JIRCAS, in collaboration with the Mekong River Commission (MRC), organized a regional meeting on intermittentirrigation in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, on May 30, 2023. The purpose of the meeting was to share and discuss the first draft of the MRC Guidance on Intermittent Irrigation being prepared by MRC with member countries (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, and Vietnam), and to present the progress of the intermittent irrigation project being implemented by JIRCAS. A total of 25 participants from the MRC Secretariat, agriculture and irrigation officials from MRC member countries, and experts from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and JIRCAS participated in the meeting both in person and online.

From JIRCAS, Senior Researcher MINAMIKAWA Kazunori (Crop, Livestock and Environment Division) presented an overview of intermittent irrigation and its implementation, the current status and challenges of methodologies for obtaining carbon credits by reducing methane emissions through paddy water management, the progress of JIRCAS research on reducing methane emissions through large paddy area water management in Cambodia, and an overview of the SATREPS project to be launched in Cambodia. Participants requested that JIRCAS continue to share its experience and intermittent irrigation research results with MRC member countries.

JIRCAS will continue to work on the research and social implementation of intermittent irrigation with the aim of extending the “Sustainable Food Systems Strategy MIDORI” to the Asia-Monsoon region and contributing to international regulation.