IInntet err na
nattiioonnaall C
Ceenntteerr ffoorr RReesseeaarrchch andandEdEduuca
c attiioonn iinn Ag
Agrriiccululttuurree((IICCRREEAA),), Nago
Nagoyaya U
Univeniversitrsityy

Res e a r ch acti v i t i es
■Joint research eﬀorts to improve educational and research conditions in an agricultural university in Cambodia
After over 20 years of civil war, many farmers in Cambodia are still living in extreme poverty, which is exacerbated by low
agricultural productivity and income. The genocide perpetrated by Pol Pot's regime in the 1970s and the subsequent civil
war left the country with a severe shortage of labor. Furthermore, Cambodia's agricultural universities have been unable tofulﬁll its duty of identifying agricultural issues in the country and delivering good solutions for them. Since 2000, the ICREA
has been assisting the Royal University of Agriculture (RUA) in Cambodia improve its educational and research conditions,reform the education system, and establish both master's and doctoral programs in agricultural sciences. We have beencommitted since 2008 to lead the movement towards the introduction of the practical training and research approaches thatoﬀer the opportunity for hands-on experience and practice in the local farming communities.
Our focus is on the traditional agricultural products and vegetable production that, if handled properly, should yield good
proﬁts. Through our research activities, we have identiﬁed the current agricultural issues and challenges in Cambodia,
proposed and tested several solutions to them, and put our research ﬁndings into practice by taking part in the JICA (JapanInternational Cooperation Agency) Partnership Program. By combining research and on-site support activities, we have beenable to undertake a wide variety of basic research studies and oﬀer university instructors and students the chance to not only
get hands-on experience of investigating and solving the problems that are actually occurring in the local farming
communities but also understand how research and education can contribute to identifying
and solving the agricultural issues in the country.
By building on the experience we have gained through our research and support activities
with the RUA, we have started gradually a human resources development assistancethrough a series of basic research studies with other universities in Cambodia.

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Rice liguor producer in Takeo Province:
A step-by-step guide from a Japanese expert.

■Empirical research exploring how biogas production from livestock manure may help preserve forests in Nepal
Timber harvesting to supply fuelwood used for cooking every day is one of the major
factors contributing to deforestation in many developing countries. Nongovernmentalorganizations (NGOs) and international institutions are accelerating their eﬀorts toencourage developing countries to use biogas produced from livestock manure to replacewood fuel sources. Although the use of biogas can clearly reduce fuelwood consumption,
little is known about other desirable and undesirable eﬀects of biogas use. This researchuses data obtained from ﬁeld surveys conducted in a hilly district in Nepal where biogas
Degraded forests in hilly areas of Nepal
technology was introduced nearly 20 years ago to analyze (both quantitatively andqualitatively) the positive and negative impacts of biogas production on fuelwood consumption, forest vegetation, livelihoodof local residents, and forest management schemes.

Publ i ca ti o n sJournal of International Cooperation for Agricultural Development
URL https://icrea.agr.nagoya-u.ac.jp/jpn/journal/backnumber.html
The Journal of International Cooperation for Agricultural Development (JICAD) provides ahuman development platform for training individuals who aspire to plunge into the ﬁeld ofinternational cooperation to make use of their expertise in agricultural sciences. This journal
publishes peer-reviewed articles that examine world aﬀairs from the agricultural perspectives,
explore the possibility of conducting multinational agricultural research, or present a casereport describing how leading-edge research ﬁndings can be applied to solve global issues. Articles submitted for
publication are edited by the Japan Intellectual Support Network in Agricultural Sciences (JISNAS). Vol. 14 and later issuesof the journal are published in online version.

ICREA News
This is a periodical published twice a year by the ICREA. It provides an update on ICREA's current research activities.