Category Archives: Farm Policy

TOKYO, May 27 – The Japanese government approved an Annual Report on Food, Agriculture, and Rural Areas in Japan for the fiscal year 2022 (White Paper on Agriculture 2022) at its cabinet meeting on May 26. The report focused on the country’s food security, showing the study on the nation’s reliance on imported wheat and fertilizers and their price hike. “Japan is at a turning point to ensure stable food supply in the future,” it said, stressing the importance of expanding domestic production and rising product prices to properly cover the hike in production cost. According to the report, the prices of food, fertilizer, feed, and other materials have jumped … Continue reading →

TOKYO, May 12 — Prime Minister Fumio Kishida addressed the fiscal 2023 national conference of The Japan Agricultural News held in Tokyo on May 11 and said the establishment of food supply bases aimed at increasing domestic production will be the pillar of the government’s agricultural policy.   Kishida also stressed the need for structural shift to break away from excessive dependence on imports of food and production materials. The direction of the policies in each field, which will be compiled as early as June for the review of the Basic Law on Food, Agriculture and Rural Areas, will be included in the government’s annual basic policies for economic and … Continue reading →

MIYAGI, April 20 — Senior officials of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine visited Miyagi Prefecture on April 19 to inspect farming areas, such as large-scale greenhouse horticulture, which were restored from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. As Ukrainian industries including the farming sector suffer great damage from Russia’s military invasion, the officials said horticultural agriculture can become a source of employment, adding that they hope to learn from efforts made in Japan. Deputy Minister Markiyan Dmytrasevych and four other officials were invited to Japan by the Japan International Cooperation Agency as part of measures to support Ukraine’s reconstruction. They visited greenhouses growing strawberries and cucumbers … Continue reading →

MIYAZAKI, March 19 — Tetsuro Nomura, the minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, visited on March 18 the city of Miyazaki which will host the Group of Seven agricultural ministers’ meeting in April and exchanged opinions with Miyazaki Gov. Shunji Kono and others. Nomura reiterated that the meeting will focus on food security and said Japan plans to explain efforts related to its Green Food System Strategy aimed at reducing the environmental impact of agriculture, including extensive cooperation between crop farming and livestock production. The farm ministers’ meeting, to be chaired by Nomura, is scheduled to be held on April 22 and 23 at Seagaia Convention Center in the city. … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Jan. 18 ­­— The agriculture ministry decided on Jan. 17 to nominate mikan citrus groves built on stone terraces in the Arida and Shimotsu regions in Wakayama Prefecture as a candidate for additions to the list of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) recognized by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. The agriculture minister also newly selected as Japanese Nationally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (J-NIAHS) two areas — the disaster risk diversification land use system at the foot of Mount Tabashine in Iwate Prefecture and the Yatsunuma reservoirs farming system using rainwater in the Hiki hills in Saitama Prefecture. Both programs designate areas where traditional … Continue reading →