Participant registration has already been closed but non-registered participation is also possible.

On the second year of the commencement of the Third Medium-Term Plan, JIRCAS will be hosting an International Symposium. The details of the Program will be announced later on this homepage.

Agriculture in developing regions is vulnerable to adverse environments, which pose various risks on the stability of food production. Development of agricultural technology to mitigate risks in these regions is essential as such risks are increasing due to frequent occurrence of extreme weather events associated with climate change. In African regions, specifically the Horn of Africa and the Sahel, people suffer from hunger and poverty due to drought, desertification, and crop damage from plant diseases and insect infestations. Internal factors such as political instability, lack of market options, and underdeveloped infrastructure aggravate the situation. This has become one of the highest priority global issues facing humanity. To effectively address this issue, a stable food production system for these regions has to be established.
There are diversified approaches for the establishment of a stable food production system to mitigate risks. These approaches include crop breeding, cultivation technology, water and soil management technology, monitoring technology and forecast system for pest and extreme weather events, and socio-economic measures such as index insurance. Traditional technologies which have been locally developed to cope with such risks are also important and will be reassessed.
This symposium aims to share research outcomes relating to the establishment of resilient food production systems across Asian-African continents, promote multidisciplinary communication, and encourage exchange of ideas among active experts, including researchers, engineers, and policy-makers, for the development of future agricultural technologies.

28 November 2012 (Wednesday)

Registration 13:00-13:45

Opening Session 13:45-15:35

Opening Remarks: Masa Iwanaga, President of JIRCAS

Welcome Statements: Research Councilor, MAFF

 

Keynote Speech: 14:05-15:35

Chair: Osamu Koyama (JIRCAS)

Building Resilient Food Systems: Policies and Technologies

Shenggen Fan (International Food Policy Research Institute)

Resilience of social-ecological systems for food security

Chieko Umetsu (Nagasaki University)

Session 1: Resilience in the Livestock Sector 15:55-17:15

Chair: Tomoyuki Kawashima (JIRCAS)

Damage from cold and snow disaster (Dzud) and countermeasure

Seishi Yamasaki (JIRCAS)

Medium to long-term action against Drought in the Horn of Africa

Junichi Hanai (JICA)

Index-based Livestock Insurance: Protecting pastoralists from drought-related livestock losses

Andrew Mude (ILRI)

Welcome Reception 18:00-19:30

29 November 2012 (Thursday)

Session 2: Resilience in Upland Crop Production 9:30-10:50

Chair: Ryoichi Matsunaga (JIRCAS)

Conservation Agriculture in Africa: Challenges and lessons learned

Lamourdia Thiombiano (FAO)

Conservation Agriculture In China and Impacts on Yields of MAIZE

Hongwen Li (China Agricultural University)

Drought and Salt Damage in Uzbekistan

Yulia Shirokova (Scientific Research Institute of Irrigation and Water Problems, Uzbekistan)

Session 3: Resilience in Paddy Rice Production 11:05-12:25

Chair: Kunihiro Doi (JIRCAS)

AILA Impact on the Livelihood of the Coastal people of Bangladesh

Md Syedul Islam (Bangladesh Rice Research Institute)

Introduction of Sompo Japan Products - Weather Index Insurance for Agriculture (WIIA) in Thailand -

Emiko Maki (SOMPO Japan Insurance Inc.)

Climate change and flood risk in the Mekong Delta - Adaptation and coexistence in high flood rice area

Hideto Fujii (JIRCAS)

Session 4: Risk Recognition and Monitoring System 13:30-14:50

Chair: Kazunobu Toriyama (JIRCAS)

Preventative control for Desert Locust Pest in Africa : Experiences of Mauritania

Mohamed Abdellahi Ebbe (National Centre for Prevention and Control of Desert Locust, Mauritania)

Migration Prediction and Insecticide Resistance Monitoring for Rice Planthoppers

Masaya Matsumura (NARO Kyushu Okinawa Agricultural Research Center)

An Early-warning system against cool-weather damage in rice production

Eiji Kanda (NARO Tohoku Agricultural Research Center)

Panel Discussion: Role of Technological Development and Japan’s Contribution 15:05-16:05

Chairs: Masuo Ando and Kazumi Yamaoka (JIRCAS)

Panelists:

Shigeru Araki (Kyoto University)

Yuki Morinaga (Meiji University)

Takeshi Sakurai (Hitotsubashi University)

Masa Iwanaga (JIRCAS)

Closing Remarks: Masami Yasunaka, Vice President of JIRCAS 16:05-16:10