Category Archives: Food & Agriculture

  The ruling Liberal Democratic Party decided on setting up prefectural-level headquarters to implement specific measures to double farmers’ income in line with its 10-year strategy, LDP officials said Tuesday, June 25. In a meeting held the same day, the LDP’s headquarters to revitalize agriculture and rural communities recognized the need to reflect the characteristics of each prefecture and product to meet the goal of increasing incomes. “Measures to double income should differ across different prefectures which range from Hokkaido to Okinawa,” said Yasuhiro Ozato, director of LDP’s agriculture and forestry division and head of the headquarters’ secretariat. Ozato said the LDP will work closely with agricultural groups in each … Continue reading →

  The Upper House passed a new food labeling bill on Friday, June 21, to unify overlapping regulations on the safety and quality of food products in Japan and make food labeling easier to understand. Although the new law will not substantially change the scope of food labeling requirements, it will provide stricter administrative orders and sanctions for violating the law. The new labeling rules are expected to be introduced in April 2015 at the earliest. Currently, food labeling requirements are determined by three laws – the Food Sanitation Act, the JAS (Japanese Agricultural Standard) Law and the Health Promotion Act – but the laws have caused confusion for consumers, … Continue reading →

Japanese rice is sold in China at 1,300 yen per kilogram, out of which 720 yen is granted to Chinese distributors as margins, according to a survey by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries submitted to the Liberal Democratic Party’s committee on agricultural trade on Tuesday, June 18. An agricultural ministry official said that distributors are receiving too much margin, adding it is one of the factors which hinder Japan’s rice exports to China. According to the survey conducted in fiscal 2011, the retail price range of Japanese rice in Chinese markets was between 1,100 yen and 1,300 yen. Based on the data, the ministry estimated that the distributor … Continue reading →

  The amount of unused farmland owned by non-farmers is soaring, indicating the strong need to reform the nation’s agricultural sector burdened with problems such as the aging of farmers, said an annual report released by the government on Tuesday, June 11. The annual report on food, agriculture and rural areas in the nation for fiscal 2012, adopted by the Cabinet the same day, listed production and business conditions of farmers by different types such as rice farming and dairy farming to come up with measures targeted at specific types of farming. The report reflects Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s growth strategy which identifies the agricultural sector as one of the … Continue reading →