assistance for mid- to long-term efforts to improve agricultural productivity in developing countries from the viewpoint of removing and preventing factors that are causing food problems, like famine.

The amount of assistance provided for the area of agriculture by Japan is high compared to global standards. The volume of Japan’s assistance in the areas of agriculture and fisheries during the past five years from 2002 to 2006 is the greatest among Development Assistance Committee (DAC) countries, accounting for approximately 29% of all assistance given to this area.

As assistance that utilizes Japanese expertise, Japan helps organize farmers to promote efficient water use and self-efforts of farmers. The assistance takes the farmer-participatory water management organizations (Land Improvement District system) of Japan as a precedent, and aims at technology transfer on low-cost, water-saving terminal irrigation facilities as well as the operation and maintenance of such facilities by farmers themselves, which contribute to a stable water supply for agriculture and efficient water use. In FY2007 Japan implemented technical cooperation related to fostering farmer-participatory water management organizations and capacity development in the paddy field zones in Viet Nam, $ ^{35} $ the Philippines, $ ^{36} $ and other countries in the Asian monsoon region. Japan contributed to sustainable agriculture and rural development there, taking advantage of its expertise and experience on the farmer-participatory water management organizations (Land Improvement District system). In Thailand, farmers’ water management organizations have been set up with Japan’s assistance, referring to the Land Improvement Districts. Farmers have begun to take charge of management and make efforts to use water efficiently.

Japan has also been promoting collaboration with international organizations such as the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research (CGIAR) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP), through which Japan has been actively providing agricultural assistance.

See page 85 on Japan's food assistance.

## Combating Desertification in Agricultural Areas

As a result of overgrazing and overcultivation brought about by rapid population increases and poverty as well as frequent droughts, desertification, where the soil in a dry climate area is deteriorating with less agricultural productivity and shortages of water, is rapidly progressing. Japan has carried out efforts to combat desertification in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Ethiopia, and Mongolia through analysis on the state and cause of desertification and trials on experimental agricultural fields at sites where the desertification has markedly advanced. In FY2007, in order to improve the situation in the Chinese Xinjiang Uygur District where 85% of its natural green space is on the verge of desertification due to overgrazing, Japan initiated cooperation to spread techniques on water use, cultivation and barn breeding. $ ^{37} $ Japan aims at poverty reduction with improvements to the lives of farmers and sustainable green management in these cooperative projects.

## Development and Dissemination of NERICA

One of the efforts being made for Africa’s agricultural achievement is assistance in the development and dissemination of New Rice for Africa (NERICA)—rice crossbred with Asian strains, which yield large harvests, and African strains, which can resist diseases and weeds—to create a strain of rice with strong resilience to disease and large harvests. In addition to supporting the attempts by the West Africa Rice Development Association

A JICA expert giving work instructions at the site of a trial farm (Uganda) (Source: JICA)