Date

November 28-29, 2012

Venue

Tsukuba International Congress Center, Epochal, Convention Hall 200

Organizer

Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS)

Under the auspices of

Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Research Council (AFFRC) Secretariat, MAFF

National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO)

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)

International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, Japan Office

Japan Forum on International Agricultural Research for Sustainable Development (J-FARD)

Keynote Speakers

Shenggen Fan (IFPRI)

Chieko Umetsu (Nagasaki University)

Session Chairs

Tomoyuki Kawashima (JIRCAS), Ryoichi Matsunaga (JIRCAS), Kunihiro Doi (JIRCAS),Kazunobu Toriyama (JIRCAS) , Masuo Ando (JIRCAS), Kazumi Yamaoka (JIRCAS)

Speakers

Seishi Yamasaki (JIRCAS)

Junichi Hanai (JICA)

Andrew Mude(ILRI)

Lamourdia Thiombiano(FAO)

Hongwen Li(CAU, China)

Yulia Shirokova(SRIIWP, Uzbekistan)

Md Syedul Islam(BRRI, Bangladesh)

Emiko Maki(Sompo Japan)

Hideto Fujii(JIRCAS)

Mohamed Abdellahi Ebbe(NCPCDL, Mauritania)

松村正哉(NARO)

神田英司(NARO)

Panelists

Shigeru Araki (Kyoto University)

Yuki Morinaga (Meiji University)

Takeshi Sakurai (Hitotsubashi University)

Masa Iwanaga (JIRCAS)

The 2012 JIRCAS International Symposium was held at the Tsukuba International Congress Center (Epochal), Tsukuba City, Japan on November 28-29 with the theme, “Resilient Food Production Systems: The Role of Agricultural Technology Development in Developing Regions.” It was attended by 152 guests and participants, and was organized by JIRCAS under the auspices of the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Research Council (AFFRC) Secretariat of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations - Japan Office, and Japan Forum on International Agricultural Research for Sustainable Development (J-FARD).

Dr. Masa Iwanaga, President of JIRCAS, opened the symposium. He stated the background and objectives, briefly discussed the symposium’s theme, and gave remarks on the future direction of resilient food production systems.

Mr. Masamichi Saigo, Research Councilor of the AFFRC Secretariat, MAFF, welcomed the participants. He named population growth and crop failure due to global warming as contributors to food insecurity and emphasized the significance of exchanging information on the topic of resilience.

Two keynote speeches were delivered: Dr. Shenggen Fan of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) presented “Building Resilient Food Systems: Policies and Technologies,” while Prof. Chieko Umetsu of Nagasaki University discussed “Resilience of Social-Ecological Systems for Food Security.”

Four thematic sessions followed wherein researchers and experts from various organizations shared their experiences and opinions on resilient food production systems:

In Session 1, "Resilience in the Livestock Sector," resilience to livestock damage due to cold and snow disasters (Dzud) in northeast Asia and droughts in the Horn of Africa were discussed. Measures to protect pastoralists from livestock losses were also presented.

In Session 2, "Resilience in Upland Crop Production," speakers and participants reported on and discussed conservation agriculture in Africa and China. The extent and countermeasures to drought and salt damage in Uzbekistan were also explained.

In Session 3, "Resilience in Paddy Rice Production," the following topics were discussed: “The impact of cyclone ‘Aila’ on the livelihood of the coastal people of Bangladesh,” “Weather Index Insurance for Agriculture (WIIA) in Thailand,” and “Adaptation and coexistence in high-flood rice area in the Mekong Delta.”

In Session 4, "Risk Recognition and Monitoring System,” the presentations focused on the Mauritanian experience on desert locust pest control, migration prediction and insecticide resistance monitoring for rice planthoppers, and the development of an early-warning system against cool-weather damage in rice production.

During panel discussion, titled “Role of Technological Development and Japan’s Contribution,” the four panelists expressed their ideas and gave comments from the standpoint of soil, weather, farm management, and biodiversity.

The discussion was concluded by acknowledging the need of dynamic diversity which considers profitability, and that the symposium would have served its purpose if it contributes to further deepen agricultural research on issues related to resilience.