The Africa–Australia Partnership for Climate Responsive Agriculture is a six-year, A$76.4 million initiative co-funded by ACIAR and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Beginning in 2024, this partnership is designed to strengthen the climate resilience of African farming systems and support food security by fostering collaborative research and capacity development between African and Australian institutions.

The Africa–Australia Partnership aims to ensure farming communities across Africa are climate responsive, resulting in improved food security and economic growth.

Partnerships between African and Australian research institutions build the capacity of scientists and institutions to facilitate agriculture-led development, while fostering trust and collaboration between Africa and Australia.
 

A woman wearing an ACIAR cap smiles at the camera while holding a bundle of stacked wooden boards.
ACIAR is facilitating knowledge sharing around black soldier fly farming across Africa. Here, a farmer, showcases black soldier fly eggs laid on wooden pallets that serve as placeholders for the adults when mating.
This partnership aims to deliver mutual benefits through shared learning and scientific advancement.
This partnership aims to deliver mutual benefits through shared learning and scientific advancement.
Two men crouch in a field, examining soil and monitoring equipment placed in the ground.
Partnerships between African and Australian research institutions can contribute to the climate resilience of smallholder farmers through sustainable use of resources like irrigation water and drive economic growth.
Two farmers use shovels to transfer soil into a wheelbarrow, surrounded by rows of green plants beneath protective netting.
The Africa–Australia Partnership aims to ensure farming communities across Africa are climate responsive, resulting in improved food security and economic growth.
A man crouches beside a large pile of tomatoes, sorting and placing them into a wooden crate.
The partnership is designed to strengthen the climate resilience of African farming systems and support food security.
A man kneels on the grass beside a brown-coloured sheep as it leans in towards him.
A sheep breeder with his award-winning young Bonga breeding ram from the Boqa Shota Community-Based Breeding Program, part of an ACIAR project in Ethiopia. Credit: Apolo Habtamu, ILRI.


A mutually beneficial partnership


Africa and Australia share similar agricultural environments and climate challenges, from wet tropics to arid rangelands. By leveraging Australia’s agricultural research expertise and building on longstanding relationships, this partnership delivers mutual benefits through shared learning and scientific advancement. This helps to support African smallholder farmers and their communities adapt to climate change or mitigate its impacts, while deepening Australia’s engagement in the region.

The partnership will focus on:

  • empowering smallholder farmers to adopt climate-smart practices and technologies
  • strengthening the participation of women and advancing gender equality, disability and social inclusion in agricultural research and extension
  • developing Africa–Australia research partnerships, ensuring solutions are locally relevant and sustainable
  • expanding ACIAR’s impact from its established presence in eastern and southern Africa into northern and western Africa, with a focus on Egypt, Morocco, Ghana and Nigeria.
     
Headshot image of Zita Ritchie against an ACIAR banner background.

Research Program Manager

Zita Ritchie is the Australian-based Research Program Manager responsible for the Africa–Australia Partnership for Climate Responsive Agriculture. She has more than 15 years of experience in agricultural extension, policy and research across Africa, Asia and Australia. Zita’s expertise includes dairy industry development, climate change management, farm business, project leadership and monitoring and evaluation. She served as a Food Security Officer with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in Addis Ababa from 2017 to 2019, leading regional food security policy initiatives in the Horn of Africa. In addition, she implemented smallholder food security and livelihood projects with the Kenya Red Cross. Her international development work includes ACIAR projects in Indonesia and the Philippines. Contact Zita

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