TOKYO, Jan. 31 ― Japan’s meat imports hit a new high last year, breaking the record volume for the second consecutive year, government data has showed. The 2017 full-year import figure already broke the 2 million metric ton barrier for the first time since records began in 1988, and the 2018 figure amounted to 2.09 million metric tons, according to the finance ministry. Japanese farmers will likely face more influx of cheap meats this year as landmark trade deals, namely the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), have come into force. By product, beef imports rose 6% to 607,458 metric tons in 2018 from a year … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Jan. 29 ― Japan’s fatality rate in farm accidents hit a new high in 2017, breaking the record rate a year earlier, data from the agriculture ministry has showed. Farming is among the most dangerous occupations in Japan, with a fatality rate of 16.7 per 100,000 farmers, exceeding hazardous jobs such as those in the construction sector with a death-rate of 6.5 per 100,000 workers. In addition, a fatality rate of farmers who were aged over 65 rose to 21.2 per 100,000 farmers, with elderly farmers most at risk group. Nearly 40 percent of fatalities were farmers aged over 80, according to the ministry. A total of 304 farmers … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Jan. 24 ― As Japan gears up to welcome the world the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020, Fukushima’s farmers are pushing their locally grown produce to be served at the world’s biggest sport event. The Fukushima prefectural government held a food event to promote its locally grown agricultural products, such as rice and wagyu beef, in Tokyo on Jan. 23, hoping to remove its stigma associated with the 2011 nuclear disaster that hit hard the region. According to prefectural officials, about 300 people from food vendors, caterers and restaurants attended the event. Fukushima has set a target of more than 51 percent of local produce to be certified … Continue reading →

TOKYO, Jan. 22 ― Japan’s farmland area has declined for the fourth consecutive year, as fields have been abandoned and are no longer cultivated, according to a survey conducted by the agriculture ministry. The farmland increased to 4.06 million hectares in 2013, but it has now gone down to 4.02 million hectares in 2017, with a 10,000 hectare decline a year before. It is partly because farmers get older and young generations aren’t much interested in getting into low-paying farming business in Japan. The Japanese government has set a target to improve self-sufficiency ratio to 40 percent as well as to boost farmland area of 4.4 million hectares by 2025. … Continue reading →