Taking advantage of the enhanced degree of freedom in agricultural management, it is necessary for farmers to make efforts to produce rice that satisfies demand trends.
The first harvest season since the abolition of the state's rice production adjustment policy has almost come to an end. The planted area of rice consumed as a staple food -- for use at homes, restaurants and the food-service industry -- stood only at 1,386,000 hectares this year, up 1 percent from a year earlier.
In leading rice-producing areas such as Tohoku and Hokuriku, the trend of producing branded rice, which can sell at high prices, has been conspicuous. On the other hand, there were not a few farmers who curbed production fearing a drop in prices due to increased output.
New rice brands such as Datemasayume, produced in Miyagi Prefecture, and Fufufu, grown in Toyama Prefecture, have been launched, with the number of officially registered rice brands totaling 795 -- up 50 percent from 10 years ago.
It is desirable for highly motivated farmers to strive to produce high-quality rice. What counts most is for such endeavors to spread, leading to increased competitiveness in the farming industry.
The short supply of commercial-use cooking rice, for the food-service industry and take-out bento businesses among others, has become a problem.
Due to increases in the number of single-person households and dual-income households, demand for cooking rice for commercial use has risen, accounting for nearly 40 percent of the market. The estimated yield of rice consumed as a staple food stands at 7.32 million tons, but there is a belief that commercial-use cooking rice is nearly 1 million tons short of demand.
Review feed rice policies
The farm-gate prices for many of commercial-use cooking rice brands are lower than those of rice for use at homes. As farmers cannot expect to make high earnings with the production of commercial-use cooking rice, their motivation to produce such rice tends to remain low.
There has also been an increase in such cases as food-service business operators using relatively high-priced cooking rice for use at homes instead of commercial-use cooking rice, which is in short supply. As a result, they have been forced to raise the prices of their products.
It is necessary to create an environment where farmers become more positive about cultivating commercial-use cooking rice.
The central and local governments are urged to expedite efforts to develop a variety of commercial-use cooking rice whose per-unit yield is high and with which farmers can expect to make a profit even if prices are low.
Some farmers have earned stable incomes by making multi-year contracts directly with food service business operators. Efforts to bring food-service businesses, retail businesses and farmers together could also be effective.
Rice farmers are not enthusiastic about producing commercial-use cooking rice, partly because a policy of excessive subsidies persists.
The program for giving subsidies to farmers who cooperate in acreage reduction has been abolished.
Yet to those farmers who produce feed rice for livestock, a subsidy of up to 105,000 yen per decare is granted.
A large number of farmers have switched from cultivating rice consumed as a staple food, which is not covered by subsidies, to feed rice.
As long as farmers count on state subsidies for their main income source, it must be hard to expect them to make efforts to better manage their business on their own initiative. The government should consider cutting or abolishing subsidies to farmers who grow feed rice.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Nov. 19, 2018)
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