Changing taste
Japan’s ageing rice farmers struggling to survive.
KAZO: A crop once deemed so important it served as a form of currency, Japanese rice has fallen out of favour with younger, westernised consumers, in a shift that has left ageing farmers struggling for survival.
Rice consumption has nearly halved over the past 50 years and as the older generation of farmers and consumers dies out, some fear the industry will be unable to hold its own in a competitive global market.
Kazuo Ogura, a 66-year-old farmer, is one of the lucky ones. His son Yuichi, 38, decided to follow him into the family business.
Surviving in this tough environment is all about “producing quality food at a reasonable price” and harnessing economies provided by large-scale production, Ogura said.
The future of his establishment in Kazo, north of Tokyo, looks assured as Yuichi follows in his muddy footsteps but farms all over Japan are dying as farmers age – the average age of a rice farmer is now 67.
“I was the only one out of 220 students at my school who went into farming,” Yuichi said.
Even existing farms have been forced to close when their machinery breaks down as farmers cannot afford to replace them.
The Oguras have managed to stay competitive so far by joining forces with two other families to farm around 100ha of rice fields – nearly 100 times the size of the average plot.
They sell their rice, which belongs to the leading Koshihikari variety, at 300 yen (RM11) per kilogramme.
Although rice consumption in Japan has been falling for over half a century, the crop’s exalted status in Japanese culture – where it even serves a religious purpose in Shinto rituals – has ensured its survival until now.
Generous subsidies aimed at controlling supplies and prices have made rice farming one of Japan’s most protected industries, but Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government scrapped the policy this year, urging farmers to be more competitive.
Japanese agriculture is “at a turning point”, according to Ken Saito, who was farm minister until a reshuffle this month.
“Farmers have to think about producing food that sells. More than ever, they have to be attuned to the market,” he added.
And as Abe prepares for potential trade talks with US President Donald Trump, analysts say he may have to concede some ground on agriculture, which could include Japan’s customary high tariffs on imported rice to avoid getting whacked with US duties on automobiles and other key exports.
Fewer Japanese people are eating rice in general, with annual per capita consumption dropping to 54.6kg in 2015, less than half of its 1963 peak of 118.3kg.
Mitsuyoshi Ando, an agriculture expert at the University of Tokyo, said there was “no bright future” for the industry and that “rice farmers need to improve their competitiveness. Large-scale production is also necessary”.
But it is difficult to achieve economies of scale in mountainous areasdue to geographical limitations preventing farmers from expanding their plots, he added.
And with subsidies set to wind down, “the number of farmers who can survive will be limited as rice consumption will never increase again”. — AFP