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

Participants test out new climate analyser app at workshop in West Bengal, India

A three day training workshop focussing on climate variability and soil water balance to support more diverse and intensive cropping systems on the East India Plateau was held in Purulia, West Bengal in November. The workshop, which ran over three days and involved presentations, ‘hands-on’ sessions and a field trip, and was attended by 16 Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN) Development Executives from Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and two scientists from the Advanced Center for Water Resources Development and Management (ACWADAM).

ACIAR project LWR/2010/082, ‘Improving livelihoods with innovative cropping systems on the East India Plateau’, has supported the development of a daily soil water balance based on field monitoring of soil water in rice-based cropping systems and utilising historical daily climate records. The research has been published in the journal Agricultural Systems, but until now this understanding and expertise has been unavailable to PRADAN professionals working with farmers to develop cropping systems that better utilise available water resources.

David Freebairn discussing output from ClimAnalyser with Ashok Kumar (PRADAN). Source: Western Sydney University