John Allwright Fellowships
Overview
Funded by ACIAR, the John Allwright Fellowship (JAF) provides agricultural researchers from partner countries currently or recently involved in ACIAR research projects with the opportunity to obtain postgraduate qualifications at Australian tertiary institutions. The primary aim of the scheme is to enhance research capacity in ACIAR’s partner country institutions.
Recent JAF Fellows at the University of Canberra
Nadeem Akmal
Doctorate conferred: 30 November 2021
Supervisors:
Dr Sandra Heaney-Mustafa
Prof Robert Fitzgerald
Prof John Spriggs
Dr Caroline Lemerle
Title: Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Livelihood Improvement in Rural Pakistan: A Comparative Study of Small and Large Holder Citrus Farming Households in the Sargodha District
Summary
This research project was designed to examine the impact of information and communications technology (ICT) on the livelihoods and access to information of small and large-holder farmers in the Sargodha district of Punjab, Pakistan. Information was gathered on almost all aspects of citrus production and marketing, as well as on livestock management. A comparison was made of small and largeholder farmers, with respect to the current modern ICT era including pre-existing communication technologies such as television, radio and fixed-line telephone.
Research findings revealed that awareness, adoption, and use of ICT among the farming community was considerable, although adoption and use of ICT was impacted by the level of a landholder’s education and by the size of each farmer’s citrus acreage. Overall, the use of ICT had a postive impact on the productivity of the farmers, allowing them to better connect with each other as well as with other stakeholders to improve their livelihoods. However, there remains some concern about smallholder farmers who are less aware and less able to adopt ICT in their farming due to lack of knowledge and financial constraints.
For further information on this project, please contact Nadeem Akmal directly.
Sajida Taj (Shahzad)
Doctorate conferred: 30 August 2019
Supervisors:
Dr Sandra Heaney-Mustafa
Prof Robert Fitzgerald
Prof Barbara Chambers
Title: Enhanced Gender Inclusion and Collaboration in Rural Pakistan: A Place-based Approach
Summary
This project involved a comparison between two different approaches to Agricultural Value Chain Development (AVCD) and an analysis of the effectiveness of these approaches in enhancing gender inclusion, empowerment and collaboration in households and communities in rural Punjab, Pakistan. The two approaches to AVCD compared in this study were the participatory place-based approach, and the commodity-focussed approach. The latter has tended to support skills development of male farmers, while female farmers and marginalised groups have been ignored. As a result, rural women and men from small farming households in Pakistan either obtain agricultural knowledge from informal sources or remain knowledge-poor, leading to low productivity which widens the gender gap, lowers gender collaboration, and increases poverty in rural households.
Research included the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data from 112 small farming households in three districts from Punjab, Pakistan, both before and after the project interventions in each village. A different approach was used in each village, with one as a control.
The key findings showed the participatory, place-based approach to community engagement to be more effective and gender-inclusive than the commodity-focussed approach, as it saw a gradual improvement in women’s collaboration with their male counterparts in decision-making for the family and farm.
This research contributes new understanding about the participatory place-based approach to AVCD to strengthen participation of smallholder farmers of both genders in Pakistan, and how it impacts gender empowerment and collaboration.
For further information on this project, please contact Sajida Taj (Shahzad) directly.