The impacts of climate change on agriculture the focus of the PAC’s visit to Australia

Another successful meeting of ACIAR’s Policy Advisory Council (PAC) was held in Australia last week, with a strong focus on the strategic issues related to climate change, specifically its impact on agriculture in the Indo-Pacific Region.

Members of the Policy Advisory Council outside ACIAR House in Canberra. Photo: ACIAR

ACIAR welcomes the 2016 John Dillon Fellows to Canberra

This week ACIAR welcomed ten John Dillon Fellows to Canberra as part of a six-week leadership development program. During their two weeks in Canberra the fellows will spend time at ACIAR and visit the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences, Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation and the Australian National University. They will meet also with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Hon Julie Bishop MP, at Parliament House and be presented with their certificates.

The John Dillon Fellows participating in a research management workshop at ACIAR House. Photo: ACIAR

Rice futures in the Mekong region

Farmers in the Mekong region could remain poor if they grow rice alone. This is one of the messages that have come out of a recent meeting of policymakers and agricultural researchers in Cambodia.

Ideas on policy measures for improving rice-based farming systems in the Mekong region are outlined in a conference proceedings just released by the Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research (ACIAR). 



Cambodian smallholder farmers in rice fields. Photo: ACIAR.

The report, A policy dialogue on rice futures: rice-based farming systems research in the Mekong region, marks the conclusion of a AU$14.8 million ACIAR program on farm productivity and policy-focused research in the region. 

The meeting brought together 60 senior policymakers and agricultural researchers, primarily from Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Australia. The resulting report comprises 25 edited papers, including five synopses of panel and audience deliberations. 

Biosecurity: international dimensions, threats and strategies

The topic of ‘Biosecurity: international dimensions, threats and strategies’ was addressed by ACIAR’s CEO Dr Nick Austin at a panel discussion hosted by the Rural Press Club of Victoria on 18 July 2014. In his presentation Dr Austin spoke about some of the significant contributions ACIAR-funded research has made to address issues of biosecurity internationally and in Australia. He also announced the funding of a new initiative to build plant biosecurity skills in eastern Africa. ACIAR produced a brochure highlighting the contribution of ACIAR partnerships with Victorian research agencies for the event.

A farmer field school in Fiji

Real-world training for agribusiness researchers

An enthusiastic group of 22 young agribusiness researchers are planning to use their newly acquired skills in market and consumer research to improve their work, thanks to a successful master class run in Hanoi, Vietnam.

(L-R) Pham Thi Thuy (Vietnam), Souphalack Inphonephong (Lao PDR),
Le Nhu Thinh  (Vietnam) and Idha Widi Arsanti (Indonesia)
on their way to run a focus group with women consumers

Biosecurity under the microscope in South-East Asia

The marvels of modern technology are enabling border inspectors, scientists and farmers in South-East Asia to consult live with experts across the world and identify serious plant pests...

Lao PDRs’ and Cambodia’s plant biosecurity system is very limited, largely due to lack of local expertise, equipment and communication networks. A strong capability in research and diagnostics is a crucial part of protecting agricultural industries from damaging pests, managing borders against pest incursions, and meeting requirements for trade.

Identifying incoming pests and diseases is essential for biosecurity
(image: G. Kong)

New films showcase ACIAR’s work in Cambodia

Researchers tell their story about helping vegetable, livestock and rice smallholder farmers in Cambodia through ACIAR projects in three short films just released.

Dr Suzie Newman with Mrs Sarong who has had great
success with some of the technologies that she’s introduced
in her cucumber crop (photo: Sally Ingleton)

Vegetables provide a new future for Cambodia
Dr Suzie Newman has been working with vegetable researchers and producers in an effort to build up the vegetable industry in Cambodia, which imports 40-60% of its vegetables.

The ACIAR project has been helping farmers overcome production constraints through simple techniques including pest, disease and weed control, irrigation and reducing post-harvest losses. 
Farmers can earn 3-4 times the income of growing rice through producing vegetables. A number of farmers who are benefiting from this work are featured in the film.

Understanding tomorrow’s farming needs today

Some half a billion farmers who assure local-level domestic food security and underpin agricultural exports are facing great changes in the next two decades. ACIAR’s Principal Adviser Dr John Dixon shares ideas on the drivers of rural change and how these alter farmers’ incentives to innovate. 

One of the challenges for farmers and researchers is understanding what the farms of tomorrow will look like, and using that viewpoint to guide investments on the farm, and in research.

Today’s investments will be vital for future farming

Terrific tomatoes, perfect peppers - Detective guide for better vegies

Australian and Cambodian farmers and gardeners now have a great new tool for growing healthy tomatoes, capsicums, chillies and eggplants, thanks to a new field guide. The guide is likely to be useful to many smallholder farmers in other countries as well. Co-author Dr Sandra McDougall explains how the guide came about...

Cambodian vegetable growers in western Sydney, Australia are a committed group of growers, producing food for their families and local markets. As with many new migrant market gardeners, they have helped each other set up their farms, are located in a small area, and are mostly growing similar crops: cherry tomatoes, chillies, capsicums and eggplants, as well as snow peas.  

Cherry tomatoes (Photo: S. McDougall)

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)

Collaborating for Cambodian cattle farmers

Cambodia is well placed to take advantage of the increased demand for beef that is currently outstripping supply in the Greater Mekong Subregion. The uptake of new technologies and practices will enable many smallholder farmers to move up a notch from being livestock ‘keepers’ to ‘producers’, to increase their incomes and improve their livelihoods.

Farmer with steer in forage trial (photo Luzia Rast)

The magic of Sophy

Sophy and the vegetable patch is a new storybook for Cambodian children. It will soon be in the hands of grade 5 students to help set them up for a healthy future. 

The book has been jointly published by Australian Centrefor International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) and the Maddox-Jolie Pitt Foundation (MJP) in English and is soon to be available in Khmer. 

"Our aim was to produce a book to help stop malnutrition by passing messages about the importance of eating a diverse healthy diet onto children and their parents."

Stephan Bognar, Chief Executive Officer, Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation

Better livestock management behind a remarkable tale of success

Mr. Cha Ben and his wife manage a 3 hectare farm in Tram Kok District in Takeo Province of Cambodia. Their achievements as livestock producers are a remarkable tale of success, and an example of the benefits of adopting new technologies in the rural Cambodian environment.

Since 2008 an ACIAR project has been working with village producers to compare the effects of introducing a range of health and production practices. The aim is to increase producers’ income by improving animal husbandry through better nutrition and reducing the impact of livestock diseases.

Thinking outside the square to increase impact

Livestock diseases have a big impact on countries and people in the Mekong. They stop livestock movement, cause the loss of productive livestock and restrict trade. Some diseases can also be transmitted to people.
Every year thousands of livestock are traded between Mekong countries, potentially spreading serious diseases. As an indication, in 2008-09 up to 15,000 head of cattle per month were reported to have transited from Thailand through southern Laos into Vietnam.

Although the trade on this route has now dwindled to a trickle — mainly because of changes in exchange rates that made the trade less profitable — animals still move in large numbers to different destinations. The common factor in this trade is the trader and the trader networks that facilitate it.

The livestock trade in the Mekong is a potential risk in the spread of serious diseases such as foot and mouth disease or classical swine fever. What can be done to manage that risk?