This is a report about the economic, policy and institutional environment that shapes decision making by households raising cattle and buffalo in Cambodia and in Laos. The aim of this project is to assist in the development of relevant research projects in these countries.

Project final report for ADP/2011/021

This project aimed to examine the nature and impact of interventions in selected agricultural markets, to analyse marketing system constraints, to identify, evaluate and quantify the impact of domestic market and international trade policy reforms and, to develop and disseminate appropriate policy recommendations.

This project aimed to identify actionable insights on how donors, governments and industry organisations can increase the momentum for change on the ground in the Pacific. Industry organisations are an important part of donor and recipient government strategies and initiatives to reinvigorate agriculture in the Pacific.

This project aimed to evaluate opportunities to reduce logistics costs to small-scale farmers, and contribute to more informed policy on infrastructure that promotes development and access to markets in Indonesia and Vietnam. View project page.

This project aimed to understand how government and non-government actors can best work together to deliver public-private partnerships in extension so the organic sector can capitalize on export demand. View project page.

This project aimed to accelerate the adoption of Zero-Till seed drills (including the Happy Seeder) to reduce crop residue burning and boost sustainable food energy water security. View project page

This project aimed to design practicable marketing policy reforms to improve producers’ and consumers’ welfare, with particular attention to gender and poverty dimensions.  View project page

This technical report presents the findings of an ACIAR project that examined the effects and potential benefits of responses to climate change in rice markets in China and Vietnam.

Agriculture is a key focus of Vietnam’s economic development; however, private businesses have been reluctant to strongly engage with the agricultural sector. The number of registered enterprises operating in agriculture is disproportionally small, as is private investment into the sector. This is negatively affecting total factor productivity growth in agriculture, which is expected to decline further. The Vietnamese government has introduced a series of policy initiatives aimed at promoting private investments and business activity in agriculture.

This project aimed to develop and monitor policy and design institutional arrangements at the national, provincial and local levels to effectively implement REDD+, and equitably distribute its benefits to communities. Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) is an important global response to the threat of climate change. Indonesia has consistently promoted the REDD+ mechanism reached at the 2010 Cancun meeting of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

This project aimed to improve the capacity of Lao and Cambodian crop protection and plant quarantine staff in plant disease diagnosis and plant biosecurity. Biosecurity and plant protection systems in Cambodia and Lao PDR cannot effectively identify and diagnose pest interceptions or monitor pests in local crops. This is largely due to a lack of local expertise, information and physical resources at the operational level, and the absence of organisational processes and communication networks essential to the diagnostic process.

This project aimed to provide policy-makers with evidence-based economic analysis and advice so they can reduce constraints to pulses production and trade, and increase productivity in Pakistan. Pulses are dried seeds of the legume family (including chickpeas, mung beans, lentils and mash beans) and are an important source of vegetable protein in Pakistan. International and domestic demand for pulses is expected to grow, but production has stagnated in recent years. Production and prices are volatile, and post-harvest losses are significant.