Kyushu Okinawa Agricultural Research Center, NARO

The predecessor of the Kyushu Okinawa Agricultural Research Center was the Kyushu Agricultural Experiment Station of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (formerly known as Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry), which was established in April 1950 by integrating several experiment stations such as Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce Agricultural Experiment Station Kyushu Branch (Hainuzuka Town, Fukuoka Prefecture), established in 1893, Agricultural Experiment Station Tanegashima Test Site, Ibusuki Test Site, Livestock Experiment Station (Nishigoshi Village, Kumamoto Prefecture), Gardening Experiment Station Kyushu Branch (Kurume City, Fukuoka Prefecture), Pioneer Research Institute Kyushu Branch (Kirishima Village, Kagoshima Prefecture), The reclamation branch (Saga City), Futsukaichi Agricultural Improvement Laboratory Chikugo Test Site (Hainuzuka Town, Fukuoka Prefecture), Fukuoka Prefectural Agricultural Experiment Station Chikugo Branch (Hainuzuka Town, Fukuoka Prefecture). Then the reorganization continued such as integration of some organizations of the Agricultural Improvement Experiment Station of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, and the Sericultural Exp. Stn. were integrated, or it was separated from the Kyushu National Agricultural Experiment Station, and the reorganization continued.

In April 2001, as part of the reform of the central government ministries and agencies, the national testing and research organization was transformed into an independent administrative agency. Among them Kyushu National Agricultural Experiment Station was integrated with the Kurume Branch of the National Institute of Vegetable and Tea Science, and the Kyushu-Okinawa Agricultural Research Center was established as a part of the National Institute of Agricultural Technology.

National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) became the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, Independent Administrative Agency from April 2015. In April 2016, it was integrated and reorganized with the National Institute for Agrobiological Sciences, the National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, and the National Center for Seeds and Seedlings. At that time, the Kuchinotsu base of the Citrus Research Department of the Institute of Fruit Tree Science was incorporated into the Kyushu Okinawa Agricultural Research Center.

The Kyushu-Okinawa region is generally warm and blessed with abundant sunshine and rainfall, making it suitable for agricultural production, as the crops can be cultivated for a long period of time. In northern Kyushu, it is blessed with fertile paddy soil in the plains, and in southern Kyushu, it is blessed with black soil that has excellent breathability, drainage, and water retention derived from volcanic ash, and various agriculture is being developed. Thereby it occupies an important position as one of Japan's leading food bases.

For example, the amount of production of livestock, which is popular in Southern Kyushu, especially beef cattle, is 42% of the national total (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, 2019 Production Agricultural Income Statistics, and so forth), strawberries are 35%, and sweet potatoes are 31%. The total share of sugar cane in the Nansei Islands is 100% in Okinawa and Kagoshima. Rice grown mainly in northern Kyushu has a relatively small share of 11% of the whole nation, but it is a major pillar of the regional economy with production value exceeding 180 billion yen.

Also, taking advantage of its proximity to Asian countries, exports of agricultural products such as Japanese beef, strawberries and sweet potatoes are growing rapidly.

In this way, while agricultural production in Kyushu and Okinawa is showing high performance, problems and damages caused by labor shortages and the progress of global warming have become apparent. Specifically, there are problems such as stagnant breeding efficiency in beef cattle, spoilage during transportation of sweet potatoes, increased damage from foot rot disease, which was first confirmed in Japan in 2018, production instability for strawberries which are difficult to cultivate due to a decrease in farmers and crop acreage, and unstable yield and quality due to frequent meteorological disasters in rice, wheat and soybean paddy rotation, which are key crops in northern Kyushu.

Therefore, the Kyushu Okinawa Agricultural Research Center bears the task of "improving the productivity of agriculture and livestock products in warm regions and expanding exports by fully utilizing farmland" in its 5th Mid-term Plan (2021 - 2025) of NARO. Specifically, the Center aims for high-profit farming by improving the breeding efficiency of beef cattle through the use of ICT and other new technologies, highly efficient production of strawberries and other crops through the precision management technology of the facility environment, increasing exports through production stabilization through the rapid control of diseases of sweet potatoes, and reducing meteorological risks through the use of data-driven production technology in paddy field rotation.

In promoting research, we will create impactful results by collaborating within NARO, as well as with public research institutes, private companies, and universities, and by strengthening networks with administrative agencies, extension agencies, and producers, leading to seamless social implementation.

261 employees, 113 are research staff members (Basic information as of April 2021)