TOKYO, Feb. 11 — Looking for deer meat on sale in Japan?
Game meat is famous for being low in fat but high in nutrition. But in Japan, people seldom eat it, so the meat of captured wild animals usually ends up being buried or incinerated.
Japan sold 1,283 metric tons of wild game meat in 2016, valued at 3 billion yen, the agriculture ministry said.
The ministry initiated hearings from butchering facilities that slaughter wild boar and deer killed by hunters.
It said game meats sold to restaurants totaled 1,015 metric tons, accounting for nearly 80 percent of the overall sales. Others were sold as food for domestic animals or consumed by workers at butchering facilities.
So the ministry is setting a target of doubling wild game meat sales by 2019, while it wants to reduce crop damage caused by overpopulated wildlife across the country.
Crop damage caused by wild animals has declined from a peak of 23.9 billion yen in 2010, yet the level of farm losses affected by them remains high, the ministry said.
It promotes hunting and encourages farming communities to sell wild game meat, while developing support programs that cover the costs of installing fences along the perimeter of their crops to deter roaming wild animals.