Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research

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Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research

The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) is the Australian Government’s specialist agricultural research-for-development agency, within the Australian aid program. The purpose of ACIAR is to contribute to reducing poverty and improving the livelihoods of many in the Indo-Pacific region through more productive and sustainable agriculture emerging from collaborative international research. ACIAR Head Office is in Canberra, with offices in 10 countries in Asia, the Pacific and Africa.
ACIAR’s Water Program addresses the challenge of efficient, sustainable water use to support agricultural production in a context of increasingly uncertain climate, competition from other sectors and declining water quality. The program works to improve agricultural water management through innovative technical and policy approaches under three main themes:
• improving access to, and outcomes from, irrigation
• sustainable use of groundwater in agriculture
• risks and opportunities for safe productive use of low-quality water.
See ACIAR website at https://aciar.gov.au/

Website

www.aciar.gov.au

Organisational Capability

  • The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) is the Australian Government’s specialist agricultural research-for-development agency, within the Australian aid program. The purpose of ACIAR is to contribute to reducing poverty and improving the livelihoods of many in the Indo-Pacific region through more productive and sustainable agriculture emerging from collaborative international research. ACIAR Head Office is in Canberra, with offices in 10 countries in Asia, the Pacific and Africa.
    ACIAR’s Water Program addresses the challenge of efficient, sustainable water use to support agricultural production in a context of increasingly uncertain climate, competition from other sectors and declining water quality. The program works to improve agricultural water management through innovative technical and policy approaches under three main themes:
    • improving access to, and outcomes from, irrigation
    • sustainable use of groundwater in agriculture
    • risks and opportunities for safe productive use of low-quality water.
    See ACIAR website at https://aciar.gov.au/

Projects

  • ACIAR/SDIP https://aciarsdip.com/
    The ACIAR SDIP program aims to improve food, energy and water security for sustainable food systems in India, Bangladesh and Nepal. Funded by DFAT, this work is part of a wider regional portfolio in South Asia. Our work explores the drivers and constraints that affect development of sustainable food systems in the wider South Asia region - including the growing challenges of climate change, and the need to promote gender equality by empowering women and girls. https://aciarsdip.com/
  • Developing approaches to enhance farmer water management skills in Balochistan, Punjab and Sindh in Pakistan
    This project aims to help farmers manage irrigation better on small- and middle-sized irrigated farms. Farmers with small to medium holdings have had little access to technologies for irrigation, as affordable and accessible tools are neither produced nor widely distributed in Pakistan. The main extension challenges are to scale out existing and new technologies over Pakistan's vast irrigated areas, and to develop farmers' skills and capacity to manage and maintain profitable irrigation systems. https://aciar.gov.au/project/lwr-2014-074
  • Cropping system intensification in the salt-affected coastal zones of Bangladesh and West Bengal, India
    This project aims to create opportunities for improving the land productivity and profitability, and for helping farmers to increase their incomes in Bangladesh and India. Opportunities exist for intensification of cropping through efficient use and optimal management of fresh surface water and groundwater resources during the dry season, through improved polder water management, careful planning of the crop calendar, and improved agronomic practices that maximise water productivity. Overall, to achieve the expected outcomes this project is focusing on sustainably increasing cropping intensity and productivity in the region, particularly in the dry season, through integrated soil, water and crop management. https://aciar.gov.au/project/lwr-2014-073
  • Virtual Irrigation Academy phase 2: From water monitoring to learning to governance
    The VIA can deliver: cost-effective technology to help farmers monitor and manage their water, nutrients and salt; information for those managing scheme to base their decisions, to ensure efficient and equitable distribution of water; ways for donors investing in irrigation infrastructure to track the performance of their investments. https://aciar.gov.au/project/wac-2018-162; https://via.farm/
  • https://aciar.gov.au/project/wac-2019-135
    This project aims to assess the potential to ‘close the loop’ in Pacific Island agriculture by converting domestic and agricultural wastewater into a stable, pathogen-free, organic fertiliser. https://aciar.gov.au/project/wac-2019-135