ADCA, the sole association of consulting firms engaged in agriculture and rural development projects and programs in developing coun-tries, was established in 1975 in order to promote and to assist both the Government of Japan and developing countries with the cooperation for agriculture, rural development and the related works. Since 1977 ADCA has partially received financial support from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) for its activities as a result of Government's recognition of the importance of ADCA activities. ADCA carries out various activities in accordance with its by-laws so as to fulfill the said objectives.

The activities of ADCA are as follows:

(1) To prepare a plan of project finding / identification, and to prepare a project finding report based on the findings of the ADCA project finding mission;

(2) To collect information, data, and reference materials related to agriculture and rural development, and to provide them to the members of the ADCA for their use;

(3) To provide members of ADCA with technical advice and services;

(4) To facilitate an opportunity in a variety of modalities for the members of ADCA to participate directly in development projects;

(5) To promote public relations and to disseminate information on technical cooperation with developing countries; and

(6) To undertake other related activities for the promotion of agriculture and rural development projects in accordance with the by-laws of ADCA.

Since its establishment ADCA has already sent project finding missions to over 110 developing countries. Each year ADCA identifies prospective projects appropriate for agriculture and rural development. Besides the project finding, ADCA has experiences of dispatching feasibility study teams as well as master plan study teams for large scale development projects at requests of the government aid agencies. In addition, ADCA has assisted Japanese Government missions associated with 40 possible projects in 21 developing countries. ADCA also has sufficient ca-pacity to mobilize ADCA members for detailed designing of the project works as well as the construction management of the projects during the implementation stage.

All development projects that ADCA has dealt to date involved various aspects of agriculture and rural development, such as: land and water resources development and conservation; land consolidation; irrigation and drainage improvement; modernization of rural area; the conservation of environment; R & D of development technology; provision of extension services; and other related works.

In order to reflect policies of Japanese Government on development assistance as well as current development issues discussed between the donor community and developing countries, ADCA has expanded its range of focus. Today ADCA project finding missions take into con-sideration not only structural elements of projects but also emerging worldwide strategic issues and approaches, including poverty reduction, capacity building of human resources, stakeholder participation, micro-finance, gender, sustainable development, water scarcity vs. food security, project approach vs. program approach and so on.

ADCA will endeavor to fulfill the chartered by-laws of ADCA and to dedicate to the sus-tainable development of developing countries.