ACIAR SDIP contributions to the AARES conference

The annual meeting of the Australasian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society (AARES) was held at the University of Western Australia in Perth from 10 – 14 February. This year the ACIAR SDIP program was well represented by members of the ‘Institutions to support intensification, integrated decision making and inclusiveness in agriculture in the EGP’ (Institutions) and ‘Sustainable and Resilient Farming Systems Intensification’ (SRFSI) projects. The work presented covered property rights and elements of the impacts of extension and farming system change.

Sophie Lountain, a Masters student with the Institutions project from the University of South Australia presented her work on property rights, in the context of women’s access to water. Using a case study from West Bengal, Sophie’s work is exploring the ways that adoption of pumping technologies by women is linked to property rights.

Dr Jahangir Alam’s paper measured the impact of agricultural extension services on productivity and income of farmers in Bangladesh. Using a large household survey to compare households that had received agricultural extension services with those who had not, the study shows that the impacts of the agricultural extension service on crop income and non-farm income are positive and significant. However, the impacts of the extension service coefficients are not significant for net farm incomes. The results of the study revealed that the net farm income of farmers who have benefited from extension services is almost identical to that of those who do not.

Professor Fay Rola-Rubzen also presented several papers and a poster on work under the SRFSI project, looking at elements of adoption and disadoption of CASI technologies, and the impacts of CASI on farming households.

For more information, please contact Tamara Jackson ([email protected]).