The Director General of the  International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA), Dr. Ismahane Elouafi visited JIRCAS On October 31, 2017 with Dr. Kristina Toderich of the ICBA Regional Office for Central Asia and Caucasus.

The ICBA is an international research institute that develops and disseminates salt-tolerant crops, and agricultural technologies using salt-containing water in the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. Director Elouafi came to Japan in conjunction with her participation as a keynote speaker at the JIRCAS International Symposium on “Promotion of active participation of female researchers in international agriculture, food and nutrition research” to be held on November 2, 2017 at the United Nations University in Tokyo.

During this visit to JIRCAS, Dr. Elouafi and Dr. Toderich gave a talk on the research activities of ICBA focusing on “Sustainable, Climate-smart Agriculture in Marginal Environments”. The presentation was followed by discussions about research on salt-tolerant crops and countermeasures against salt damage with Pres. IWANAGA Masa and JIRCAS researchers.