The JIRCAS Tropical Agriculture Research Front (TARF) held the international meeting with the theme “Balancing Agricultural Production and Environmental Conservation on Tropical Islands” on February 14, 2022. The representatives from the local government offices of Okinawa Prefecture and Ishigaki City participated onsite, and the representatives from the Department of Agriculture of the Philippines joined online.

Tropical islands are vulnerable to weather disasters such as typhoons and droughts. In addition, environmental impacts such as water quality degradation due to excessive application of nitrogen fertilizers and improper management of livestock excrement, deforestation of forests and mangroves, and soil runoff from agricultural lands are increasing, leading to environmental degradation not only in terrestrial areas but also in coastal ecosystems and oceans. 

Okinawa Prefecture, Ishigaki City, and the Philippine Department of Agriculture are each taking their own initiatives to address these issues. In this meeting, the representative from Okinawa Prefectural Government discussed the red soil runoff problem and its countermeasures, and the Ishigaki City representative talked about the proposals of Ishigaki City for achieving the SDGs in conjunction with “SDGs Future City” initiative of the national government. On behalf of the Department of Agriculture of the Philippines, the Bureau of Soil and Water Management (BSWM) representative discussed soil and water conservation efforts involving local residents in watersheds around the Philippines, and the Sugar Regulation Authority (SRA) representative gave a presentation on soil conservation in sugarcane cultivation. TARC also introduced its research activities and ongoing projects in the Philippines.

This meeting enabled the participants to share know-hows and also provided a venue for discussing partnership building and human resource exchange in the future.

Reference: https://www.jircas.go.jp/en/program/proa/a5