TOKYO, Oct. 28 ― A recent survey has revealed that crops damaged by wildlife invasions in Japan fell 5 percent from a year earlier, as the central government and local authorities encouraged trapping and hunting wild animals such as boars and deer.
Economic losses caused by wildlife was estimated at 16.4 billion yen in 2017, according to the agriculture ministry’s survey.
Crop damage caused by wild animals has been declining constantly since 2013, The peak was 23.9 billion yen in 2010. But the survey also showed there was an increase in farm losses affected by wild animals in some regions.
The government has instructed the agriculture ministry to look into permanent measures to prevent crop damages caused by wild animals, and it has now set a target to reduce the number of wild deer and wild boar by half by 2023.
The agriculture ministry has promoted hunting and encouraged farming communities to sell wild game meat, while developing support programs that cover the costs of fencing along the perimeter of their crops to deter roaming wild animals.