The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS).

 The purpose of the MoU is to provide a framework for collaboration on activities supporting food and nutrition security, sustainable natural resource management, and rural development through development and dissemination of sustainable agricultural production and natural resource management technologies.

JIRCAS is an incorporated administrative agency affiliated to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan with a mandate to contribute to the advancement of agriculture in developing regions through research leading to the development of technology.

The President of JIRCAS, Dr. Masa Iwanaga, signed the MoU on behalf of the institution. Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative, Hiroyuki Konuma, signed on behalf of FAO.

 “The signing of this MoU lays the foundation for our important collaboration in a number of areas,” Konuma said. “Most importantly, we will be able to work together in areas of study that would benefit our member countries as they set policies to strengthen food security and sustainable food production to ensure access of nutritious foods to their populations in the future.”

 Under the Work Plan, FAO and JIRCAS will carry out a number of activities, including:

• providing their resources to enhance information analysis for decision making and appropriate policy formulation, such as development of food demand and supply modelling in ASEAN region which can be used commonly;

• carrying out studies on the relationship between herbicide use and soil erosion in Asia. The results of those studies will be scrutinized by both sides and presented in a workshop, and jointly publicized in 2015;

• seeking to identify mutually beneficial areas of studies, and implementing such studies and arranging secondments jointly through parallel funding;

• collaborating in various technical meetings and follow-up actions for the realization of various recommendations within the framework of the Asia-Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI);

• collaborating in the promotion of underutilized food resources such as sago palm and sustainable agricultural mechanization including JIRCAS participation to FAO's regional networks, i.e. SNAP (sago) and SAMNET (agricultural mechanization).