The Japanese Government held a meeting of an advisory council on national strategic special zones to begin considering a new regulation for allowing overseas skilled workers to work in an agricultural sector in special economic zones of the country. Under an existing system, technical intern trainees from developing countries are only allowed to work in the Japanese agricultural sector. The Government now decided to consider inviting foreign workers skilled to a certain extent so as to ease the shortage of workforces in local farming communities. At the advisory council, a representative of Ogata-Mura village, Akita prefecture, a newly developed area by a governmental land reclamation project in 1950s-60s, made a … Continue reading →

Tohoku Agricultural Research Center operated by National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (TARC/NARO), based at Morioka city in Iwate prefecture, was recently successful in devising a simple method for preparing feedstuff of unhulled rice soft-grain-silage (SGS) to reduce working hours to less than half the existing method. It is a new method for preparing the rice SGS feed by wrapping the whole bulk bag, called a flexible container, of raw materials or feed rice grains. At a stage of wrapping the bulk container, procedures of deflating and sealing the container take a lot of time in an existing method, which works are not required in the new method. It will … Continue reading →

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) made an announcement on September 30 that it will be possible for travelers visiting Singapore, including inbound tourists returning to the country, to carry fresh hen eggs produced in Japan with them as their souvenirs from October 1. Commercial exports of the Japanese eggs for sales to Singapore have already been allowed. And it is now approved to bring those eggs for personal consumption from Japan to Singapore, if they are labelled with a carry-on certificate issued by MAFF’s Animal Quarantine Service. The animal quarantine offices of Japan and Singapore have allowed international tourists to bring Japanese beef into Singapore as a … Continue reading →

The nationwide rice crop index stood at 103 as of September 15, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) announced on September 30. Yields of rice produced in the current year are regarded as “slightly better” than an average crop index of 100 for the first time in three years. Niigata prefecture hit the highest index of 108 among 47 prefectures in the country. As for a regional crop index, the Hokuriku region including Niigata prefecture, located in the northwestern part of the main island of Japan, recorded the highest index of 107, followed by 103 of the Hokkaido region and 102 of the Tohoku region. Farmers could enjoy … Continue reading →