{"id":1312,"date":"2010-05-24T06:00:14","date_gmt":"2010-05-24T06:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.infobeasiswa.net\/?p=1312"},"modified":"2010-05-24T06:30:04","modified_gmt":"2010-05-24T06:30:04","slug":"canada-scholarship-the-bentley-cropping-systems-fellowship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.infobeasiswa.net\/archives\/2010\/05\/24\/canada-scholarship-the-bentley-cropping-systems-fellowship\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada Scholarship – The Bentley Cropping Systems Fellowship"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Bentley Cropping Systems Fellowship<\/strong><\/p>\n

This Fellowship (a bequest from Helen S. Bentley and C. Fred Bentley) provides assistance to Canadian and developing-country graduate students with a university degree in agriculture, forestry or biology, who wish to undertake postgraduate, applied, on-farm research with cooperating farmers in a developing country.<\/p>\n

In principle, IDRC supports research on all parts of the developing regions of the world. At this time, Fellowships and Awards is not supporting awards which involve research in Burma, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Eastern Europe or Central Asia.<\/p>\n

Projects should evaluate and\/or promote the use of fertility enhancing plants, such as leguminous forages, shrubs, cover crops, and grain legumes in small farms. The intent is to seek ways to increase the yield of food crops, improve farmers` livelihoods, and improve soil fertility.<\/p>\n

The research should seek cropping system changes that will lead to: sustainable and increased crop yields; production of more and improved animal feed; improved soil and water conservation; improved weed control, and\/or 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.<\/p>\n

The proposal must present plans for on-farm experiments on small-holder farms that have potential to improve the lives of farming households, and to preserve or improve crops yields.<\/p>\n

Eligibility<\/strong>
\n1. Applicants
\nApplicants must be Canadian citizens, permanent residents of Canada, or citizens of a developing country who are currently enrolled full-time in a graduate program (Master’s, doctoral, post-doctoral) at a recognized university in Canada or in a developing country for the duration of the award period.<\/p>\n

2. Key Selection Criteria
\nA. Focus of the Research:
\nProposals must focus on very simple cropping systems research that can benefit smallholder farmers in developing countries, especially rural women farmers.<\/p>\n

B. Participatory Research:
\nApplicants must use simple experiments executed by cooperating farmers under guidance by the researchers (see details about the location of individual on-farm experiments), and conduct their research with the active participation of the farmers, including women farmers. This requires that farmers be involved in all stages of the experiment on their land, including all the stages of land preparation, seeding, and harvesting.<\/p>\n

Research proposals must include details of the comparisons envisioned between the traditional cropping practice of cooperating farmers and the side-by-side alternative cropping practice, which must include some type of leguminous crop or plant. Please consult the attached diagram that shows how a simple on-farm experiment might be compared to either one or two alternative cropping systems. Thus, experiments must compare crop yields from traditional unicrop practice with yields of the same crop combined with some kind of leguminous plant grown either simultaneously with the traditional crop, or perhaps in some cases, grown before the traditional crop is planted.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The research procedures must include extensive dissemination of the research results. Smallholder farmers, including rural women farmers, should be the major focus of such publicity:<\/p>\n

a. The results should be presented in formats that can reach the various stakeholders, such as field days, farmer visits, briefs for policy-makers;
\nb. Dissemination will actively involve farmers, extension workers, local development initiatives, and agricultural organizations by addressing other smallholder farmers, especially rural women farmers;
\nc. The publicity should include farmers` visits and farmer-to-farmer teaching and learning.<\/p>\n

The applicant must<\/strong>:<\/p>\n