Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development Program, SATREPS, has been implemented for 9 years since its inception in 2008. One hundred and fifteen (115) projects were selected so far, including 14 preconditioned ones for the year 2016, in the 4 research fields which are environment/energy (climate change, global-scale environmental issues and low carbon society/energy), bio-resources, disaster prevention and mitigation and infectious disease control. Forty-nine (49) projects were completed by December 2016 and 52 are currently under operation. Fourteen (14) preconditioned projects are now under preparation for the conclusive selection before March 2017 through detailed planning surveys of the proposed projects and the diplomatic formalization. These totally 115 projects cover 46 countries of Japan’s counterparts of her official development assistance, ODA.SATREPS is an international research collaboration program co-supported by Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the aim of which is to find solutions for coping with the various global-scale problems facing by developing countries and to apply the solutions towards solving such problems as a social implementation. JST mainly supports research in Japan and capacity building of Japanese young researchers and, on the contrary, JICA does research collaboration in counterpart countries and building their human capacity and if necessary providing research equipment. The project will be conducted under the rule of JICA’s international cooperation and, therefore, it needs a request from developing countries to Japan through the diplomatic channel for application. During the course of the implementation of generally for 5 years, it is monitored every 6 months by JICA and yearly by JST. The achievement of the project will be reviewed in the mid-term of the implementation period and evaluated at the end of the project by JICA and JST independently but jointly for field observation and fact-finding regarding the achievement of the project. In this paper, SATREPS will be overviewed since its inception to the present and the expectation on SATREPS will be discussed on the viewpoint of solving global-scale problems prevailed particularly in the developing countries.

After the World War Two, several different types of higher educational institutions in Japan have been amalgamated into one university system. The end of occupation by the Allied Force of 1952 let many criticism appeared against the new university system. By using the 2016 fiscal budget, the government has succeeded to divide the 86 national universities into three types: local universities 55, national level universities 15 and global universities 16. However, I believe the study of agriculture is carried out in foreign countries as well as in Japan, therefore such a classification does not fit to the science of agriculture. Nagoya University is proud of free and open-minded academic atmosphere that has brought up leading researchers, including several Nobel laureates. In humanities, Nagoya University have targeted its research and educational efforts on the Asian region, and focused on research and personnel exchanges in order to become a leading hub university in Asia. Graduate School of International Development was established in 1991. Center for Asian Legal Exchange (CALE), International Cooperation Center for Agricultural Education and Asian Satellite Campuses Institute have been active in Asia. More-over, Nagoya University is supporting to retrain academic staffs and to reform science and technology education in the universities of Asia.

We conducted a survey to examine the awareness of fishers regarding fisheries resources in and around Batan bay in Philippines. Almost all the fishers answered that the resources have been declining and they should implement fisheries management. However, more than half the fishers answered that they would not implement fisheries management to the point of half resources, even though almost all the fishing households were at the poverty level and all their income came from fishing. We clarified that it was difficult to establish fisheries management in the area because a bottom-up fisheries management approach could not be implemented without the approbation of almost all the fishers in the area (Free riders will break the rule of fisheries management.). The background (The main finding of this study) was that more than half of the fishers believed spontaneous recovery of the fisheries resources without implementing fisheries management by themselves. Therefore, measures for maintaining household income of fishers and implementing fisheries management in the area are required, which oyster farms are suggested as a substitute for setting marine protect area (Marine Protect Area by Aquaculture Facility, MPAAF) to prevent excessive fishing gears and for maintaining fishing household income.

Cold stress is a major abiotic factor limiting rice production by reducing spikelet fertility. Under field conditions, cold stress varies with years and seasons in terms of its intensity, duration, and timing of occurrence. To reduce the risk of cold damage because of its unpredictable nature, crop adaptation strategies, such as management practices, that complement breeding are required. Flowering time (heading time) is a key trait that can be used to adapt rice to changing climatic conditions. Therefore, we screened a rice mutant line (T6-16) that has very shallow root system and exhibits delayed heading time under moderate drought stress conditions. This mutant line was used in breeding and development of a new cultivation technology for cold stress escape by introgression of its genetic segments into the background of a recurrent parent of New Rice for Africa (NERICA), WAB56-104. The mutant-type F2 plants grown under moderate drought stress conditions showed delayed heading by an average of 11 days. Three F2 plants that showed delay of heading by 11−17 days and maintained over 95% grain weight under the stress conditions were identified. These F2 plants could be useful in breeding for cold stress escape. These results suggest that the utilization of rice plants introgressed with the mutation gene and proper water management practices for rice cultivation based on the predicted length of cold periods could escape the cold stress through delaying heading time.

Livestock production plays an important role in rural development. In Cambodia, inclusion of rural smallholder farmers in the development of the livestock industry is key. This case study aims to describe integrated livestock farming practices in small-scale farms and to raise awareness on the potential and constraints of the livestock industry in rural areas of Cambodia. The study was implemented on the 5th and 6th March 2014 in Prey Chhor District in Kampong Cham Province, using questionnaires with close-ended questions. At the study site, cattle were kept for sale and/or labor and poultry were kept for sale and/or home consumption, whereas the purpose of keeping pigs was exclusively for sale. It was also indicated that swine production requires more investment compared to cattle, in terms of livestock shelters, feeds and vaccination. The majority of the informants recognized avian influenza from TV or radio, while they processed sick or dead animal bodies and livestock manures following traditional practices without special care for infectious disease control. The present results characterize the current common practice of livestock production in rural areas of Cambodia. This case study will also serve as a pilot study to refine the methods for larger-scale survey in the future.

Sudan is the third largest country in Africa that depends mainly on agricultural activities. Among major crops, rice is recently contributing as the fourth source of food after sorghum, millet and wheat. Rice production is very important to fill the gap of food consumption in the country, wherein a total estimated potential area of production is more than 300,000 hectares. In addition, rice produced from the country is being exported. In the White Nile State, rice production plays the major economic activity and a source of employment for the rural population. The national average yield of rice has increased to 5 t/ha during the last ten years as a result of introducing newly released technologies. The research plan for rice in Sudan (2015–2019) consisted of: rice enhancement and evaluation, crop husbandry development, dissemination and out scaling of released varieties, cultural practices and establishment of innovation platform.

Based on author’s work experiences as international negotiation and cooperation official, diplomat, international organization staff, first, this article introduces the wide range of international career fields as a public servant in agricultural science. Then it would compare the abilities necessary for carrying out international related works and duties abroad with those necessary for other duties, and finally consider how to develop such abilities.