TOKYO, Jan. 23 — The Farm Ministry of Japan released on the Internet a video introducing the initiatives of the country and some of its rice producers in order to promote rice export from Japan. The ministry explained Japan’s strategy to expand into the overseas market and interviewed some of domestic rice producers and traders who currently market Japanese rice in the U.S. and China. The purpose of the film is to have other domestic farmers and entities in rice retailing business realize that there is an enormous potential abroad and to encourage them to join the bandwagon.
The 15-minute video highlights why it’s necessary to promote rice export when the domestic rice consumption is shrinking and how Japan can cut cost in producing rice, in a form that Akira Karasawa, director general for crop production at the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry, answers the questions of a newly-recruited ministry clerk.
A president of a Tokyo-based trading company who runs a pilot shop in China for Japanese rice talks in the video about how he found China being the market with a high potential for rice from Japan. Chairman of Ibaraki Rice Export Promotion Council explains how the council was able to cut cost in growing rice and succeeded to expand into the US market. According to him, the group of local rice farmers introduced a method called chokuha (direct sowing of rice on well-drained paddy field) and began growing rice in large fields to cut cost and sell rice in US at fair and competitive prices.
The agriculture ministry also explained its current initiatives to help rice producers and wholesalers find their matching partners, its project to expand the rice export to 100,000 tons in 2019, and the rules and regulations on food import in other countries.
To see the film (Japanese only), go to the maffchannel on Youtube or a site named “(about rice export from Japan)” in the website of the Farm Ministry of Japan. There are 1-minute short versions as well.