Prof. Alan Duncan
Visiting Professor of Livestock & Development

- The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies
- Global Academy of Agriculture and Food Systems
Contact details
- Tel: +44(0)131 650 6096
- Email: alan.duncan@ed.ac.uk
Address
- Street
-
Global Academy of Agriculture and Food Systems
The University of Edinburgh
Easter Bush Campus - City
- Midlothian
- Post code
- EH25 9RG
Background
Alan has a PhD in livestock nutrition from University of Edinburgh. Following many years at the Macaulay Institute (now James Hutton Institute) in Edinburgh and Aberdeen he moved to Ethiopia in 2007 to work at the International Livestock Research Institute. While in Ethiopia he developed a portfolio of research for development projects on livestock systems in developing countries for major donors such as the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research and the German Federal Ministry of Agriculture. These projects involved research in many developing countries including Tanzania, Kenya, India, Vietnam, Syria and Ethiopia. As well as technical expertise in livestock nutrition Alan is interested in societal, economic and institutional barriers to improved livestock nutrition. He has developed several participatory approaches to livestock feed improvement including the widely used Feed Assessment Tool (FEAST). Alan joined the University of Edinburgh in 2017 as a joint appointee with the International Livestock Research Institute.
Research Projects
-
Assessing the nutritional quality of stored grain legume fodders: Correlations among farmers’ perceptions, sheep preferences, leaf-stem ratios and laboratory analyses
In:
Small Ruminant Research
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Accepted/In press) -
Effects of management practices on legume productivity in smallholder farming systems in sub-Saharan Africa
In:
Food and Energy Security
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Accepted/In press) -
Gender dynamics around introduction of improved forages in Kenya and Ethiopia
In:
Agronomy Journal
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Accepted/In press) -
Productivity, nutritive value and economic potential of irrigated fodder in two regions of Ghana
In:
Agronomy Journal
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Accepted/In press) -
High-cut harvesting of maize stover and genotype choice can provide improved feed for ruminants and stubble for conservation agriculture
In:
Agronomy Journal
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Accepted/In press) -
Estimating Farmers’ Internal Value of Crop Residues in Smallholder Crop-Livestock Systems: A South Asia case study
In:
Outlook on Agriculture
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00307270211039527
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Potential of Urochloa grass hybrids as fodder in the Ethiopian highlands
In:
Agronomy Journal
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/agj2.20789
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
The use of near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy for forage nutritive value analysis in sub-Saharan African countries: Challenges and opportunities
In:
Agronomy Journal
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Accepted/In press) -
Redesigning traditional weed management practices in faba bean fields to optimize food-feed production in the smallholder system
In:
Agronomy Journal
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Accepted/In press) -
Measuring household legume cultivation intensity in Sub-Saharan Africa
In:
International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14735903.2021.1910418
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)