The Philippine Department of Agriculture (DA), through the Bureau of Soils and Water Management (BSWM), formally solidified its partnership with the Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS) during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) last August 9.
Under the MoU, the DA-BSWM and JIRCAS will be working on two projects that are centered on the development and promotion of agricultural technologies to enhance agricultural production while also improving natural resource management in the tropics.
The first project will develop approaches and technologies for carbon storage in farmland soils in the Philippines as a means to promote soil health and fertility and to enhance sustainability and resilience in agriculture.
For its second project, representatives from both DA-BSWM and JIRCAS will be studying environmental conservation technologies for tropical islands through the “Yama-Sato-Umi” (“Mountain-Village-Sea”) perspective, which emphasizes the interconnectedness of land, sea, and society. This particular project aims to develop technologies for the prevention of soil erosion in hilly agricultural lands and reduction of fertilizer inputs, gather and analyze scientific evidence that can contribute to the conservation of mangrove ecosystems. It will also develop a basin model for the evaluation of environmental conservation effects on river water quality and quantity.
“These projects are supported and are very much in line with the National Soil Health Program, which is one of the top priority agenda of the DA to contribute towards sustainable management of soil and water resources as well as the productivity of the agriculture sector,” DA-BSWM Director Dr. Gina Nilo explained.
She added that as the national focal agency of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and Land Degradation (UNCCD), the Bureau welcomes its collaboration with JIRCAS, especially since the agriculture sector is being riddled with the impacts of climate change and ecosystem degradation.
“Weather extremes due to climate change and environmental problems such as soil and nutrient runoff from farmlands and ecosystem degradation are of urgent concern in the country—affecting resources, agricultural productivity, and livelihood of our farmers. Since the agriculture sector is one of the major contributors to climate change through the emission of greenhouse gasses, there is a need to develop adaptation and mitigation technologies,” Dir. Nilo elaborated.
An attached bureau of the Philippine agriculture department, the DA-BSWM is the country’s sole national soil resource agency whose services include but are not limited to soil conservation and sustainable agricultural land management advocacy, soil resources assessment and mapping, agricultural water resources management, analytical services, and soil and water resources research and development.
JIRCAS President Koyama Osamu also celebrated the MoU signing as it revitalizes the 36 years of cooperation between the DA-BSWM and the Government of Japan, which started with the establishment of the Soil Research and Development Center Project in 1988 and later on succeeded by two phases of technical cooperation.
He also recalled the productive history between the Bureau and JIRCAS, which kick-started with the four-year project, “Environmental Management Technology for Sustainable Crop Production in Tropical and Subtropical Islands” in 2006.
“I believe that today’s participants will join us in disseminating and promoting the technologies that we are developing and to apply these technologies and research findings to create new research innovations in the Philippines. It is my sincere hope that the effort through our collaborative research projects will bring greater impacts to the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries and tropical islands and achieve sustainable food systems in the region,” JIRCAS President Koyama expressed.
DA Assistant Secretary for Administration Allen Kristopher Anarna, DA-BSWM Assistant Director Denise Solano, Embassy of Japan in the Philippines First Secretary Akasaka Hidenori, and JIRCAS Program Director Hayashi Keiichi also graced the historic event. ### (Krystelle Ymari A. Vergara, DA-AFID)
