ACIAR committed to gender equity, food security and working to eradicate poverty globally

This week ACIAR joins the world in celebrating the International Day of Rural Women (15 October), World Food Day (16 October) and International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (17 October).

Globally, women comprise on average 43% of the agricultural labour force in developing countries, and more than 50% in some parts of Asia and Africa. Research shows giving women access to agricultural resources, training and services helps them increase their farm productivity by 20 to 30%. As women gain increased control of household resources the outcomes for the next generation are improved, and women have a greater role in decision making.

ACIAR recognises the critical role women play in rural economies to grow food and help alleviate poverty. We all know women can be powerful agents of change—this is an important consideration when research and development programs are conceived, structured and delivered. ACIAR’s policy views gender equity as central to its activities. ACIAR assesses gender equity issues during project design, implementation and impact assessment to bring sustained change to women and men by influencing policies and laws, increasing access to services and changing attitudes and beliefs about women’s and men’s roles in our agricultural research projects. By working to better understand access to—and decision-making power over—productive resources such as land, livestock, agricultural equipment, extension knowledge and credit, ACIAR is better able to guide research on agricultural interventions so that benefits are accessible to women, men, girls and boys

Below is a collection of stories that demonstrate ACIAR’s commitment to gender equity, food security and working towards a world where no one lives in poverty.

In Papua New Guinea, a fisheries project has far greater influence thanks to the participation of women 
The aim of the PNG inland aquaculture research project is to improve the practice of fish farming in a region where 80% of the population is unemployed, experiences protein deficiency and is subject to recurring tribal and gang violence. The project has been especially beneficial to women because of an innovative training program managed by Sister Pauline Kagl.

“Every person, whether they are the perpetrator of crime or the victim, can change their lives. Time and time again we have transformed people through the combined action fo fish farming and personal viability training” – Sister Pauline Kagl.

Sister Pauline Kagl (right) in Jiwaka province, Papua New Guinea. Photo: Jes Sammut

Blazing a trail for women in tree breeding in Vietnam
In Vietnam, significant steps towards gender equality have opened up new opportunities for
women. ACIAR is contributing by supporting talented women—such as Dr Nghiem Quyen
Chi—to pursue careers in agricultural research.

With ACIAR support, talented young women in developing countries are building their careers in agricultural research, with benefits that span individual, societal and national levels.

Check out this video about the project. 

Tropical acacias play an important role in Vietnam's forestry systems. Helping to ensure the acacias' performance is Dr Nghiem Quyen Chi of the Vietnamese Academy of Forest Sciences. Photo: Sally Ingleton

Left behind women find empowerment in the eastern Gangetic Plain
An A$11 million project has been launched to improve the sustainability and resilience of farming systems in a region with the greatest concentration of rural poverty in the world—the eastern Gangetic Plain.

Women-headed households especially stand to benefit, with the project adopting gender-sensitive designs and extension tools.

Out-migration has given rise to a new caste - the so-called 'left behind' women. Photo: Melissa Marion.

A horticulture project is helping women in Lao PDR villages produce and jointly market a surplus of organic vegetables
Women in Lao PDR villages are producing and jointly marketing a surplus of organic vegetables, increasing their family income while improving consumer health and environmental sustainability.
ACIAR support is helping the women’s association spread economic benefit by expanding its
organised marketing from fewer than 30 women to include more than 160.

Mrs Khamdta (right) has turned her garden into a model of integrated organic farming. She is pictured with Ms Buachanh, the president of the board of directors of the organic vegetable growers’ association, which is expanding market opportunities for farmers such as Mrs Khamdta. Photo: Michael Jones 

The women who broke the poultry disease cycle in Africa

A team led by Associate Professor Robyn Alders has pioneered an effective way to treat malnutrition among smallholder farmers through the use of a vaccine that protects poultry from Newcastle disease. First trialled in three African countries, the method is now being adopted in other countries, including Timor-Leste.

Carolina Mwaluko (right) works as a “community vaccinator” in her village in central Tanzania, administering a thermotolerant vaccine as an eye drop to chickens in exchange for a small fee from farmers. Vaccination programs against Newcastle disease, a key production constraint in many developing countries, allow chicken flocks to increase in size and households to benefit from the sale or consumption of poultry products. Since Carolina was trained in May 2014, local traders have noticed the greater availability of chickens for sale and the reduced risk of disease among birds in transit to regional markets. Sustainable Newcastle disease control programs are part of an integrated approach to increasing income and improving nutrition for households in Tanzania and Zambia. Photo: Robyn Alders

In Pakistan’s dairy sector, women and children proved instrumental in the adoption of productivity-improving know-how, both as farmers and extension officers
Innovation in the way extension services are delivered to Pakistan’s subsistence dairy farmers is raising productivity. Women and children proved instrumental to the rollout of productivity-enhancing extension services to Pakistan’s dairy sector. Women have helped raise productivity both as farmers

Sobia Majeed (centre) with some of the female dairy farmers she worked with in Sindh, Pakistan, over the four projects in which extension services were innovated and tested in partnership with ACIAR. Photo: ACIAR

Women farmers in Vietnam’s impoverished north-western highlands are the essential ingredient needed to solve a set of inter-related nutrition, poverty and marketing problems involving vegetables
Vietnam’s north-west provinces face a dual need for improved vegetable production systems and access to markets. An ACIAR project working to achieve both goals in ways that reduce poverty and malnutrition has found that the key to success is women.

This video will tell you more.

Mother and child in Vietnam's north-western highlands. Photo: Phan Thuy Hien

Women in the Philippines take the lead
In 2015, the Philippines climbed to ninth in the World Economic Forum’s report measuring gender equality among 145 countries, the highest rank in the Asia–Pacific region. The strength of women is on display in an ACIAR project that is helping smallholder vegetable producers in the southern Philippines overcome low yields, pests and diseases so as to meet local market demand and improve nutrition and livelihoods.

(From left) Dr Zenaida Gonzaga, Dr Lucia Borines and Dr Reny Gerona. Photo: ACIAR.

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

From Canberra to Port Moresby – my journey in ACIAR

I started at ACIAR at the reception desk on a part-time, two-week contract to backfill leave. That was twelve years, and what feels like a lifetime ago. I worked from the Canberra office for almost five years, in a range of roles across the research, executive and communication teams. I had a great time, largely because of the wonderful team and great working atmosphere at ACIAR.

Inaugural Bougainville Chocolate Festival a sweet success

The inaugural Bougainville Chocolate Festival was held in Buin and Arawa on 5 and 6 July 2016. The festival was an initiative of the Autonomous Government of Bougainville led by the Department of Primary Industries in partnership with the Australian Government and was strongly supported by a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade-funded ACIAR project “Developing the cocoa value chain in Bougainville”, which is being implemented through a partnership of PNG and Australian research organisations led in Australia by the University of Sydney.

The two-day festival aimed to encourage good cocoa farming and processing practices and raise awareness of the efforts of the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) and its partners to develop the chocolate industry and market links.

Canberra-based bean to bar chocolate makers Peter and Li Peng from Jasper and Myrtle attended the festival. Below, they tell us all about their Pacific chocolate adventure.

Vanuatu Chocolate - it's all in the smell





Judges son and father, Josh and Mark Bahen, cocoa grower Denis Nambith and cocoa buyer Basille Malily enjoy
 chocolate over the water in Port Vila at the end of the competition. Photographer: Conor Ashleigh

First Annual Vanuatu Chocolate Competition Salon Culinaire 2014

The joy that is chocolate, the desire to source flavoursome cocoa beans, and the opportunity to improve livelihoods for Vanuatu cocoa growers – could these ingredients be a recipe for success?

Volunteering in Vanuatu

A year in Vanuatu as an Australian Volunteer for International Development (AVID) is a great opportunity to learn more about food security issues in the Pacific, meet unforgettable people, learn Bislama and climb many volcanoes.

I had the privilege of working with several NGOs, most notably Care International in Vanuatu and Adventist Development and Relief Agency Vanuatu, on food security projects across four islands—Araki, Efate, Futuna and Malakula.
 

Fitu, a gardener and weaver from Mission Bay, Futuna, presented me with a beautiful basket that she made as a farewell gift. Photo: Bronnie Anderson-Smith

First official Ba Women’s luxury jewellery launched in Suva

If you have ever searched for locally-made, high-quality jewellery in Fiji, chances are you were pretty disappointed. The truth is most available luxury items have been produced en masse outside of the South Pacific. And, given the items aren’t local, the sale of these imported products has limited livelihood benefits for Fiji people.

However, the ACIAR/Pacific Agribusiness Research for Development Initiative (PARDI) project, ‘Assessing potential for developing the mother-of-pearl (MOP) handicraft sector in Fiji: Empowering women’s’ groups and livelihood development in Fiji’ has tackled this issue and is turning it around.

New mother-of-pearl (MOP) jewellery handcrafted by members of Fiji’s *Ba Women’s Forum(BWF), was launched at an event staged in Suva in September at the well-known Tappoo ‘Market Place’ retail outlet. The jewellery range encompasses 20 variations of fashion wear and 14 variations of everyday wear items. For the first time since the PARDI research project began in 2013, fashion connoisseurs and retail representatives had the opportunity to view and purchase the jewellery, and discuss being part of the new venture.

Models showing off the mother-of-pearl jewellery handcrafted by the Ba Women's Forum.

Traditional and modern artistry are integrated into the new jewellery designs with dominant use of the MOP shell. Products are made from local materials to enhance ‘Fiji-made’ accreditation. The uniqueness and quality of these products position them in the premium value of +FJ$100 for the fashion range and +FJ$50 for everyday wear. 

The Suva launch means this range of jewellery items is now available for purchase by the general public. Interest is such that, in addition to the original stockists Tappoo, other retail outlets would like to stock the jewellery and well-known cruise ships are happy for Ba Women to sell products to tourists visiting Fiji.

The newly released Fiji-made mother-of-pearl jewellery is professionally presented with the Ba Women’s Forum's story about hand-made, local merchandise printed on the inside cover of their boxes.

How do these developments translate in terms of potential opportunities for the local economy? The ACIAR/PARDI project has identified an annual market value of around FJ$4 million for Fiji’s MOP handicrafts and pearl sector, of which currently only around 10% is met by local production.

Prior to the MOP launch, the project involved a rolling series of workshops on MOP jewellery product development. Local women’s group, the BWF, and the local Ba Town Council have worked closely with PARDI, jewellery designer Marie Erl, and Fiji-based fashion designer Robert Kennedy.

 

Ba Women's Forum team from left: Ms Marie Erl, Dr Maria Doton (Chair of BWF), Vani Saurara (trainee) and Theo Simos (project manager, University of Adelaide).



This project is providing an excellent opportunity to empower mature-aged, unemployed women and men. Trainees have achieved a basic level of capability, and will participate in further training to expand their jewellery-making skills and to develop their business and marketing capacity.

The long-term future of the MOP project will depend on further research funding to train interested locals and value-chain representatives towards the establishment of business models, and their own jewellery-making companies for sustainable and profitable livelihood benefits.

 

Vani Saurara (Ba Women's Forum trainee) and model Kirsten.

 

 ‘Assessing potential for developing the mother-of-pearl (MOP) handicraft sector in Fiji: Empowering women’s’ groups and livelihood development in Fiji’ is led by James Cook University’s Professor Paul Southgate and Adelaide University’s Research Associate Theo Simos. It builds on work undertaken by the University of the South Pacific’s Dr Anand Chand and his project team.

* Ba is a town in Fiji, 37 kilometres from Lautoka and 62 kilometres from Nadi, inland from the coast of Viti Levu, Fiji's largest island.

 

For more information contact:

Research Associate, Theo Simos – M: 0417816160 or theosimos@bigpond.com
PARDI Communications, Julie Lloyd – M: 0415 799 890

Links for further information:

The ACIAR/PARDI handicrafts project is part of a suite of pearl projects led by James Cook University. More information can be found in ‘Fisheries Profiles 2014’

Associated stories and YouTube link are listed below:

PARDI news articles on mother-of-pearl (MOP) handicraft and jewellery training in Fiji

ACIAR blog on opening up industry opportunities

PARDI YouTube supporting the role of Pacific women

Local breadfruit-production technology boosting Pacific industry potential

The news is good for breadfruit farmers in the South Pacific interested in small-scale commercial production. They can now have ready access to high-performing breadfruit seedlings, thanks to new technology and training on how to transplant and establish seedlings generated using a locally-perfected tissue culture system.  

Course participants learn how to transplant seedlings at the
breadfruit training, CePaCT Fiji

The training was conducted at the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees (CePaCT) at Narere, Fiji, and involved local Ministry of Agriculture staff, and representatives from private nurseries and Nature’s Way Cooperative. They gained hands-on experience transplanting the sought-after breadfruit seedlings, and also learnt techniques to help ensure transplants successfully establish in the field.

Blueprint for brilliant beche-de-mer

A brand new guidebook to processing sea cucumbers is already making a splash internationally. Thanks to ACIAR-funded research aiming to improve livelihoods of village fishers in the Pacific, the booklet has been developed by project partners Southern Cross University and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community.

Fisher in Kiribati collecting a leopardfish (photo S. Purcell)

Sea cucumbers have been hand-collected and exported from the Pacific Islands since the 1840s. Once processed to a dried product known as ‘beche-de-mer’ in the food world, they are particularly popular in China, used as a key luxury ingredient of festive dishes.

Reaping benefits from postharvest science in the South Pacific

ACIAR Project leader Prof Steven Underhill describes how research in the South Pacific is being tailored to help boost Fiji fruit and vegetable exports

Through the ACIAR-funded Pacific Agribusiness Research for Development Initiative (PARDI), I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to work closely with many smallholder farmers in Fiji to assess their postharvest horticultural challenges and develop practical strategies to improve overall productivity. Paradoxically, while many Fijian farmers are seeking to increase exports, there has been very little attention spent on postharvest research in the region.

Prof Underhill at postharvest research trials in Fiji

As a postharvest specialist, part of my research through PARDI involves identifying why local farmers experience produce wastage and quality issues. The other part involves identifying how successful postharvest systems can be adapted to the South Pacific region so farmers can better participate in high-value markets and improve their livelihoods.

First impressions
My first impression of postharvest handling systems in the South Pacific was that of a sub-optimal system which lacks reliable infrastructure and technology. For example, packaging is inappropriate for transporting produce any distance (i.e. old boxes and sacks are used), packing facilities are limited, trucks overloaded with produce travel along rough roads, and refrigeration is non-existent.

Given these apparent postharvest limitations, improvements to postharvest practices present big opportunities to benefit local farmers. Historically, postharvest efforts have centered on introducing a concept of “postharvest best practice” from outside the region. Over the past decade, this approach has led to the construction of packing sheds and improved packaging with cool storage, and general postharvest training for farmer groups. However, I feel much more could still be done to tailor solutions to the local context and maximise benefits for smallholder farmers. 

Understanding local needs
In the current PARDI postharvest approach, we've invested time and effort into understanding why and how the existing postharvest handling systems operate before considering possible recommendations. Our goal is to really understand farmers, traders and vendors, the postharvest physiological consequence of the current handling systems, and ultimately where potential profit is lost and gained.

PARDI's postharvest research has focused on changing handling
practices, particularly with ripening tomatoes on-farm

We are very aware that the potential key research beneficiaries - smallholder farmers - are constrained by considerable livelihood disadvantages that have become endemic over time. There is little or no economic capacity for smallholder farmers to absorb mistakes, no matter how well meaning our intent. This time round we need to get it right.

Analysing postharvest supply chains
Over the last few years, along with researchers from Fiji National University and the University of the South Pacific, I have systematically analysed postharvest supply chains in the Sigatoka and Nausori regions. Our studies have looked at physical stresses and behavioural contributors that impact on overall product quality. 

We have been in the field weeks before harvest, monitored on-farm temperature and humidity conditions, assessed road conditions and transport driver behavior, undertaken numerous comparative municipal market studies, and measured market storage conditions and vendor quality grading process. Our team has used 3D mapping technology to spatially map in-carton bruising and product damage and compare different packing options for local environments. We are also currently using novel digital thermal imagery to monitor and refine on-farm ambient ripening practices (where fruit is picked and stored in available shelters on-farm to ripen). 

How it all works
Collectively, this research has provided detailed insight into how current postharvest supply chains function in Fiji. For instance, we now know that the peri-urban road infrastructure around Nausori is more likely to cause in-transit damage than the comparatively poor roads down the Sigatoka valley. Driver speed and smaller loads are the main culprits causing this damage, rather than the road quality. 

PARDI research has shown that eggplants are a comparatively
high-risk crop in terms of postharvest wastage

We know that on-farm ripening is one of the largest contributors to postharvest losses in tomatoes, and that the first few days of ripening are critical. We also know that okra, chilli and eggplant are comparatively high-risk crops in terms of producing relatively high levels of postharvest wastage. Conversely, small beans are far less susceptible to damage. 

While the common sight of overloaded trucks may be a prelude to high postharvest market wastage, we now know that in most municipal markets, daily wastage is actually a relatively low 2 to 4%. With 96% of product transported and on-sold by market vendors within 48 hours, the whole Fiji horticultural supply chain is one of fast-to-market and fast-to-sell.

Thinking through interventions
Like putting together the pieces of a large and complex jigsaw, this information is building a picture of a postharvest handling system that is relatively efficient but at the same time, very fragile. The answer to completing the puzzle is more about identifying how to improve current handling practices rather than changing infrastructure and technology. It is also about working with a complex, inter-connected supply chain that could break down if we introduce ill-considered postharvest chain interventions.

For instance, if we set out to change the stage of maturity of a commodity (e.g. how ripe tomatoes are), then in-transit damage is potentially altered. If produce is washed before packing, food safety risk may increase (depending on water quality). Likewise, if roads are improved and truck loading reduced, then subsequent increases in driver speed may cause greater product damage. If a central packing shed is used to grade and sort produce, this could potentially increase the risk of damage from multiple loading and re-loading of trucks. So, interventions need to be thoroughly thought through.

Tomato growers are reducing waste through better
postharvest handling

Achieving long-lasting impacts
What does this all mean in terms of PARDI’s influence? Is our project having a positive impact on postharvest practices? The short answer is ‘yes’!

Our approach is to present farmers with a range of practical options to empower them to make their own decisions about improving their handling practices. So far, our researchers have helped numerous groups of farmers come to appreciate the importance of postharvest handling. This has translated to tangible changes in handling practices, particularly with regard to ripening tomatoes on-farm. 

Collective problem-solving works wonders
Actively sharing information and working through alternative solutions with farmers is rewarding for all involved. We are finding this approach produces real and lasting results.

In the end, both sides learn something. Too often I think we tackle horticultural challenges by introducing answers to problems rather than collective problem solving. Engaging local smallholder farmers and their communities is the key to success.  

By Prof Steven Underhill, PARDI project leader (University of the Sunshine Coast)

More information:
PARDI web space – see under ‘Focus Areas’
YouTube clip on PARDI's postharvest work in Fiji
ACIAR's web page about PARDI

Champions for chocolate - smallholder cocoa farmers linked to high-end chocolate makers

Smallholder cocoa farmers in Vanuatu are linking up with Australian and US chocolate makers enabling new economic opportunities, through ACIAR’s Pacific Agribusiness Research for Development Initiative (PARDI). The project ‘Facilitating improved livelihoods for Pacific cocoa producers,’ is focusing on ways to help cocoa farmers shift from exporting a low-value yet important commodity crop to producing a much higher value ‘niche market’ product. 

Cocoa beans need to be dried just right for great-tasting chocolate

Research addressing local cocoa farming issues and in-depth value chain studies began back in 2010. The value chain approach focused on understanding and meeting consumer needs. The project was well-timed to coincide with growing interest in South Pacific cocoa from a number of high-quality chocolate makers, some of whom have since become invaluable project participants.

Top of the Crops! Top 10 nutritious leafy vegetables in the Pacific

An ACIAR-funded study on nutritionally rich leafy vegetables in the Pacific region has identified the ‘Top 10’ and produced a series of fact sheets to promote them to indigenous communities. The study’s goal is to encourage the production and consumption of these important food crops, to help combat the current epidemic of diet-related diseases in Pacific islanders and indigenous Australians.

Aibika for sale in markets in Suva, Fiji
Photo R Goebel

Celebrating International Women's Day in PNG

We're so very fortunate to work with some remarkable women in ACIAR. These include women within our organisation, the researchers who help undertake our programs and projects, and importantly, the inspirational farmers involved.

On International Women's Day, 8 March 2012, the theme is "empowering rural women: ending hunger and poverty". This theme resonates strongly with the work we do.

Our Country manager for Papua New Guinea, Ms Emily Flowers, extended her busy-as-usual schedule to arrange for some of the women involved in ACIAR projects to meet with Australian Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs, The Hon Richarld Marles MP, as part of Australia Week celebrations in PNG.

Some of these women are farmers, and some are members of the nations leading female agricultural researchers. They participated in a photo shoot, the results of which we take great pleasure in sharing with our blog readers.