Dr. SAITO Kazuki, Principal Scientist at Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice) and visiting researcher at JICAS, was selected as the winner of the 21st Century Hope Prize of the 7th Niigata International Food Award.

Dr. NAKAGAWA Andressa, Researcher in the Crop, Livestock and Environment Division, received the Best Presentation Award (Poster) at the 253rd Annual Meeting of the Crop Science Society of Japan, held online on March 27-28, 2022.

The farm management planning support programs, Builder of Farming Model — BFMgh and BFMbf, have been developed and released to efficiently support decision making, including technology selection, by smallholder farmers in Ghana and Burkina Faso.

JIRCAS has released a "Technical Manual for Efficient Use of Water Resources in Irrigation Schemes", which describes several methods that contribute to improving water use efficiency in Africa, particularly in response to water resource constraints and facility degradation that are expected to become more serious in the future.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has been conducting training programs for extension officials from Asian and African countries to improve rice cultivation techniques. As a part of this training program, 8 extension officials from 7 countries including Ethiopia and the Philippines, and 3 JICA staff, visited JIRCAS on Tuesday, May 31, 2022.

In Africa, most drainage channels in paddy fields constructed by farmers are earth canals, which are easily eroded by strong rains and running water, and result in diminishment of canal functions. We have published a manual that introduces inexpensive reinforcement measures for irrigation canals (reinforcement using cover-plants, wooden fence, and soil bricks) that can be implemented by farmers.

Dr. SUGIYAMA Masakazu, Director of the University of Tokyo’s Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST), Dr. KOBAYASHI Hikaru, RCAST Adviser, and researchers from the University of Tokyo’s Institute for Future Initiatives (IFI) and the Nippon Shokubai Co. visited the JIRCAS Tropical Agriculture Research Front (TARF) in Ishigaki City on May 20, 2022.

The Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS) is now accepting applications for fixed-term employment of young researchers.

On May 10, 2022, at the completion ceremony of the “Project for Rehabilitation of Irrigation System in South-West of Alaotra Lake”, a grant assistance project by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the President of Madagascar was briefed on new rice varieties (FyVary32 and FyVary85) developed through the SATREPS project “Breakthrough in Nutrient Use Efficiency for Rice by Genetic Improvement and Fertility Sensing Techniques in Africa (Fy Vary Project)” which is being implemented by JIRCAS.

A workshop on the rapid soil fertility evaluation technology developed in conjunction with the SATREPS "Project for Breakthrough in Nutrient Use Efficiency for Rice by Genetic Improvement and Fertility Sensing Techniques in Africa” was held in Madagascar to disseminate the output of the project to agricultural technology extension workers and other beneficiaries.

In March 2022, the BNI-enhanced wheat research was awarded the Cozzarelli Prize for the best paper in 2021 by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS). A video intro highlighting the results of this work has now been published on the PNAS YouTube channel.

H.E. Mr. Mohamed Elloumi, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Tunisia to Japan, and his delegation visited JIRCAS on April 25, 2022 and exchanged opinions with President Koyama and other officials.

Senior Researcher Papa Saliou Sarr, who has been on a business trip in Burkina Faso since April this year, had an opportunity to be interviewed by the local newspaper "Infos-Sciences-Culture" and the article was prominently published on April 15, 2022. In the interview, Dr. Sarr gave an overview of the SATREPS project in Burkina Faso, introduced the process of solubilization of phosphate ores by soil microorganisms, and explained how soil microorganisms play an important role in crop production.

Senior Researcher, Dr. Guntur V. Subbarao, gave a TED Talk of the JIRCAS research on biological nitrification inhibition (BNI) at TED2022: A NEW ERA held in Vancouver, Canada from April 10 to 14, 2022.

The SATREPS Super Food Bolivia website for the project "Strengthening of Resilience in Arid Agro-Ecosystems Vulnerable to Climate Change, Through Research on Plant Resources and Technological Applications" is now open.