The Annual Review features highlights and achievements for ACIAR during 2019–20.

This is the ACIAR Annual Report for the year ended 30 June 2020. The report has been prepared in accordance with section 39 of our enabling legislation.

The Annual Review is a new publication featuring highlights and achievements for ACIAR during 2018-19 During 2018-19, ACIAR worked with 490 partner organisations in 35 countries throughout the Indo-Pacific region, to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers, fishers and foresters. As Australia's specialist agricultural research-for-development agency, our work continues to reinforce Australia's reputation in the region as a valued and trusted science partner.

Australia works in an economic partnership with Indonesia, supporting Indonesia’s efforts to tackle inequality and maintain social stability, promote tolerance and pluralism, and counter violent extremism. This book is an excerpt of the ACIAR Annual Operational Plan 2019–20.

The Annual Operational Plan (AOP) describes our intended work program throughout the Indo-Pacific region during 2019–20 year. It explains the context and priorities of our program areas, and describes our partnerships and projects ranging from our support and governance role with our largest partner, the CGIAR system and its 15 international research centres, to our brokering and management role of approximately 200 individual bilateral projects.

ACIAR is part of the Pacific family. Since 1982, we have been funding and connecting Australian researchers with their counterparts throughout the Pacific, helping reduce poverty and improve food security.  We are investing more than AUD$22million in agricultural research and partnerships across nine countries in the Pacific region, including Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. 

This is the Annual Report of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) for the year ended 30 June 2019. The report has been prepared in accordance with section 39 of our enabling legislation—Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research Act 1982, as amended. Annual performance is reported in compliance with section 39 of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 (PGPA Act).

The ACIAR Corporate Plan for 2019–20 outlines our aspirations and direction for the next four years. Through partnerships, we will continue to grow the knowledge base for agricultural research-for-development, and in turn, improve livelihoods of smallholder farmers and fishers in our partner countries. Along the way, we will introduce new technologies, risk management and capabilities to Australian agriculture and agricultural sciences, generating a very high return on public investment.

This Annual Operational Plan (AOP) outlines in detail ACIAR’s work for the 2018–19 year throughout the Indo-Pacific region. It explains the context and priorities of our program areas, and describes our partnerships and projects ranging from our support and governance role with our largest partner, the CGIAR system and its 15 international research centres, to our brokering and management role of around 250 individual bilateral projects.

This is the Annual Report of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) for the year ended 30 June 2018. The report has been prepared in accordance with section 39 of our enabling legislation—Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research Act 1982, as amended. Annual performance is reported in compliance with section 39 of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 (PGPA Act).

ACIAR’s Corporate Plan 2018–19 outlines our aspirations and direction for the next four years. It is ACIAR’s first Corporate Plan to be guided by our new 10–year Strategy. Our performance is demonstrated by the conception, implementation, management and review of research for development projects. For the coming four years, all our research projects will be developed in alignment with the high-level objectives set out in our 10-year Strategy.

During the next 10 years ACIAR’s capacity building will deliver a range of innovative capacity building approaches, focused at multiple-levels (individual, organisational and institutional), and promoting gender equity, for effective international agricultural research for development in the Indo–Pacific region.

All countries in the Indo-Pacific region are grappling with the complex challenges of how to grow more food and reduce poverty using less land, water and energy. Since 1982 ACIAR has made a significant contribution to meeting these challenges. By leveraging international agricultural partnerships, ACIAR seeks to promote more productive and sustainable agricultural systems for the benefit of developing countries and Australia.

Women and men play a central role in the farming, food and health, and natural resource management systems of low and medium income countries. But women’s contribution is often undervalued or unrecognised—and they are often disproportionately affected by poverty. As a result ACIAR has developed the Gender Equity Policy and Strategy. The organisation cannot credibly pursue its strategic objectives around food security, poverty reduction, human health and nutrition or climate change, unless it promotes gender equity vigorously—internally and externally.