Date

2025/8/20 (Wed)16:30-17:30（JST）

Field

Agricultural Development

Venue / Event Format

Yokohama Bay / Hybrid (In-person and Online)

Co-Host

Background

Small-scale farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa have been most severely affected by recent climate change, suffering from crop failure due to drought and erratic rainfall. The reason for this is that irrigation weirs have not been constructed sufficiently in Sub-Saharan Africa, and most small-scale farmers grow vegetables or crops under rain-fed conditions. Generally, irrigation development and its maintenance require a certain amount of funds, but due to the governmental debt situation and the budget shortage in each country, irrigation development is not progressing as expected. Other reasons for the lack of progress in irrigation development are the weak support system by the government, lack of capacity building for farmers who are the users and responsible for the maintenance and management of irrigation facilities, and the situation of the unpaid water usage fees.
　In this event, we will introduce one solution to these problems: the Ultra Low-cost Smallholder Irrigation Development (COmmunity-Based Smallholder Irrigation: COBSI), which started in Malawi and Zambia and which enables people to build their own irrigation systems by themselves.

Key Questions

• Mechanism and characteristics of COBSI
• Reasons for ultra-low cost
• Who builds it and who maintains it?
• Government and Policy Relations

Objective

Thie side event will introduce an ultra low-cost smallholder irrigation system, the Community-based Smallholder Irrigation (COBSI), that enables farmers to build their irrigation weir by using locally available materials, focusing on its development background, the charasteristics, and the effectiveness through the voices of the people concerned and its beneficiaries in the field. The JICA's development strategy of COBSI will be announced for further development in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Materials

Speakers