Keeping pigs happy and healthy

JAF student Denise Dayao

This is our second blog for 'JAF Week' this week at ACIAR, celebrating the achievements of our John Allwright Fellowship students...

Ms Denise Ann Dayao from the Philippines is a John Allwright Fellowship PhD student at the University of Queensland, conducting research on bacteria that can cause serious respiratory disease in pigs. Her work on antibiotic resistance in these bacteria is proving valuable to the Australian and Philippine pig industry in developing effective ways to prevent and control disease.

Quest for the perfect avocado

This week is 'JAF Week' at ACIAR, where many of our international PhD and Masters students supported by John Allwright Fellowships (JAF) come to Canberra to receive training in communicating research, and to network with ACIAR staff and fellow JAF students.

Muhammad Sohail Mazhar of Pakistan was awarded a fellowship to do a PhD on avocado supply chains, at the University of Queensland. His specific area of research is investigating bruising of Hass avocados.

Everybody loves a perfect avocado!

Mutual benefits through ACIAR's advisory council

ACIAR’s Policy Advisory Council, which includes 11 eminent agricultural research leaders from partner countries, just completed their annual visit to Australia. The trip included their annual meeting at ACIAR headquarters in Canberra and a visit to South Australia to see a showcase of agricultural production and research.

ACIAR Policy Advisory Council members
with ACIAR review team members Sept 2013

IN THE FIELD - What do zebras and maize have in common?

[Dr Evan Christen, ACIAR's Land & Water Resources Program Manager, recently investigated irrigation issues being faced by smallholder farmers in south-eastern Africa, to be addressed in a new ACIAR project...]  

What do zebras and maize in Tanzania have in common? They both need water from the Great Ruaha River.

Zebras and maize crops in Tanzania both need access to the Ruaha River

The race against rust in wheat

 In recognition of outstanding research in the fight against wheat rust diseases, researchers of the Australian Cereal Rust Control Team were recently awarded the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative’s Gene Stewardship prize in New Delhi, India. A couple of CSIRO’s top young researchers are part of the team of scientists involved in the race against rust.

Healthy wheat is vital to global food security

Cultivating crops that cope with drought

ACIAR research is helping farmers here and in developing countries face the increasing challenge of producing more food with less water, as drought-prone farming conditions become more common. Many of the environments in the countries we work in have limited water availability, climate extremes and climate variability from year to year. A multifaceted research approach is needed to give farmers a range of solutions to keep their crops growing, especially through the dry periods.

Many farmers, such as this one in Afghanistan, face enormous
challenges of dealing with drought (Photo: D. Pearce)

ACIAR welcomes Dr Ejaz Qureshi as new Research Program Manager

ACIAR welcomes a new member to its team: Dr Ejaz Qureshi, Research Program Manager for the Agriculture Development Policy program.

Dr Qureshi has had more than 15 years experience dealing with natural resources management and associated policies. His field career spans across the globe from the wheat belt in Punjab, Pakistan to China’s Yellow River Basin, and his policy-focused work has been applied in major urban and regional areas across Australia and overseas. He has published and contributed to over 100 papers and journals, including being a guest editor of Journal of Hydrogeology for its special issue on economics of ground water management, and associate editor of the Journal of Hydrology.