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

Australian volunteer assists in development of an ornamental fish hatchery in Indonesia

Alexander Basford was a volunteer at Mars Symboscience in Indonesia from May 2015 to February 2016 under the Australian Volunteers for International Development (AVID) program. Below he shares his recent experience traveling to several aquaculture production and research facilities in Indonesia, Australia and Papua New Guinea.

The final stage of microalgae culture at BBPBL Lampung - 30 tonne tanks that are the base of the food supply of the entire hatchery. Photo: Alex Basford

Agroforestry project impacting local farmers in Eastern Indonesia

Many farmers in Indonesia have either adopted high-value timber-based agroforestry systems or are involved in the collection and sale of non-timber products, often from remnant forest areas. While the agroforestry systems provide many benefits to the farmers, such as the ability to generate cash when they have large expenses, the trees take a number of years to reach a saleable size and these systems do not provide regular sources of income that farmers need. 

To address this important issue, ACIAR is funding the four-year “Kanoppi” agroforestry project in Eastern Indonesia which is conducting research to foster integration of timber and non-timber forest products in agroforestry systems and improve smallholders capacity to market high value products from these systems. The project is managed by the World Agroforestry Centre’s regional office in Bogor and involves collaboration with a with many Indonesian research and development partners, as well as with scientists from the University of Western Australia. The project also has two NGO collaborators, Threads of Life and World Wildlife Fund.

The landscape near Pelat on Sumbawa. Photo: Tony Bartlett, 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

We're going MAD for digital data!

The plight of paper based surveys and data collection is well known to many researchers out there, where data written on paper needs to be later entered into a digital spread, such as excel. This duplicates that number of times and people handling the data before it is analysed and reported on. This can introduce errors into the data and it can be months after the data is collected before the researcher or project leader can see what is actually happening in the field.

A farmer having his photo being taken using Survey CTO. Source: Jack Hetherington

World Food Week: The importance of an interdisciplinary approach to food security

As the world acknowledges World Food Week this week (12–16 October), it is a timely reminder to recognise world food problems and the struggle against hunger, malnutrition and poverty. This year’s theme of ‘Social protection and agriculture: breaking the cycle of rural poverty’ complements a recent visit to ACIAR by four women who are involved in interdisciplinary research on food security.

Left to right: Ir Sarini Niputu, Dr Wende Maulaga, Dr Hilda Lumbwe and Dr Joanita Jong. Credit: ACIAR

That's MAD!

A few weeks ago, ACIAR’s Canberra office played host to a number of partners from Indonesia and Burma (Myanmar) to participate and provide feedback in the Mobile Acquired Data (MAD) small research activity (SRA) we are engaged in.

Source: agricultures network

Family farming feeding the world: World Food Day 2014

Today is World Food Day. While we acknowledge the number of people worldwide who go hungry everyday, we should not lose sight of the fact that the only acceptable number of hungry people is zero.

Helping women revive natural dye-making traditions




Some of the naturally dyed yarns produced by the village women.

In Indonesia, hand-woven and dyed textiles play an important role in the spiritual, social and economic aspects of life. These textiles are worn in ceremonies, traded, bartered and given as wedding gifts. They are made by women, with the traditions passed down through generations. Increasingly these textiles are produced using synthetic dyes. However, new research is encouraging women to revive their natural dye-making traditions, and increase their incomes in the process.

An ACIAR-funded project in eastern Indonesia is supporting the development of integrated agroforestry and non-timber forest product systems. The project partners include government researchers and non-government organisations, including a Bali-based fair-trade organisation—Threads of Life—that uses culture and conservation to alleviate poverty in rural Indonesia.


William Ingram, founder of Threads of Life, discussing dying with Halena Kase at Bosen.

Threads of Life works directly with over 1,000 women in more than 35 cooperative groups on islands from Kalimantan to Timor. The proceeds from sales of the textiles help weavers establish cooperatives, manage their resources sustainably, train younger generations, and keep their traditions alive while alleviating poverty. Threads of Life staff also teach the members of the cooperatives simple business skills, as well as how to manage and protect the plants used in dye making.

Under the ACIAR project, with the support of Threads of Life and the project researchers, women in the village of Bosen, East Nusa Tenggara, are reviving their ancient traditions of making natural dyes for use in weaving to enhance their livelihoods. Since the project started a year ago, the local researchers introduced the Threads of Life staff to the potential opportunities around the Bosen village study site. Women in this village were practising weaving but they had made the transition to using synthetic dyes. Only the older women in the village could remember which local plants had been used to make dyes and what the traditional practices were.


Margarita Liukae reducing indigo dye.

When we visited Bosen during the project’s annual workshop in August 2014, the local women were making a purple dye from the plant Indigofera—a plant that’s been traded around the world for centuries. Interestingly the genus Indigofera is widely distributed with local species occurring in Indonesia and Australia. However, the most commonly planted species in Indonesia is Indigofera tinctoria, which originated in India and was brought to Indonesia in the 19^th Century. 

The plants, which are nitrogen fixing, are grown in the village gardens and the leaves are then used to make the indigo dye. Following soaking and partial fermentation, lime is added to reduce the indigo and make it more colour fast.




Halena Kase using the indigo to dye threads for weaving.

By reviving and adopting the traditional dye-making processes, and then using these dyes in their textile weaving, the women of Bosen are receiving up to four times as much for the textiles as they did when they used synthetic dyes. The project staff are supporting these activities and researching how the natural dyes can be made more uniform and colour fast.

By Tony Bartlett, ACIAR’s Forestry research program manager

More information

ACIAR project FST/2012/039 – Development of timber and non-timber forest products’ production and market strategies for improvement of smallholders’ livelihoods in Indonesia, led by World Agroforestry Centre

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

Markets for healthy farm poultry in Indonesia

'Healthy Farm' branded eggs being market tested in a supermarket

Is there demand in Indonesia for niche branded poultry products that can ensure they were produced on biosecure smallholder farms?

The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research has released a new report about a research project that developed such a niche market in Indonesia for eggs and chicken meat. 

The poultry industry is a major supplier of protein to the people of Indonesia. Biosecurity on smallholder poultry farms and a safe and hygienic value chain are becoming increasingly important to consumers and government because of the risks of avian influenza and other diseases.

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

Nurturing our region’s research leaders

Each year a small group of agricultural research leaders collaborating in ACIAR projects has the opportunity to take part in a six-week program in Australia to help them make the transition from being researchers to research managers.

"John Dillon Fellowships give mid-career researchers a great opportunity to build their skills in research management, agricultural policy and communication. They're exposed to Australian agriculture across a range of best-practice organisations and make valuable links with research leaders," said ACIAR's CEO Dr Nick Austin.

Youth take centre stage at Forests Asia Summit

Last week, ACIAR Graduate Research Officer Jack Koci was in Jakarta, Indonesia to participate in the Forests Asia Summit, where he met some inspiring young people determined to have a say in the future of South-East Asia’s forests...

The Forests Asia Summit, organised by the Centre for International Forestry (CIFOR) and hosted by the Ministry of Forestry, the Republic of Indonesia, brought together over 2000 participants to discuss some of the most pressing issues facing the forest landscapes of South-East Asia and beyond. The overall theme for the Summit was sustainable landscapes for green growth in South-East Asia.

Celebrating the role of acacias on International Day of Forests

The United Nations has proclaimed 21 March as the International Day of Forests. It encourages countries to use this day to promote the role of forests in sustaining our environment while providing multiple values for everyone on the planet and direct livelihood benefits for an estimated 1.6 billion people.

ACIAR researcher with 1-year old acacia hybrid
trees in Vietnam 

Seeds of Hope in Aceh

Ongoing ACIAR work in Aceh, Indonesia is helping farmers recover and improve livelihoods after the 2004 tsunami. Mirah Nuryati, ACIAR’s acting Country Manager Indonesia, recently visited the region and saw firsthand how an alliance between a women farmers group and project partners is setting an inspiring example to others...

It was a hot sunny day when I visited the beautiful village of Naga Umbang, in Aceh Besar District in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, the western-most province of Indonesia. It was in this province that more than 150,000 people lost their lives and many more lost their families and properties in the 2004 tsunami.

The tsunami has devastated this village. Tonnes of debris were dumped by the catastrophe and caused severe damage to the agricultural lands. The soil has become very saline and thus infertile to plant new crops, and much of it has been abandoned. The farmers have gone through very difficult times due to low agricultural productivity and unsuccessful harvests.

(image: P Jones)

A woman’s touch to woodworking

An ACIAR initiative is helping build capacity of young professionals in the Indonesian furniture industry—Tony Bartlett, ACIAR’s Forestry research program manager, tells us more...

Ibu Ria with her coffee table

Prize-winning innovation and craftsmanship has given a young Indonesian woman a trip abroad to refine her skills in furniture design.

IN THE FIELD - Bouncing back with rubber plantations in Indonesia

On a recent trip to Indonesia, ACIAR’s Forestry Research Program manager Tony Bartlett saw how smallholder farmers are benefiting from working with a large forestry company on their community-owned land...

Sijambu village and project staff meeting with community leaders

ACIAR forestry research led by the University of Tasmania is investigating ways to increase productivity and profitability of smallholder plantations in Indonesia, particularly in South Sumatra, Riau and West Kalimantan. Large-scale commercial plantations of Eucalyptus pellita and Acacia mangium are being grown here for use as pulpwood. Under government policy, future expansion of plantations will largely be on land allocated to communities. As such, it is important that we understand how community members can best benefit from commercial forestry on their land.

Protecting against parasites in the modern world

The world is becoming more and more connected, both physically and technologically. Prolific travel and trade within and between countries and continents allows disease-causing organisms like parasites to hitch a ride almost anywhere. Parasitic diseases can be devastating to the animals they infest, and to the people who rely on those animals for their livelihoods. ACIAR-supported research looks at ways to improve the identification and control parasitic diseases to help stop their spread.

Healthy livestock provide food and income opportunities

Casting an eye over Indonesian fish catches

A new manual for identifying Indonesia’s bony fishes has just been published. It provides a valuable source of information for fishers and managers in the world's most species-rich marine area.

The publication is available at:
http://aciar.gov.au//MN155