Rural Livelihood Improvement
Technology development for income and livelihood improvement of the rural population in developing regions
We launched this new “Rural Livelihood Improvement Program” to achieve “Technology development for income and livelihood improvement of the rural population in developing regions”, which is one of JIRCAS’ Third Medium-Term targets.
It aims to improve income in rural areas, and promote the practical uses of local resources, missions that JIRCAS will tackle. We are also planning technological innovations for application to these areas. It’s likewise important to improve agricultural productivity and increase value-addition to agricultural products in order to generate more income. On practical uses for local resources, we are aiming for recycling-oriented societies based on sustainable productivity and diversity of both the environment and culture. The program consists of six projects geared to achieve these targets (Table 1, List of Rural Livelihood Improvement Research Project themes). The core research project of the program is the “Establishment of Sustainable and Independent Farm Household Economy in the Rural Areas of Indochina”, and the outlines of the other five projects are likewise indicated hereafter.
Research Highlights
- Late transplanting caused by water shortage leads to yield reduction in plot-to-plot fields in Central Laos(2015)
- Techniques for collecting black soldier fly eggs year-round for use as a promising feed material for fish culture(2015)
- Specific tree species preferred for use as firewood in Central Laos(2015)
- A Laotian tree database including useful varieties in secondary forests after slash-and-burn agriculture(2015)
- Improving the productivity of bean sprouts with slightly acidic electrolyzed water(2015)
- Construction of “The Traditional Fermented Foods of Thailand” Database(2015)
- Discrimination of old oil palm trunks to maximize production of fermentable sugars in sap: A promising source of sugars for biofuels and biomaterials(2015)
- Evaluation of the economic viability of ethanol production from palm sap with low sugar concentration(2015)
- Characterization of oil-palm trunk residue degradation enzymes from the isolated fungus, Penicillum rolfsii(2015)
- Identification of factors that promote CSR activities by Indonesian palm oil companies(2015)
- Maintenance of outbred seraya seed production by selectively excluding inbred seeds in natural hill dipterocarp forests(2015)
- Improving the production of giant tiger prawn using an unidentified species of Chaetomorpha having euryhaline nature(2015)
- Economic benefits of various non-timber forestry products to Lao PDR’s farm economy(2014)
- Resource management of a small-sized cyprinid population in an isolated small stream based on its ecological characteristics(2014)
- Decomposition analysis of maize yield change in China(2014)
- Importance of salt concentration and long-term fermentation in the quality of salty-fermented freshwater fish paste in Thailand and Laos(2014)
- Direct Saccharification Technology From Lignocellulosic Biomass(2014)
- Impacts of the oil palm development program in Indonesia on small scale farmers(2014)
- Methods to establish transfer zones of forest reproductive materials in Peninsular Malaysia(2014)
- Extraction of p-hydroxybenzoic acid, a promising raw material for plastics, from oil palm biomass(2014)
- Disincentive factors affecting stable aquaculture production of the blood cockle, Anadara granosa, in Malaysia(2014)
- Evaluations of genetic diversities and population structures of Laotian two small-sized fishes using microsatellite DNA markers(2013)
- Local farmers employ bat guano to overcome soil acidity in a semi-mountainous area of Lao PDR(2013)
- The effectiveness of introducing organic vegetable cultivation to the small-sized dairy farms in the semi-arid regions, China(2013)
- Potassium deficiency in fertilizer budget for crop production in China(2013)
- Renin and chymase inhibitory activities of edible lichen, Sulcaria sulcata and Lobaria kurokawae(2013)
- Bio-Ethanol Production from Oil Palm Trunk Fiber.(2013)
- Net energy balance of ethanol production from sap squeezed from old oil palm trunks(2013)
- Production of binderless particleboard and compressed lumber using oil palm trunk as a feedstock(2013)
- Selective logging criteria to ensure healthy seed production for dipterocarp species that depend their pollination on strong flyer insects(2013)
- Digestibility of animal-based and plant-based diets in the tropical sea cucumber, Holothuria scabra(2013)
- Influence analysis of climatic and input factors on maize yield in Hebei Province(2012)
- Cooking method affects antioxidant capacity and total phenolic content in basils(2012)
- Characterization of novel anaerobic alkalithermophilic, cellulolytic-xylanolytic bacteria(2012)
- Isolation of thermotolerant yeasts for a non-cooling fermentation system in tropical areas(2012)
- Non-sterilized bio-plastic production from oil palm sap using halophilic polyhydroxyalkanoate-producing bacteria(2012)
- Soil suitability map for teak plantation in the Northeast of Thailand(2012)
- Genetic diversity of the shrimp, Macrobrachium yui, indigenous to Laos(2012)
- Occurrence of causative dinoflagellates of paralytic shellfish poisoning in Selangor coast, Peninsular Malaysia(2012)
- Stock management of the fluvial shrimp Macrobrachium yui indigenous to northern Laos based on life-history characteristics(2011)
- Effect of natural fermentation on the textural improvement of traditional fermented rice noodles(2011)
- Development of cellulose-degrading enzyme recycle system for reducing enzyme cost of saccharification(2011)
- Production of biodegradable plastic from oil palm sap(2011)
- Analyzing pollen dispersal of seraya (Shorea curtisii ) to promote healthy seed production to sustain forest regeneration(2011)
- The importance of large scale mangrove estuaries as feeding grounds for commercially important juvenile fishes(2011)
- Size measurement and nutritional condition evaluation methods in sandfish (Holothuria scabraJaeger )(2011)
- Stock assessment and management of juvenile orange-spotted grouper (Epinephelus coioides ) at a tropical mangrove brackish area in Peninsular Malaysia(2011)
Related JIRCAS Report
Certificate of Appreciation from the Lao PDR Forest Science Research Center
A certificate of appreciation and a commemorative gift from the Lao PDR Forest Science Research Center (FSRC) Director, Dr. Vongvilay Vongkhamsao were presented to Dr. Kenichiro Kimura, Senior Researcher of the Rural Development Division, at the National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute (NAFRI) meeting room on March 4, 2016.
Methodology in JIRCAS’s Research Highlights 2012 report, “Soil suitability map for teak plantation in the Northeast of Thailand,” extended to four other provinces by the Thai Royal Forest Department (RFD)
JIRCAS carried out a joint research project with the Thai Royal Forest Department (RFD), and the results were summarized in JIRCAS’s “Research Highlights 2012” report titled “Soil suitability map for teak plantation in the Northeast of Thailand.” One of the outputs of this JIRCAS-RFD project was the publication of a map for Udon Thani and Nong Bua Lam Phu Provinces (Figure 1a) in Northeast Thailand, the project’s study area.