The Asian Productivity Organization (APO) has designated Japan’s National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) as its new Center of Excellence on Climate-smart Agriculture (COE on CSA). The COE on CSA will focus on deploying climate change mitigation and adaptation technologies to enhance agricultural productivity, increase food production, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The COE will initially focus on low-carbon rice, wheat, and soybean production, stapled foods in Asia-Pacific.
The COE on CSA will share technical knowledge and methods to reduce methane emissions from paddy fields, adopt agricultural weather data systems, develop web-based soil carbon sequestration visualization tools, apply biochar, and implement water management practices in rice cultivation and treatment of livestock waste. Starting in April 2023, the COE on CSA will conduct a need and readiness assessment of APO members to implement climate-change mitigation and adaptation technologies. Additionally, the COE will organize international conferences on CSA and other focus areas, pilot projects to apply developed technologies and provide training and workshops for local customization.
Japan Climate Smart Agriculture Initiative
Japan has been actively promoting climate-smart agriculture initiatives to mitigate the impact of climate change on the agriculture sector. Climate-smart agriculture encompasses a range of practices and technologies that can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, enhance productivity, and build resilience to climate change. Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (MAFF) has been working to support research and development of innovative agricultural practices that are more sustainable and climate-friendly.
One example of Japan’s efforts to promote climate-smart agriculture is using precision farming technologies. Precision agriculture allows farmers to use data-driven technologies to optimize crop yields, reduce input costs, and reduce environmental impacts. Japan has been supporting research and development in this area, focusing on developing low-cost and easy-to-use precision farming systems that smallholder farmers can adopt in developing countries.
Another example of Japan’s climate-smart agriculture initiatives is the development of low-carbon technologies. Japan has been promoting adopting technologies that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural activities, such as methane reduction technologies for livestock farming and biochar production for soil carbon sequestration. These technologies can help reduce emissions while enhancing productivity and resilience to climate change.
Photo by Manuel Cosentino on Unsplash
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