Sustainable development of the fisheries industry is extremely important for the food and nutrition of Japan and other Asian countries. The role of aquaculture has steadily gained in importance year by year in the sustainable development of the fisheries industry. A paper published in Nature in March 2021 provided an overview of the scale of the inland aquaculture sector and development trends in the value chain in recent years, and pointed out that aquaculture is becoming more integrated into the global food system. JIRCAS has been conducting applied research to stabilize the shrimp aquaculture industry, and in this context, Dr. Marcy N. Wilder received the Japanese Society of Fisheries Science Award for 2021 in recognition of her achievements in developing useful new aquaculture technology on an international level.

In many African countries, improving agricultural productivity requires a thorough understanding of soil fertility and the establishment of fertilizer management techniques based on soil information. In recent years, digital maps of soil fertility have been created by compiling a large amount of data from soil fertility surveys in Africa. This time, a team of researchers conducting joint research with JIRCAS and CGIAR has developed a new soil map with a 30 m resolution which was published in Scientific Reports. 

The greatest and direct impact of a disaster on agriculture is a decrease in crop and livestock production, which causes direct economic loss to farmers and extends to the entire value chain affecting the growth of national economies. In March 2021, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) published a report summarizing the impact of disasters and crises on agriculture and food security, and warned that the increasing frequency and intensity of natural disasters has become the new normal.

On March 22, 2021, a white paper in which Dr. Johan Rockström, a proponent of the planetary boundaries concept, also participated as a co-author, was published. The paper provided a systematic overview on how human activities have caused disturbances such as the new corona pandemic, climate change, and biodiversity loss, and emphasized the importance of maintaining the biosphere that supports biodiversity in order to build a sustainable and resilient global society.

March 22 is World Water Day. It was first proposed at the Earth Summit (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992, and adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1993 to encourage member countries to organize activities on this day. Agriculture accounts for more than 70% of the world's water intake, and the SDGs cannot be achieved without the more productive and sustainable use of freshwater and rainwater in agriculture.

In recent summers, the intense heat and humidity add to the feeling of increasing discomfort. A study published in Nature Geoscience focused on a measure called wet-bulb temperature, an index that affects human health by considering both temperature and humidity. The wet-bulb temperature of 35°C is said to be the survival limit for humans and it is a concerning issue especially for the growing population in the tropical regions.

In order to survive and live a healthy life, humans must get the nutrients they need from outside sources, which are most often obtained through food. Agriculture is a system artificially created to provide food efficiently, and an essential role of agriculture is to supply nutrition. Based on the premise that agriculture and nutrition are linked, this article briefly introduces some issues on nutrition and nutrients.

In many regions of Sub-Saharan Africa, land degradation such as soil erosion is increasing with the expansion of agricultural lands and deforestation to secure fuelwood, and it has a great impact on agriculture and living environment in the rural areas. In addition, although it is important to maintain soil moisture in order to increase food production in response to the increasing population, irrigation facilities are not sufficient and effective use of rainwater is required. At the project site in the Ethiopian Highlands, JIRCAS, in collaboration with local universities and local governments, has developed a farmland reclamation technology that utilizes micro-dam sediments and restores the function of the reservoir to mitigate the problem of sediment inflow.

As overseas business trips continue to be difficult due to coronavirus crisis, JIRCAS is exploring an international cooperation system with-corona, based on the trust developed through many years of cooperation, such as outsourcing experiments and data collection to local partners and working closely with them through online meetings. Taking the research project in Madagascar as an example, Tsukuba researchers and local teams have put in place a collaborative system to continue research activities and collection of data necessary to disseminate technologies that will lead to improved rice yields. Just recently, the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of Madagascar visited the demonstration test site of the project.