Ukraine and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) agreed during working meetings to create a Soil Analysis Center of Excellence and discussed the implementation of a pilot project for demining prioritization in the Izium district, the Ministry of Economy and Environment of Ukraine reported.
According to the agency, the Center will operate not as a separate institution, but as a network of Ukrainian laboratories and scientific institutions that will operate using uniform methodologies for sampling and analyzing the state of the land for its safe return to agricultural use. The Institute for Soil Protection of Ukraine is to become the base institution of the network, and JICA will consider involving international experts and conducting training in Japan.
In addition, the parties discussed the progress of the pilot project in the Izium district of Kharkiv region, where the GRIT system is used to determine priority areas for demining. Within the framework of cooperation, it is planned to test an AI-based building damage assessment module and update the socio-economic methodology of the system to support small farmers together with FAO and WFP.
JICA will also present the results of a study visit to Japan within the Women, Peace and Security initiative to the newly created gender working group in Ukraine to involve women in mine action.
JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) is a Japanese government agency that implements official development assistance, technical cooperation, and recovery programs for Ukraine. Following the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the agency has been financing projects in the fields of energy, humanitarian demining, healthcare, education, agriculture, infrastructure, and economic recovery.
At the beginning of July, it was reported that the agency is working on two main areas of support for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in Ukraine — technical assistance, which provides for launching pilot projects and strengthening institutions, in particular the Ukrainian Startup Fund (USF), and financial instruments (creation of investment funds, credit instruments, and co-financing models).
