Category Archives: Farm Policy

TOKYO, January 14 – A year has passed since the YouTubers from Japan’s farm ministry made their first official post on their official YouTube channel, Buzz Maff. Since its launch, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan posted one video each day about anything and everything about agriculture to gain attention. As a result, the channel garnered more than 6.1 million views in the first year to prompt many people, including the younger audience who usually have low interest in agriculture, to come and see what they have to say. One of the official YouTubers from the ministry talks only about the charms of sweet potatoes. Another sings … Continue reading →

SAGA, Jan. 26 – Saga Product Promotion Public Corporation of Saga Prefecture has started to run a campaign to promote Saga’s relatively new strawberry brand “Ichigosan” to Hong Kong consumers in collaboration with a local flower shop and pastry shops. The prefectural body for promoting agricultural and livestock products produced in Saga works with the partners in Hong Kong to sell strawberry bouquets and limited-time-only strawberry desserts. Ichigosan, a strawberry brand of Saga, debuted in 2018. Hong Kong started to import it in 2019, especially for local Japanese food retailers to become the primary overseas market for Ichigosan. However, it still is a brand little-known to the local shoppers, according … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Jan. 12 – The approval rating for Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s Cabinet was 44 percent in The Japan Agricultural News’ monitor survey conducted in the end of last year, dropping 18 percentage points from the previous survey done in September immediately after Suga became prime minister. The disapproval rate rose 20 percentage points to 56 percent, making disapproval top approval for the first time. Only 26 percent gave high marks to the Suga Cabinet’s agricultural policies and 27 percent to the government’s COVID-19 response, resulting in a plunge in the overall support rate. Among those who support the Cabinet, 32 percent, the largest percentage and up 9 percentage points … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Jan. 5 – “Responding to COVID-19″ was ranked top in the list of sales keywords for 2021 among distributors of farm produce, followed by “online transactions and delivery services,” according to a survey conducted by The Japan Agricultural News. Household consumption is likely to remain strong as many people stay home, and there are also moves to shift purchases from imported products to domestically produced items. The annual survey, 14th of the kind, was conducted on six areas – vegetables, fruits, rice, meat, dairy products and flowers – by sending a questionnaire in mid-November last year to salespeople at supermarkets, cooperatives, specialized retailers, restaurants and wholesalers. Out of 140 … Continue reading →