Children and chickens – a path to better nutrition in Africa

ACIAR Graduate Research Officer Emma Zalcman recently traveled to Africa for meetings with village elders and researchers involved in an ACIAR project to improve childhood nutrition though poultry...

I was recently privileged to travel to Tanzania with Dr Robyn Alders AO, an ACIAR project leader with more than 20 years experience working and living in Africa. Dr Alders is leading the ACIAR project ‘Strengthening food and nutrition security through family poultry and crop integration in Tanzania and Zambia’. The project aims to reduce childhood undernutrition by analysing and testing opportunities to enhance the key role that women play in improving poultry and crop integration and efficiency to strengthen household nutrition. 

Tanzanian children

IN THE FIELD - In search of 'soil security' in the Pacific islands

Dr Richard Markham, ACIAR's Research Program Manager for Pacific Crops, recently visited Kiribati to check progress on a project aiming to improve the health of the local people and their soil...

Atolls like Kiribati may look appealing to visitors, but achieving food security
can present a serious challenge to the inhabitants, especially in the face of climate change

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

Sowing the seeds in 2013 and beyond

Prof. Jessica Fanzo

Agriculture provides livelihood for more than 80% of the population of East Timor (Timor-Leste). The specific focus of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) in East Timor is increasing food security. 

This blog post has been authored by Professor Jessica Fanzo, Renewed Effort Against Child Hunger and undernutrition (REACH), World Food Programme and Assistant Professor of Nutrition at Columbia University.

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.

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