Month: November 2025

From November 4th to 16th, 2025, Tetsu Sato travel to Malawi.
Proceeded with the discussions on further collaboration in the construction of three new Chirundu units. Visited the SCM farm and the agroforestry farm and held meetings to discuss current issues and future developments. Held a meeting regarding the terminal evaluation and requested the cooperation of stakeholders. Held a meeting with the University of Malawi to discuss the collaborative structure after the SCM project is completed.

The symposium is organized by the “Date Pro” project, implemented under the Cross‑ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP), 3rd period, “Building a Platform to Realize New Ways of Learning and Working in the Post‑COVID‑19 Era,” of the Council for Science, Technology and Innovation (CSTI). The program is administered by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST),

This symposium is organized by the research project “Date Pro.” supported by Council for Science, Technology and Innovation (CSTI), Cross-ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP), the 3rd period of SIP (Funding agency: Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)). And the project is led by Shinya Yamanaka of Muroran Institute of Technology.
The symposium was held on October 25th and 26th at the Civic Activity Center in Kashima, Date City. The core keyword was “Networking.” Innovators from Date and Malawi who are tackling various agricultural practices and challenges presented their unique initiatives. Through these presentations, we hope to spark new connections and envision a brighter future for the region—highlighting how human networks can overcome difficulties and how new forms of collaboration can emerge.
From the project, we invited Nicholas Sikoya Chanza (Mr. Mantis) and J. B. Matewere (Mr. John) from Malawi, who presented on sustainable agriculture, the linkage between agriculture and tourism, and the activities of the local restaurant “ZATHU” in Chembe Village. Project member Yasuko Kusakari also introduced “The Cape Maclear Story: Connecting Farmers and Tourism Beginning from a Local Restaurant.”
During the Roundtable Discussion, the facilitator, Sato, shared a hopeful message: “Someday, I would love to see people creating menus that combine vegetables and seafood from Date, and many visitors coming to ZATHU saying they want to enjoy those dishes.”
Web site of Date Pro.　だてプロ

From September 18th to November 23rd, Placid Mpeketula from the University of Malawi was accepted as a short-term foreign researcher at the Tokyo University of Agriculture.
Through discussions and collaborative research with Japanese researchers, he conducted a detailed analysis of the results of empirical research on soil improvement processes and mechanisms and leverage point analysis, and prepared a paper for submission to an international academic journal.

From September 18th to November 23rd, Nicholas Sikoya Chanza from Sustainable Cape Maclear (CBO) in Chembe village was accepted as a short-term foreign researcher at the Tokyo University of Agriculture.
He learned multifaceted techniques from Japan’s leading examples of agroforestry, forest seed production and tree planting, and environmentally friendly agriculture.
Through collaborative research, he built a foundation for utilizing these techniques on the ground in Malawi. During his stay, he visited Miyagi Prefecture, Date City in Hokkaido, and Nagano University, and other places, and conducted collaborative research on Japan’s leading examples of various techniques and methods of collaboration with community stakeholders.

October: Presentation at Muroran Institute of Technology International Symposium, Date City, Hokkaido

November: Participated in Nagano University’s “Seed Project” tree planting festival in Miyagi Prefecture