ACIAR was established as a statutory body in 1982 by the Australian Government to encourage and support collaborative research in the agricultural problems of developing countries. The Centre subjects each request for collaborative research support to careful scrutiny prior to development and implementation. Projects should be high priority and generate mutual benefits for both partners. There should be a significant economic impact with good potential for spillover of benefits to other countries. Finally the projects should have an acceptable environmental and gender impact aimed at development of sustainable agricultural systems.
The four main thrusts of the Animal Science Program are small ruminant production and health; large ruminant production and health; developing appropriate technologies including biotechnology and developing sustainable integrated
production systems.
Any strategy for the future needs and priorities for animal production research must be flexible to accommodate the rapid change that is occurring in the national and in particular, the international research enviromnent. ACIAR considers animal (livestock) production in its widest sense to include fish, poultry, domestic ruminants and exotic species and realized, because of its small size, that the development of collaboration amongst international research groups is needed to achieve a complementary effort.