Education and African Modernities: The Development of African Universities, or the African Women Public Service Fellowship


Use of Fertility Enhancing Food, Forage and Cover Crops in Sustainably Managed Agroecosystems:  The Bentley Fellowship



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Use of Fertility Enhancing Food, Forage and Cover Crops in Sustainably Managed Agroecosystems:  The Bentley Fellowship


This Fellowship provides assistance to Canadian or developing country students or researchers with a university degree in Agriculture, Forestry or Biology, who wish to undertake post-graduate applied on-farm research in a developing country with cooperating farmers.  Projects should evaluate and/or promote the use of fertility enhancing plants such as leguminous forages, cover crops and grain legumes in subsistence tropical agriculture.  The intent is to find innovative ways to enhance food security, improve farmers’ livelihoods, and restore or maintain high levels of soil fertility.  The research should evaluate the beneficial roles of these plants in farming systems that will lead to: sustainable and increased gross production from the land, production of more and improved animal feed, soil and water conservation, improved weed control, and/or biological fixation of nitrogen.  Projects planned and executed in cooperation with an International Agricultural Research Centre or with a developing country institution involved in agricultural research and training and which has an applied on-farm orientation, will receive preferential consideration. The candidate’s host research institution will be expected to certify that the research protocol has been reviewed by a qualified statistician and that it meets an internationally high standard in terms of experimental and survey designs used.  The proposal must demonstrate that the research results have the potential to improve the lives of farming households and to preserve or enhance the capacity of their lands to sustain agriculture.
The value of the award is $20,000 Canadian per year. Award tenure corresponds to the period of field research.  In general, this will be no less than four months and not more than twelve months.  The award may be renewable upon application.  The recipients of the award are chosen by a selection committee.
The purpose of the fellowship is to promote participation of small farmers and sustainability in the local environments. The design of the research proposal should address the following elements:
 

Participatory Research:



  • evidence that a large part, or all of the research will be carried out on the farms of resource poor or small holder farmers. The award will not support research carried out on the farms of large land holders or on research stations.

  • evidence that farmers will actively participate in the experimentation, hence the importance of simple on-farm experimental designs with appropriate controls to determine the practicality and profitability of introducing a leguminous crop in their cropping system.

The applicant must show awareness of the imperative need for him/her to have assured/confirmed resources/methods of making the frequent trips from the “home base” to the villages of his/her cooperating farmers. This is essential for successful execution of on-farm tests.

An explanation of how the research data obtained are expected to improve the economic benefits to farmers from introducing leguminous plants in their cropping systems.


Sustainability:



  • evidence that the researcher has, or will be supported by local institutions that have a good working relationship with target communities, farmers and/or extension agencies.

The applicant must indicate that he/she will seek cooperation/help/support of the local “extension officers” for the identification of individual farmers who are likely to be suitable/good cooperators.

The applicant must show awareness of the desirability of having continuing contact with and help from the local extension officers throughout the duration of the experiments. 


A  bequest from Helen S. and C. Fred Bentley provided the initial capital for this Fellowship program. Members of the public who wish to support the Bentleys’ vision may send contributions to the Fellowship program at the address given on the next page.  Such donations will be tax deductible.  As its contribution, IDRC provides the administration of the Fellowship at no cost to the program. IDRC will also add to the program fund when necessary.


Applicants must be citizens or permanent residents of Canada or citizens of a developing country who are either: registered in a Canadian university or a recognized university in a developing country in Agriculture, Forestry or Biology, for a M.Sc. or Ph.D degree; or recent recipients of a  Ph.D degree in Agriculture, Forestry or Biology wishing to do Post-Doctoral applied research in a developing country; or qualified applied researchers with a degree in Agriculture, Forestry or Biology working outside of universities, in agricultural extension, education or production.

Deadline for applications:

October 2nd, 2002.  Complete applications must be received at the Centre by the deadline.  Incomplete applications will NOT be considered for the competition. The award will be announced by mid-December, 2002. Tenure must be undertaken by December of the following year.

Applicants are encouraged to contact member institutions of The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) (http://www.cgiar.org) to explore the possibility of conducting their research in conjunction with one of the member institutions.


Application forms are available from the Deans of Graduate Studies and Faculties of Agriculture in Canadian universities or from the following address at IDRC:

The Bentley Fellowship 
Centre Training and Awards Program 
International Development Research Centre 
250 Albert Street, Ottawa, Ontario  K1P 6M1 
P.O. Box 8500, Ottawa, Ontario K1G 3H9 Tel: (613) 236-6163 ext 2098
Fax: (613) 563-0815
E-mail: cta@idrc.ca

Applications can be downloaded from this site.  Please ensure that you submit all the documents listed in the checklist.  Incomplete applications will not be considered.




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