The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Burkina Paso, His Excellency Mr. Pascal Batjobo, visited JIRCAS on April 20, 2021 and exchanged opinions with President Koyama and other executive staff.

In Burkina Faso in West Africa, as much as 80% of the population is engaged in agriculture, and improving agricultural productivity through agricultural technology is extremely important. JIRCAS and Burkina Faso have a long tradition of research collaboration, which led to the development of technology to sustainably improve agricultural productivity under the climatic conditions of Sudanian savannas through the Development of intensive watershed management models for soil erosion prone areas in ​​Sub-Saharan Africa ​​project, which was carried out in the 4th Medium- to Long-term Plan for 5 years until March 2021, and the SATREPS project on Development of domestically produced fertilizers using low-grade phosphate rock and improvement of fertilizer application techniques.

Based on the relationship of trust cultivated through many years of human resource development and exchange between JIRCAS and the Institute of Environment and Agriculture Research (INERA) of Burkina Faso, the joint research partner's initiative and continuing efforts will ensure that the research results will be implemented even in the midst of the coronavirus crisis. In the 5th Medium- to Long-term Plan, which started in April this year, the joint research with Burkina Faso will be conducted under the “Development of sustainable land management technologies under extreme weather conditions in drylands (Sustainable Land Management)” project.

Ambassador Batjobo expressed his appreciation to JIRCAS for its contribution to the agricultural development of  Burkina Faso, and looked forward to the resumption of JIRCAS research activities in Burkina Faso once the coronavirus crisis is over.