quantity of guinea pig meat, providing rural communities with a much-needed source of protein and micronutrients in a country with some of the highest incidences of malnutrition in the world.

More information