Category Archives: Farm Policy

TOKYO, Mar. 27 – Japan’s Cabinet approved a budget for fiscal 2021 at a plenary meeting of the House of Councilors on March 26, 2021, by a majority vote, with support mainly from the ruling coalition. The general account budget for the next fiscal year starting in April is 106,609.7 billion yen in total, setting a record for the ninth straight year. The budget includes agriculture, forestry and fisheries spending of 2.305 trillion yen, down 5.9 billion yen from fiscal 2020. It decreased for the first time in three years. It also included a 9.9-billion-yen budget for the export of agriculture, forestry and fishery products and foods, one of the … Continue reading →

TOKYO, March 13 – Japan’s gross agricultural production totaled 8.8938 trillion yen in 2019, down 1.8 percent from a year before, posting a year-on-year decline for two consecutive years, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries announced on March 12. The value of production decreased below 9 trillion yen for the first time since 2015. The ministry attributes the decline to the drop in prices of vegetables due to abundant harvest. By prefecture, the production value was lower than the previous year in 36 prefectures, three-quarters of the total. Reflecting the decline in production value, farmers’ income declined 4.8 percent from a year before to 3.3215 trillion yen, posting a … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Feb. 26 – The Gifu Prefectural Government and agricultural cooperatives in Gifu began shipping strawberries grown in the prefecture to Australia on Feb. 25, becoming the first in Japan to export strawberries to the country. Australia decided last year to allow Japan to ship fresh strawberries to the nation and the prefecture has completed all the necessary procedures for exporting, including registrations of facilities for production, fruit selection and packaging. A ceremony was held on the day in the city of Gifu to export 20 kilograms of Hanakagari brand and 5 kg of Minomusume brand strawberries. In August last year, Australia lifted a ban on imports of Japan-grown strawberries … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Feb. 17 – The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries established the farm work safety promotion week for the first time, starting Feb. 16. During the period up to Feb. 26, the ministry will organize events and forums aimed at reducing farming accidents so that the agriculture industry will reconfirm the significance of measures to secure safety at farms. The number of farm workers who died of work-related accidents in 2019 totaled 281, up seven from the previous year, according to the ministry’s statistics released on Feb. 16. The ministry also plans to set up on Feb. 25 a panel to discuss effective policies to secure farm work safety. … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Jan. 18 – Japan is planning to propose to UNESCO the addition of sake, Japanese rice wine, and shochu spirits to the List of Intangible Cultural Heritages. Prime Minister of Japan Yoshihide Suga confirmed the idea in his first policy speech on January 18, 2021. The demand for sake and rice suitable for sake brewing is declining due to the new Covid-19 pandemic. However, the export and domestic consumption of these two Japanese traditional beverages can increase if they are added to the list. The government is already preparing for the submission, but the new listing may take place in 2024 at the earliest. United Nations Educational, Scientific and … Continue reading →