IDRC offers this Fellowship (a bequest from Helen S. Bentley and C. Fred Bentley) every two years in October to a Canadian, permanent resident of Canada, or citizen of a developing country. You must be a graduate student with a university degree in agriculture, forestry, or biology, and wish to undertake applied, on-farm research with cooperating farmers in one or more developing countries. Learn more about the bequest.

The Fellowship provides funding for field research aimed at increasing the yield of food crops, improving farmers’ livelihoods, and enhancing soil fertility. In particular, the research should evaluate and/or promote the use of fertility-enhancing plants — such as leguminous forages, shrubs, cover crops, and grain legumes — on small farms.

If you wish to apply, your research should seek cropping-system changes that will lead to some of these results:

• sustainable and increased crop yields
• more abundant and improved animal-feed production
• improved soil and water conservation
• better weed control
• increased biological fixation of nitrogen

Projects should be planned and executed in cooperation with an international agricultural research centre, or with a developing-country institution involved in agricultural research that has an applied, on-farm orientation.

Proposals must present plans for on-farm experiments on smallholder farms that have potential to improve the lives of farming households and to preserve or improve crops yields.

Key Selection Criteria

 

a) Focus of the Research

Proposals must focus on very simple cropping-systems research that can benefit smallholder farmers in developing countries, especially rural women farmers.

b) Participatory Research

Your research must involve simple experiments to be carried out by cooperating farmers under guidance of the researchers (see details about the location of individual on-farm experiments). Both male and female farmers should participate actively. They should be involved in all stages of the experiment on their land, including land preparation, seeding, and harvesting.

Who can apply

To be eligible, you must:

• be a citizen or permanent resident of Canada, or a citizen of a developing country;
• be enrolled full-time at a recognized university at the master’s, doctoral, or post-doctoral level in Canada or in a developing country for the duration of the award period;
• have a university degree in agriculture, forestry, or biology;
• submit a research proposal focusing on very simple cropping-systems research that can benefit smallholder farmers in developing countries, especially rural women farmers;
• provide evidence that you will be supported by local institutions that have a good working relationship with target communities, farmers, and/or extension agencies;
• indicate that you will seek cooperation, help, and support from local «extension officers» and/or NGOs in the identification of individual farmers who are likely to be suitable and cooperative;
• provide evidence that a large part or all of the research will be carried out on the farms of resource-poor or smallholder farmers. The award will not support research carried out on the farms of large landholders or on research stations;
• provide evidence that farmers will actively participate in the experiments. It is essential to develop simple on-farm experimental designs with appropriate controls to determine the practicality and profitability of introducing a leguminous crop or other fertility-enhancing plant in the farmers’ cropping systems.

If you are selected for an award, you have up to 12 months to start your field research from the date of the final selection.

How to apply

 

Make comparisons between traditional and alternative cropping practices

 

Your proposal must include details of the comparisons you envision between the traditional cropping practice used by farmers in the region and the side-by-side alternative cropping practice you wish to introduce. Experiments must compare crop yields from traditional unicrop practice with yields of the same crop combined with some kind of fertility-enhancing plant grown either simultaneously with the traditional crop, or in some cases, grown before the traditional crop is planted.

Please consult this diagram (PDF, 82KB) showing how a simple on-farm experiment might be compared to either one or two alternative cropping systems.

Similar experiments executed in rural school gardens — conducted with the help and advice of the Fellowship holder and with the participation of both students and teachers — are also encouraged.

Indicate wide dissemination strategies

The research procedures must include extensive dissemination of the results aimed at smallholder farmers, including rural women farmers. You should

• present the results in formats — such as field days, farmer visits, and briefs for policymakers — that will reach the various stakeholders
• actively involve farmers, extension workers, local development initiatives, and agricultural organizations in dissemination efforts
• include farmers’ visits and farmer-to-farmer teaching and learning in the outreach.

Outline how the proposed experiment will be sustainable

 

You should suggest the anticipated benefits/improvements and feasibility of your proposal. Please explain

• how the research data was collected and how the introduction of leguminous plants or other fertility-enhancing plants in cropping systems is expected to improve the economic benefits to farmers
• how you will make the frequent trips from the «home base» to the villages of the cooperating farmers. This is essential for successful execution of on-farm tests.

Countries subject to approval

In principle, IDRC supports research in all developing countries. At this time, however, we do not support awards that involve research in Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Korea (Democratic People’s Republic of), Somalia, Eastern Europe or Central Asia.

IDRC must approve field research proposed in the following countries or territories prior to issuing the award:

Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Congo (Democratic Republic of), Eritrea, Gabon, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Libya, Mali, Niger, Papua New Guinea, Small Island States [including Comoros, Equatorial Guinea, Mauritius, São Tomé and Principe, Seychelles, Timor-Leste and Oceania (Cook Islands, Fiji, Nauru, Kiribati, Palau, Marshall Islands, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tuvalu, Tonga, Vanuatu, Wallis & Futuna)], South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, West Bank and Gaza, and Yemen.

Duration

Award tenure corresponds with the period of field research. In general, it will be between 18 and 24 months.

Value

The value of the award is up to CA$30,000. If there is strong evidence of significant potential benefits, the award may be extended upon re-application.

Progress Reports

Fellowship holders will commit to provide IDRC with three brief progress reports per year.

Deadline

October 1, 2014 by 4:00 pm EST (the award will be announced by mid-December 2014). You must begin your fieldwork by December of the following year.

Evaluation criteria

Applications will be evaluated according to IDRC thematic priorities and criteria, such as relevance to sustainable and equitable development, as well as quality of the research proposal and suitability of the candidate.

Reapplication policy

 

If you are reapplying and your previous research proposal was reviewed and unsuccessful, please explain, in the application form, what changes have been made since the last application and specify where to find the changes in the proposal. Please note that IDRC policy stipulates that an individual cannot apply more than twice, if unsuccessful, for the same IDRC award. Before reapplying, candidates must contact us to obtain the evaluators’ comments and integrate the comments into their revised research proposal (please refer to the Checklist, section “Important Information for Reapplicants”).

Ethics

If your research poses ethical concerns, you may be required, at IDRC’s discretion, to submit the appropriate approval from your university’s ethics committee.

Thank you for your interest. We will contact you if your application and proposal best match the Award criteria. The names of the successful candidates will be posted on the IDRC website.

Award holders

Previous award holders and their research topics.

 

Documents

• Checklist of required documents (PDF, 203KB)
• Template of letter of approval by research supervisor (PDF, 61KB)
• Technical FAQs (PDF, 287KB)

See the list of all IDRC awards offered to graduate students