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.

A manual describing the materials and specific procedures required to implement the simple shoot-tip grafting method for virus-free passion fruit plantlets was released on April 4, 2022.

Two JIRCAS research projects adopted in FY2021 under the Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS) program jointly implemented by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) have been approved by the partner countries and will now officially start joint research, replacing the previous conditional collaboration.

The first year of the 5-year Fifth Medium to Long-term Plan, which started in April 2021, has passed. As mandated by the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the 5th Plan redefined the noble mission of JIRCAS as Japan’s leading international research institute in the field of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, to enhance agriculture, forestry, and fisheries technology in the world including Japan, and to contribute to the advancement of sustainable  agriculture, forestry, and fisheries, towards the accomplishment of the government policy on the Basic Plan for Food, Agriculture and Rural Areas. To meet this target, the following tasks are prioritized in order to contribute in solving global food and environmental issues.

On March 17, 2022, JIRCAS held a signing ceremony for a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for joint research with the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), Department of Agriculture, Republic of the Philippines.

A promotional video of the SATREPS “Project for Breakthrough in Nutrient Use Efficiency for Rice by Genetic Improvement and Fertility Sensing Techniques in Africa” is now available on the JICA Madagascar "Fy Vary Project" YouTube channel.

Dr. TAKADA Kanako, a research fellow in the Crop, Livestock and Environment Division, received the 2022 Promotional Award for Achievement in Tropical Agriculture from the Japanese Society for Tropical Agriculture (JSTA) for her research on biological nitrogen fixation and symbiosis of nitrogen-fixing bacteria in tropical yams.

We are pleased to announce the renewal of the top page of the official website of JIRCAS as of March 22, 2022 (Tuesday).

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.

Panasonic Corporation, a joint research member of the SATREPS Project “Sustainable replantation of oil palm by adding value to oil palm trunk through scientific and technological innovation”, has successfully developed palm trunk pellets using new technology and decided to use "PALM LOOP" as a common global name of this material in the furniture industry.

JIRCAS has released an animation video featuring the results of the “Multiple use of regional resources in semi-mountainous villages” project in Laos. The video is expected to be used for educating Lao farmers and for policy making by the Lao government and international development agencies.

On December 22, 2021, Dr. MATSUMOTO Yukio, Researcher in the Fisheries Division, received the best paper award for research on Sanriku coast by Iwate Prefecture for his research on “Fenton reaction as a possible stimulus to induce spawning in Ezo abalone Haliotis discus hannai during stormy weather”.

On December 23, 2021, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) announced the selection of the “Top 10 News on Agricultural Technology for 2021”. Among them, the JIRCAS research results on the “Development of biological nitrification inhibition (BNI)-enhanced wheat that shows high productivity even with less amount of nitrogen fertilizer” was selected as Topic 7.

On December 8, 2021, TAMASHIRO Satoshi, Director General of the Okinawa Prefectural Agricultural Research Center, together with IREI Shin, Director of Crop and Environmental Research Division, and WATANABE Tamaki, Head of Research Planning Group, Administration and Planning Division, visited the JIRCAS Tropical Agriculture Research Front (TARF) located in Ishigaki City, Okinawa Prefecture.