Meryl Williams Fellow Deepa Devkota awarded ARSF funding

Deepa Devkota

Building on the success of two initial rounds of funding, the Australian Centre of International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) has recently announced the Alumni Research Support Facility’s (ARSF) third round of support. Termed ARSF3-ECR, this program aims to support early-career researchers and will allow a number of Meryl Williams Fellow Alumni the opportunity to continue to progress their skills and expertise while undertaking research that is responsive to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in their respective regions.  

ACIAR Alumni Deepa Devkota, will be supported by the ARSF3-ECR program as she conducts research into the impact COVID-19 has had on widening gender disparity among small commercial vegetable farmers across Nepal. Deepa will receive mentoring and international research support from ACIAR as part of the ARSF3-ECR program.  

A female farmer working to sell her produce without any assistance.

Deepa speaks with a female farmer as she waits to transport her vegetables.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has had a tremendous and unprecedented impact on the vegetable supply chain. It caused huge losses to small commercial vegetable farmers due to the perishable nature of the product, and limited storage and processing facilities in the production areas.” Says Deepa.  

Since 2015, Deepa has been working as an Agricultural Economist based at the Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) and has continued to observe female farmers struggling to use and therefore adopt agricultural technologies. Throughout her research, Deepa wishes to explore how these underlying gendered issues have been altered by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and to highlight supply chain disruptions, recovery strategies and policy options for Nepal. 

“The pandemic escalated the existing challenge of inclusive and empowered small commercial vegetable farmers in the modern supply chain.” Shares Deepa. “Assessing the gendered impact of COVID-19 on small commercial vegetable farmers and understanding micro level responses will shed light on the specific steps required to support them.” 

Deepa hopes the results of her research will draw policy implications to support policy makers to develop gender responsive strategies to increase equitable support and efficiency in vegetable supply chain management across Nepal.  

It's fantastic to see ACIAR continue to support such important initiatives and we wish Deepa all the best with her research.