Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is providing a wide range of support to Sri Lanka’s agriculture and fisheries sectors, from seed production and livestock farming to quarantine services and irrigation water cascade management through a combination of grant aid, technical cooperation and loans.
A JICA official said they are proud to be one of the oldest and strongest supporters of agriculture and fisheries development in Sri Lanka.
Japanese experts and volunteers brought knowledge, skills and technology to the island while working in the field with farmers and government officers, the media was told on a recent field visit to Japanese-funded projects in Kandy.
JICA is the agency in charge of administrating bilateral Official Development Assistance (ODA) such as technical cooperation, ODA loans and grant aid in an integrated manner. It is the world’s largest bilateral aid agency which works in over 150 countries. Since joining the Colombo Plan in 1954, Japan has been providing financial and technical assistance to developing countries through ODA aiming to contribute to the peace, stability and prosperity of the International community.
JICA has assisted Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Irrigation sub sectors in Sri Lanka. Japan has provided grant aid, technical cooperation and loan assistance to the agricultural sector of Sri Lanka.
Currently six major projects in the agricultural sector are implemented by JICA in Sri Lanka.
The program to promote agricultural and fishing villages provides assistance to increase production sale and productivity of the sector while the program rural and promotion of regional development in emerging regions focuses on livelihood projects for poorer regions. The current projects in the sector focus on dry zone agriculture, crop diversification and value chain development.
The project for the setting up of a Research and Training Complex at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Jaffna was launched in May this year and expected to go on till June 2020.
This project was initiated to provide effective and efficient research and education activities for the dry zone agriculture in the Northern province at the Agricultural Faculty of the University of Jaffna.
This project is carried out in collaboration of the Ministry of Higher Education and Highways.
Some of the projects handled by the JICA are supporting vegetable seed production, cascade management, livestock farming, quarantine services, agriculture policy and livelihood assistance.
The latest project in the agricultural sector that the JICA is handling is the construction of the Research and Training complex for the faculty of Jaffna, University of Jaffna with grant worth Rs. 2.2 billion.
JICA is currently doing a project for the enhancement of production system of certified vegetable seed in Sri Lanka. They are supporting to increase the production of certified vegetable seed in the target areas such as Kundasale, Aluttarama, Mahailluppallama and Nikaweratiya.
The project for formulating Cascade System Development Plan under North Central Province canal is too taking place at the moment. Under this project JICA is developing a project proposal beneficial to disaster prevention as well as effective water use based on the master plan for the development of water resources in the Mahaweli and related river basins.