01 Rural Development
Information gathering and verification survey for the development of infrastructure and equipment for CARD promotion in the JICA Africa region (2020-present)
The Coalition for African Rice Development (CARD) launched in 2008 by JICA and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), an international NGO, with the goal of doubling rice production in Sub-Saharan Africa. From 2008 to 2018, the region's rice production has doubled, and from 2019, it aims further double its production by 2030. The study covers 12 of the 32 African countries participating in CARD i.e. Ethiopia, Madagascar, Rwanda, Uganda, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Zambia, and Cameroon; to determine what irrigation facilities, equipment, and other hardware are needed in each country to increase rice production.
Interview survey on rice cultivation in Rwanda
Drone survey
01 Rural Development
JICA Nigeria Market-Oriented Agricultural Extension Project for Livelihood Improvement (2020-Present)
In Nigeria, workers engaged in agriculture account for about 70% of the employed population, but many of them are small-scale farmers, and improving their livelihoods is a serious problem. Furthermore, in Nigeria, about 30% of children under the age of five are chronically malnourished, and improving the nutritional status of such population is a major issue. In this project, we are disseminating an agricultural extension model that encourages small-scale farmers to improve their livelihoods and nutrition by introducing the SHEP approach, which aims to improve farmers' agricultural income by changing their mindset from "grow and sell" to "grow to sell" especially among vegetable and fruit farmers. In order to make this agricultural extension model sustainable in Nigeria, we are supporting the implementation of training programs for government officials and the development of human resources for extension.
Market research practice in SHEP trainer training
Training for farmers by officials from target states
01 Rural Development
JICA project to support the formulation of an agricultural promotion and development plan for Nghe An Province, Vietnam (2016-2019)
In Vietnam, the "Japan-Vietnam Agricultural Cooperation Dialogue" launched in 2014, promoting cooperation between Japan and Vietnam for the comprehensive development of Vietnam's agriculture, forestry and fisheries industries, as well as exchange and cooperation in building food value chains through private investment partnerships. Nghe An Province in the north-central part of the country has been selected as one of the model regions.) The project aims to improve transparency and safety in the processing, distribution, and marketing of agricultural and livestock products, and to structuring a food value chain that produces agricultural and livestock products based on market needs. In the project, 40 pilot projects were developed aimed at building the capacity of stakeholders through the establishment of an "agricultural and livestock products distribution platform" and the creation of an agricultural and livestock products production system based on market needs and contract transactions. The content of the plan included improving the quality and adjusting shipping times of citrus fruits, producing and shipping safe vegetables and livestock products, strengthening the supply system for brand-name local chickens and oranges, introducing varieties for processing ginger, rice, and potatoes, and developing Matcha and herb tea.)
Business Matching
Weighing and shipping potatoes for processing
02 Water Resources Management and Irrigation Development
JICA Capacity Development Project for Irrigation Water Management in Rwanda (2019-Present)
In Rwanda, agriculture is a major industry, accounting for about 33% of GDP and 70% of the working population, and the government is promoting irrigation development to improve agricultural production and farmers' income. As one of these efforts, the government is promoting a policy to transfer responsibility for operation and maintenance of irrigation facilities from the government to farmer-led irrigation water users' associations. However, due to inadequate systems and structures, and a lack of technical knowledge and experience on the part of the government and local administrations that provide support, farmer-led activities has not been implemented. This project mainly target regions with extensive wetlands and high potential for irrigation development, and will promote the strengthening of administrative support organizations and the development of irrigation water users' associations so that irrigation facilities can be managed the local community.
Check the growth of chia seeds
Group photo of training on agricultural cooperative management and gender for members of agricultural cooperatives
02 Water Resources Management and Irrigation Development
JICA Timor-Leste, Buluto irrigation facility rehabilitation project (2013-2017)
In Timor-Leste, although paddy rice cultivation is the main source of livelihood, the productivity of rice is low, which poses a major challenge for food security and economic development. Particularly, the Buluto irrigation area on the northeast coast of Timor-Leste has been experiencing low rainfall and unstable water intake due to the collapse of water intake facilities caused by flooding and the deterioration of canal functions caused by the accumulation of soil and rocks. In response to this situation, the Japanese government decided to implement the Grant Aid "Project for Rehabilitation of Irrigation Facilities in Buluto" in FY2013. NTCI was contracted to provide consulting services for the project and conducted detailed design of the irrigation facilities to be constructed in the Buluto Irrigation District, including fixed weirs, water intakes, sedimentation basins, and other water intake facilities, main and secondary canals, and drainage channels, as well as project cost estimation, bidding documents preparation, bidding implementation, and construction supervision. As the soft component, we also provided technical guidance on organizational operation and water management. The facility was completed in January 2017, but floods, river channel and river bed changes that occurred the following year confirmed the need for repair and countermeasure work on the revetment structure. The cooperation is ongoing.
Training in water intake gate operation
Completion status of sediment discharge (front) and intake gate (right)
02 Water Resources Management and Irrigation Development
JICA The Project for Rehabilitation of Irrigation Facilities in Rwamagana District, Republic of Rwanda (2016-2020)
Agriculture is a major industry in Rwanda, where about 80% of the working population is engaged it. In order to develop a stable agricultural production base, a significant increase in irrigated area is an important goal for the agricultural sector. The Rwandan government has positioned the development and rehabilitation of irrigation facilities in the wetland of Rwamagana District in the Eastern Province as an important project, and has concluded an agreement between the two governments to implement the project as a Japanese grant aid project. The target area has three irrigation reservoirs in a low marsh area equivalent to Japan's valley rice paddies, but the water resources were not being effectively due to malfunctions caused by aging of the facilities and insufficient capacity. The project involves the raising of two reservoirs, the construction of one new reservoir, and the rehabilitation of irrigation canals, NTCI served as the consultant in charge of detailed facility design, project cost estimation, bidding, and construction supervision. As a result, the target area was able to grow crops in two seasons, and the improvement of the trunk canal enabled efficient water allocation, which contributed to an increase in the irrigated area in the district and improved agricultural production.
Intake Works Construction
Completed embankment and spillway
03 Regional and Community Development
JICA Project for capacity building for community development, Kambia District, Sierra Leone (2010-2018)
Sierra Leone has impoverished by the civil war that continued in the 1990s and the Ebola epidemic in 2014-2015, but the social and economic situation has gradually recovered thanks to the support of the international community and self-help efforts and the country is now in the stage of reconstruction and development. However, due to a lack of personnel and capacity in the government responsible for the country's development, the basics of administrative services, such as "accurately identifying local needs and planning and implementing projects," was not be practiced. In order to improve the capacity of local government officials for community development, this project identified community development needs, organized development plans, set priorities for projects to be implemented by the local government based on these needs, and actually implemented school construction and renovation of health centers as pilot projects. In addition, we organized the issues found in these processes as key points for formulating development plans and implementing projects, and summarized them in the "Regional Development Project Implementation Guidelines." From 2022, we are working to expand and disseminate the above guidelines as a “Capacity Improvement Project for Strengthening Resilience in Sierra Leone (Implementation of Model Project)”.
Assisted county council staff in explaining the project to the community
Discussions on future dissemination by central ministers, JICA officials, and experts
03 Regional and Community Development
JICA Information gathering and verification study for host community support and capacity building of local institutions in Lebanon, Lebanon (2017-2018)
Training in the area of livelihood improvement
Rehabilitation of the water supply network (pumps that deliver water)
04 Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding
JICA Information Collection Survey on Peace and Stability in G5 Sahel Countries in Africa (2021-2022)
The Sahel countries, located on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert in Africa, face a number of challenges, including vulnerable governance due to repeated political upheavals and crises, conflicts over land and water between farmers and pastoralists, unemployment caused by population growth and climate change, and the spread of severe poverty due to the food crisis. In addition, in recent years, there has been a growth of violent extremism, a large number of refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), and an unstable socio-economic situation caused by a chain reaction of these factors. The survey focused on local administration in five Sahelian countries (Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Mauritania), and included surveys on support for refugees, IDPs, host communities, youth, and vulnerable groups, as well as analysis of cooperation needs. We also studied the development of projects in situations where security is poor and Japanese travel is restricted. As part of the survey, "experience sharing seminars" and "online seminars" were held, in which central government officials and local government officials and mayors from five countries participated, reporting on the efforts of each country and actively exchanging opinions. In addition, Japan's experiences regarding the roles and responsibilities of government officials in the reconstruction process shared, using examples of post-war reconstruction and post-disaster reconstruction.
group discussion
Experience-sharing seminar held in Niger
04 Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding
Iitate Village Nagadoro District Recycled Soil Technology Demonstration Project (Test Cultivation) (2018-Present)
The accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant caused by the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami has resulted in the release of radioactive materials into the environment, which has caused extensive environmental contamination. In Fukushima Prefecture, which was particularly hard hit by radioactive materials, "bags" containing decontaminated soil were temporarily placed everywhere, numbering as many as 20 million, including 1.6 million in Iitate Village. In this project, removed soil in Iitate Village is converted into recycled materials, and experiments are conducted to cultivate resource crops, horticultural crops, rice, flowers, etc. on farmland heaped with recycled materials. In this experiment, we aim to revitalize the region by investigating the effects of radioactive substances on crops, stable production and farming with local residents.
Paddy Rice Harvesting in Field Demonstration Trials
Dialogue between visitors and affected residents at a public tour
05 Institutional and Governance Strengthening
JICA Project for Promoting Basic Infrastructure Development in the Southwest of Potosi, Bolivia (2015-2019)
Located in the southwestern part of Bolivia, Potosi Province is rich in mining, traditional industries such as quinoa cultivation, and tourism resources, and visited by many tourists from abroad, including those from Salar de Uyuni. However, the lack of basic infrastructure has become a bottleneck for industrial development. Problems such as insufficient budgets, cumbersome administrative procedures, lack of coordination between prefectural and city offices, lack of information and capacity to obtain domestic and foreign financial assistance, and lack of technical capacity to plan and evaluate projects pointed out as causes of this problem. This project targeted the prefectural government and 11 cities in the prefecture with the goal of strengthening administrative business management and operation capacity (technical and business management aspects). Specifically, we established a "Project Coordination and Implementation Committee" within the prefectural government, formulated an "Organizational Capacity Enhancement Program," and supported the implementation of training to strengthen the human resource capacity of the prefectural government and target city offices. It was expected that strengthening the administrative organization will enable efficient project implementation and promote infrastructure development, which has been stagnant up to now. In fact, the implementation of the organizational capacity development program has improved the capacity of drilling technicians at the prefectural government, resulting in a more than 500% improvement in the execution rate of well drilling projects in the target cities.)
Investigation of irrigation water sources in the mountains
Meetings of the Project Coordination and Implementation Committee established within the county government
06 Human Resources Capacity Building
JICA Issue-Specific Training Program "Sub-Saharan Africa and Rice Development Promotion (A) and (B)" Course Training Outsourcing (2016-2018) (2021-2022)
In the African region, rice imports have increased dramatically since the late 1990s due to a large increase in consumption relative to the low growth in rice production, which combined with rising global grain prices has led to food insecurity. With the cooperation of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), JICA launched the Coalition for African Rice Development (CARD) in 2008 and it has actively supported the promotion of rice cultivation in sub-Saharan Africa. Over the three-year period beginning in FY2016, this project has provided training in Japan for a total of 74 participants from 23 CARD Initiative member countries to share experiences and future directions in rice crop promotion in their respective countries and to promote network building for ongoing information exchange. The historical transition of rice cultivation in Japan introduced including the hardships and innovations of rice growers. In addition, while consideration to making the training program more effective, a different the rice cultivation technical theme was set each year and the selection of lecturers and inspection sites suited to each theme, prior coordination, and accompanying of the participants on inspection tours planned and managed. The program also included a case study session in which participants from African countries with similar problems shared their problems and how they are overcoming them, and facilitated discussions among participants.
Visit rice farmers
Headworks Inspection at Rice Irrigation Infrastructure Training Program
