Benefits to Australia

ACIAR supports Australia’s national interests by contributing to sustainable economic growth and enhanced regional stability, with a particular focus on economic diplomacy and women’s economic empowerment.

Our work aligns closely with Australia’s broader development assistance program, supporting research collaboration while emphasising individual and institutional capacity-building and private sector-led development, targeted at improved livelihoods in agriculture, forestry and fisheries.

The collaborative international programs and partnerships underpinning ACIAR-supported research also serve to improve Australian scientific capabilities and the productivity and sustainability of agricultural systems in Australia. Improved technologies and practices identified and developed through ACIAR research programs often address the shared challenges of all farmers in the Indo-Pacific region, Australia included.

Our impact in action

These case studies show how we have applied our research to challenges that improve the livelihoods of farmers in our partner countries and Australia:

  • Agricultural aid is in Australian farmers' interests 
    Former ACIAR CEO, Andrew Campbell, considers the pragmatic reasons why well-targeted aid, especially in agriculture, is in the long-term best interests of Australian farmers and rural communities
  • Combating Fall armyworm in Australia and South-East Asia
    Understanding the genetics of Fall armyworm, an invasive pest causing widespread crop destruction across the Indo-Pacific, is the focus of new ACIAR-funded research led by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).
  • Second epidemic threatening Timor-Leste
    While the world continues to battle COVID-19, Timor-Leste has been dealing at the same time with an outbreak of a fatal livestock disease that threatens to further undermine the social and economic wellbeing of its people.
  • Panama Disease TR4
    Australia’s banana industry is locked in battle with Panama Disease with knowledge gained on ACIAR projects overseas proving vital to containing recent outbreaks at home.
  • Australia's vanguard for disease defence
    Multiple ACIAR projects are tackling the very serious issues of human health, nutrition and food security; doubling as a significant line of defence for protecting Australian shores from disease.
  • Clean sweetpotato improving income for farmers
    The economy of the PNG highlands is evolving rapidly as smallholders turn from growing sweetpotato to feed their families to growing food to feed the nation.
  • Developing biosecurity capacity
    Capacity-building is core to ACIAR work across the Indo-Pacific region.
  • Mite pests of honey bees in the Asia-Pacific region - Impact assessment
    This impact assessment study highlights the substantial benefits that can be gained for both Australia and partner countries from collaborative research. In this case, due to the significance of the threat and relative size of the industry, the benefits to Australia are very large.
  • Restoring damaged coral reefs using mass coral larval reseeding
    This project is about using mass coral larval reseeding to restore damaged reef coral communities in the northern Luzon region of the Philippines and evaluating the socio-economic impacts. 
  • Citrus benefits from Australia-China AG science partnerships
    A decades-long citrus rootstock initiative continues to benefit Chinese and Australian farmers and ACIAR other international partner countries.
  • Oyster research in Vietnam
    Australian expertise in mollusc aquaculture has helped Vietnam develop a rapidly growing industry, with coastal communities heavily involved.