TOKYO, Aug. 24 ― Japan’s agriculture ministry has finalized its request budges on agriculture for fiscal 2019, highlighting a big boost in farm land improvement at 530.5 billion yen. The chairman of the National Federation of Land improvement Association is Toshihiro Nikai, secretary-general of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). The budget request also includes 5 billion yen in the development of AI, or technologies which perform tasks that are characteristic of human intelligence in the sector. The request on agriculture-related budgets for the fiscal year starting from April 2019 totals 2.727 trillion yen. That was up by 74.4 billion yen from its budget request for fiscal … Continue reading →

GIFU, Sept. 11 – The Gifu Prefectural Government announced on Sept. 9 that it has confirmed the nation’s first case of swine fever in 26 years at a farm in the city of Gifu. The culling and burying of 610 hogs at the farm were completed in the early morning of Sept. 10, and the place was decontaminated and disinfected by Sept. 11, the government said. It is yet unknown how the outbreak of the disease, also known as hog cholera, started. It differs from African swine fever which has been reported recently in China. Both diseases cannot infect humans and people are not affected even if meat from an … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Aug. 22 ― Following outbreaks of deadly African swine fever (ASF) in China in early August, Japan is enhancing its disease surveillance and biosecurity controls at points of entry to the country. The Japanese agriculture ministry has released a poster, which highlights risks of infected pork imports from China in two languages — the Japanese and the Chinese. One warning sign reads: “It is forbidden to bring pork products into Japan from ASF affected regions, even they were sold at duty-free stores.” Another sign says, “Those who visited livestock farms in China are encourage to go to see veterinary quarantine officers at all ports and airports.” The highly contagious … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Sept. 17 ― Japan’s agriculture ministry is helping local farmers to become entrepreneurs seeking export business opportunity as the government aims to boost agricultural product exports as well as farm incomes. The ministry has come out with the Global Farmers Projects (GFP), which offers export assessment for farmers and matchmaking services to make farmers match with traders for exports. The main mission of the GFP is to promote Japan’s farm exports and to identify opportunities not only in large markets but in areas where there are immediate opportunities. The agriculture ministry, with the help of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), Tokyo-based wholesaler Tokyo Seika Co. and others who … Continue reading →