The Bentley Cropping Systems Fellowship

IDRC offers this Fellowship 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. 

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. 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.

Deadline: October 1, 2014 by 4:00 pm EST

For further details and application please visit the Bentley Cropping Systems Fellowship page.