Agriculture remains the primary livelihood of most families in the developing world. Simple interventions expecting farmers to adopt new technologies have often failed because other constraints in their lives were not understood or addressed. The Green Revolution's technical achievements must broaden to address complex scientific, economic, health, political, infrastructural, and educational environments in developing nations.
Our aim is to discover and apply transformative and innovative solutions that drive sustainable and profitable agriculture.
The goal of the Development Agriculture theme is to initiate and facilitate interdisciplinary collaborations by uniting researchers from multiple disciplines with expertise relating to agriculture and food in developing economies.
Developing profitable and sustainable agriculture as an integrated component of raising living standards will improve food and nutrition security across the world.
This theme brings together researchers with vast experience and diverse expertise from across the Faculties and with other University of Sydney Centres, such as the Charles Perkins Centre, Sydney Southeast Asia Centre, and the Sydney Infectious Diseases Institute.
This project aims to develop scientifically robust and actionable advice on options to sustainably manage soils in cocoa smallholdings in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and support the ambitions of the Cocoa Industry Strategic Plan 2016-25.
In Phase 1 of this project (SMCN/2014/048), efforts focused on establishing reliable and locally supported experimental field sites to explore the use of green waste management as a source of soil nutrients for cocoa, and capacity building in soil sampling, analysis, and interpretation.
Specifically, Phase 2 aims to develop scientifically robust and actionable advice on sustainable site-specific soil management strategies for cocoa smallholdings in PNG.
This project aims to build the technological and socio-economic foundations for the design, manufacture and field evaluation of electric and smart 2-wheel tractors that also integrate precision agriculture capability. In doing so, it will evaluate the potential of 2-wheel tractors to enhance the sustainability and productivity of Cambodian agriculture.
The electrification of small tractors, coupled with the adoption of precision agriculture technologies, presents a transformative opportunity for Cambodia’s agriculture sector. This integration has the potential to enhance the efficiency and sustainability of small-scale farming practices.
This project aims to change policy formulation and implementation in Vietnam by engaging with the ACIAR Agribusiness Reference Group, a group of private sector agribusiness leaders familiar with policy effects on small-scale farmers. By working with policy actors in Vietnam, the program aims to influence future policy design and influence policy recommendations for analysis and modification.
This project aims to identify, co-design, and test food system solutions that tackle major constraints to delivering sustainable healthy diets and improving nutrition outcomes for people in low and middle-income countries.
