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.

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

Exciting and surprising outputs have emerged from an irrigation project in Africa

Liz Ogutu, ACIAR’s Regional Manager in Africa, recently visited Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Mozambique to engage with farmers and discuss the impacts of an irrigation project that has been going since 2013. The project aims to increase the productivity of irrigation in Mozambique, Tanzania and Zimbabwe to enhance food security. Below, Liz reflects on her trip. 

On 30 March 2016 we gathered at the ward offices to meet farmers of the Kiwere Irrigation scheme in Tanzania. In our team, we had Jamie, Henning, Makarius, Marna, Thembi and myself. We were there to engage farmers and to have a discussion about the project that has been ongoing at the scheme since 2013. The project, “Increasing irrigation water productivity in Mozambique, Tanzania and Zimbabwe through on-farm monitoring, adaptive management and agricultural innovation platforms,” is led by the Australian National University’s Jamie Pittock. As with most ACIAR-funded projects, it was time for project review and this was led by Marna de Lange, Managing Director, Socio-Technical Interfacing Consulting CC.

The mill built by the farmers in Magozi, Tanzania. Photo: Liz Ogutu, ACIAR

Why migratory fish are an important food supply and livelihood for millions of people around the world

For a huge number of fish and other aquatic animals, migration is a part of life. Atlantic salmon return to the same river they were born to lay eggs, whales swim from frigid Antarctic waters to the warmer climes to calf, and whale sharks never stop looking for food (covering thousands of kilometres in the process). There is a belief that fish migration only occurs between salt and fresh water (as in the case of our salmon) but fewer than 1% of species change habitat so drastically. Rather, the vast majority of migrating fish species feed in one place, then migrate to another to breed, all within the same system.

Tuna fishing in Indonesia. Photo: ACIAR

Australia’s longest running agricultural aid project in Timor-Leste comes to an end

The TimorAg2016 Conference was held in Timor-Leste in April 2016 and was a great celebration of the conclusion of the 16-year Seeds of Life (SoL) project.

The theme for the conference was ‘food security in Timor-Leste through crop production’ and discussions were held around factors affecting crop production in Timor-Leste and the success technical advances have made to improving productivity. Two days of oral papers and posters were delivered across a number of sessions focusing on food security, elements for agricultural development in Timor-Leste, crops and their environments, reaching a food surplus, and communication of agricultural innovations. There were 260 registered participants and the conference was conducted in both English and Tetum, with simultaneous translation.

Day two ended with local farmer Francisca Pinto sharing her story of success. Francisca became involved with the SoL project in 2009, initially as an on-farm-demonstration-trial (OFDT) farmer testing sweet potato and cassava varieties. She then became a Timor-Leste Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF) contract grower of certified seed and is now an active member of a commercial seed producer group named ‘Unidade Sameklot’. Francisca spoke of the direct impacts the project has had on her family and her life: they now have enough food to eat and enough corn to last them the whole year, sometimes they can’t even sell it all; her and her family no longer get sick for no reason; she has been able to fix up her house and cover the cost of education for her five children; and she is now able to cover the cost of cultural ceremonies, which can be very expensive. It was amazing to hear the impacts the project has had on this family’s life and how excited Francisca was to be contributing to her family’s income.

Francisca Pinto addresses the conference. Photo: Laura Carew, ACIAR

Developing the future of agriculture in the north of Australia

Opportunities and challenges for the future development of agriculture in Northern Australian were discussed at the recent Northern Australian Food Futures Conference 2016. The conference, held in Darwin on 12-13 April, had a strong focus on agricultural investment in northern Australia and effective partnerships between the public and private sectors. The Food Futures Conference brought together a range of domestic and international participants from government, industry and farming groups and provided an ideal environment to learn lessons from past experience and discuss the future of agriculture in northern Australia. 

The two-day conference was a high profile event. It began with an address by Senator Matt Canavan, Federal Minister for Northern Australia, who spoke about the government’s investment in northern Australia and the importance of agricultural to the development of the area. 

Panel Session: A perspective from the top. L-R Matt Brann, ABC Country Hour (facilitator); The Hon Gary Higgins, Minister for Primary Industry and Fisheries (NT); The Hon Leanne Donaldson, Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries (QLD); The Hon Brendan Grylls, member for Pilbara (WA). Photo: ACIAR

The right tree for the right place

On 11 November 2015, the Australian High Commissioner to Kenya, HE John Feakes, visited the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) campus in Nairobi.

He used this opportunity to learn more about the projects implemented by ICRAF for ACIAR in Africa and elsewhere in the world. Of note are the two projects, “Trees for Food Security,” and “Value Chains for Innovation Platforms,” that are implemented in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and Zambia.

Dr Aster Gebrekirstos explains to HE John Feakes the activities carried out in the Dendrochronology (Tree Ring) lab. Aster is a climate scientist (Source: ICRAF)

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

ACIAR's thoughts are with Nepal

After the devastating earthquake and after-shocks that hit Nepal on 25 April, ACIAR’s thoughts are with the Nepalese people.

Dr John Dixon from ACIAR recently spoke to ABC Rural about the anticipated impacts the earthquake will have on agricultural communities which employ up to 70% of the country’s population and accounts for 38% of GDP.

Hillside farms in Nepal are expected to have sustained extensive damage from the earthquake. Source: Conor Ashleigh & ACIAR

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.

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

IN THE FIELD - Chickens changing the lives of villagers in Tanzania

(in-country visits by ACIAR’s research managers)

In July last year ACIAR's Dr Wendy Henderson had the privilege to travel to Tanzania to witness firsthand the amazing impact of an ACIAR-funded vaccine against Newcastle Disease in chickens. 

ACIAR's Dr Wendy Henderson in Tanzania

Free-flowing fish for food security

Everything is going swimmingly for an ACIAR project in Laos, investigating ways to allow fish to move freely between the Mekong River and nearby floodplains.  The first ever fishway (a structure allowing fish to move through, around or over barriers) for Mekong species in Laos has just been built using know-how from ACIAR-funded research.

Fishway construction in Laos
(photograph by Jim Holmes)

Why agricultural research matters - the aid perspective

An argument for agricultural research

Extending agricultural productivity is an important catalyst of broader economic growth. The benefits of investment in agricultural research can be substantial, as demonstrated by growth in Australian agriculture over the past four decades. Multifactor productivity growth (growth in output relative to the combined contributions of inputs) in Australian agriculture between 1974–75 and 2003–04 averaged 2.8% a year.

Productivity growth has accounted for the entire increase in output by the agricultural sector over the last thirty years and has produced sizeable benefits–an estimated productivity dividend of just over $170 billion (page 115 of 'Trends in Agriculture' Productivity Commission Research Paper 2005).

World Food Day 2012

The Australian International Food Security Centre (AIFSC) is excited to be celebrating World Food Day 2012. This year, agricultural cooperatives are the focus of World Food Day, highlighting the role of cooperatives in improving food security and contributing to the eradication of hunger.

As we observe World Food Day and acknowledge the one in eight people on the planet who suffer from undernourishment, we can be heartened that the world is making progress in eliminating hunger. The recently released report by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), World Food Program (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) The State of Food Insecurity in theWorld 2012 has highlighted a decrease in undernourishment in most regions since 1990. 

However, there is still a way to go.  Especially in sub-Saharan African where our Centre is focusing its efforts, where more than one in four is hungry and rising by 2 per cent per year since 2007. The 2012 Global Hunger Index, published recently by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), shows that progress in reducing the proportion of hungry people in the world has been tragically slow.

What's in a definition - food security

When you work on food security all the time it is easy to forget that not everyone immediately understands the term.

So how best to define food security?

Global, national, regional, community or even household; any definition of food security must centre on individuals.

The World Food Summit of 1996, called by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), defined “Food security, at the individual, household, national, regional and global levels [is achieved] when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life”.

This definition was again refined in the 2002 report, The State of Food Insecurity 2001:

“Food security [is] a situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life” 

Young aggie Aussies wanted overseas

Did you see our recent post on Skye Gabb? Inspired? Well, if you're a young Aussie with skills in agriculture, then you could be next!

The Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development (AYAD) Program is calling for applicants for 12 agriculture assignments. It's a fantastic opportunity for young people (18-30 years) from the agriculture sector to share their skills and experience with communities in developing countries.



AYAD John Paul Collins worked on an ACIAR-project on the south central coast of Vietnam

New roles at the Food Security Centre

During the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in October 2011, the Australian Government announced support for the establishment of an Australian International Food Security Centre (AIFSC).

In this announcement the Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard noted,

“Australia has unique agricultural and scientific expertise and world-class teaching and research institutions that are well-suited to African agriculture and food security,”
Prime Minister, Julia Gillard.

The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) is all about being a research institution specialising in agricultural science!  There are strong, direct relationships between agricultural productivity, hunger, and poverty.  ACIAR is the logical wing for the food security initiative to nestle under.

7 billion today, this week, or this month or...?

This week the world’s population will hit 7 billion people. Actually it may have already occurred, or may occur in the next few months, but more on that later.

Put simply 7 billion mouths are a lot to feed, and given some 13 million of us are currently facing starvation in the famine devastating the Horn of Africa it is a daunting prospect. Another 1 billion of we people live in hunger and poverty every day.

(above: US Census Bureau chart illustrating world population change in history)

And to make matters more complicated our population is projected to grow by another 2 billion people in the next forty years.

To put some perspective to that, in 1900 the world’s population was an estimated 1.6 billion. In 2000 it was 6 billion. It has taken just over a decade to add the next billion souls.

Which raises a couple of questions:

• Are the estimates of an extra 2 billion people over the next forty years right (after all that is adding to our population at half the rate of the past decade)?
• And how exactly will we feed these people, given most of the new additions will be in developing countries?