Crop Diversification in the Asia-Pacific region - United Nations in ...

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CROP DIVERSIFICATION IN JAPANMasa Iwanaga *1. INTRODUCTION1.1 Japan’s Rapid Evolution to an Industrialized CountryDuring the post-war era, Japan has experienced a drastic change in its economicstatus and in the role of agriculture in the society. Its economy has grown to the secondlargest in the world. This change has been accompanied by social changes in the area ofagriculture and food systems in Japan. For example, the grain self-sufficiency ratio on acalorie basis declined to 40 percent in 1998. This is the lowest among the OECD membercountries. The relative importance of agriculture as an industry has also declined. Theagricultural population represented only 4.5 percent of the total population in 1997,significantly down from 13 percent in 1961. Rice consumption per capita declined to 65 kgper capita per year in 1998. It was 118 kg in 1962. These changes are major driving forces incrop diversification efforts in Japan.1.2 Characteristics of Agriculture in JapanAgriculture is an industry producing foods using the natural ecosystem, and specificforms of operation are largely influenced by geographic conditions. Farming styles also varyconsiderably in different countries and regions depending on the economic conditions there.The major characteristics of agriculture in Japan are as follows:• In Japan, located in the Asian monsoon zone, rice farming has been operatednationwide as a key planting system suitable for its hot and rainy summer season.Some regions on the Pacific Coast with a dry winter and low rainfall operate a doublecropping system by using winter (secondary) wheat.• Mountainous areas account for 61 percent of the total national land area and there isonly limited flat land available in Japan. Consequently, competition exists in landuse. Under these circumstances, the ratio of farm land is about 14 percent of the totalnational land area, and the cultivated land under management per farm household issmall at about 1.6 hectares. This contrasts with other industrialized countries such asthe USA, UK, Germany and France which have average farm sizes of 176.1 ha, 70.1ha, 30.3 ha and 38.5 ha, respectively.• As a result of the ongoing improvement of irrigation infrastructure for the furtherdevelopment of paddy field farming, the ratio of irrigated area to all agricultural landis 56 percent, one of the highest figures in the world. Paddy fields are effective inpreventing damage caused by continuous cropping, thick weeds and soil erosion,* Director, Biological Resources Division, Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences(JIRCAS), Tsukuba, Japan.51
leading to stable agricultural production. Rice, highly stable in production and rich innutrition, has supported the large population living in a limited land area, and helpedto build the world's most densely populated society in the early 18 th century.• The small size of farming operations and difficulties in controlling water use at theindividual farm level required collective control and use of water, facilitating theformation of farming communities. Community rules established to ensure smoothoperations had a considerable influence in fostering the spirit of mutual aid andcreating and passing on traditional rural cultures.Agriculture in Japan has developed its own unique characteristics under theconsiderable influence of natural and socioeconomic conditions. To achieve sustainabledevelopment of agriculture and implement a crop diversification strategy, it is necessary tostudy appropriate measures taking into consideration of the above characteristics.2. CROP PRODUCTION AND ECONOMICS SCENARIOThe food self-sufficiency ratio in Japan showed sharp decreases during the periodfrom 1965 to 1998, down from 73 to 40 percent on a calorie supply basis and 62 to 27percent on a grain basis (Figure 1). From a long-term standpoint, one of the major factorsbehind this declining trend is a fundamental change in Japanese dietary patterns, as reflectedin the increasing consumption of animal products and fats and oils, which are largelydependent on imported feed grains and oilseeds, due to the restraints on national land areaand ever decreasing rice consumption (Figure 2).In recent years, both trends as mentioned above have shown a slowdown, while thedomestic production of wheat and soybeans has continued to decline. This is a key factorbehind the declining self-sufficiency ratio in the short term.As the world food supply/demand situation could be tight in the mid- and long-term,the Japanese people are now showing great concern over the future food supply in Japan,characterized by very low food self-sufficiency (Figure 1). France, UK and Germany haveimproved their self-sufficiency ratios over the last 30 years while the Japanese ratio declined.The national government assumes great responsibility in assuring the availability of the foodsupply to its people. Since there are certain limitations on stockpiling and importing, it isimportant to increase domestic agricultural production as much as possible in order to securea stable food supply.The food self-sufficiency ratio is an effective and easy to see indicator for verifyingthe extent to which domestic agricultural production could satisfy national dietaryrequirements. Thus, the aims of the Basic Plan for Food, Agriculture and Rural areas is toidentify the issues to be dealt with (by farm operators, consumers and food industries), andthen to set up specific targets of food self-sufficiency ratio under the new Basic Law (seelater).In the Basic Plan developed in March 2000, major target food self-sufficiency ratios(2010 as target year) were set up, namely: 45 percent on a calorie supply basis, 30 percent ona grain basis, and 62 percent on a grain for staple foods basis. Although it is essential thatmore than 50 percent of all calories supplied by food should be covered by domestic52
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RAP PUBLICATION: 2001/03CROP DIVERS
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CROP DIVERSIFICATION IN THEASIA-PAC
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13. INTENSIFICATION OF CROP DIVERSI
Page 8 and 9: INTRODUCTORY REMARKSMinas K. Papade
Page 10 and 11: New opportunities that would benefi
Page 12 and 13: CROP DIVERSIFICATION IN BANGLADESHM
Page 14 and 15: (CDP) during 1990/95 in 125 Thanas
Page 16 and 17: SlName of Crops1 Aus:HYVLocalTable
Page 18 and 19: Table 4. Trade of Crops/products (I
Page 20 and 21: through development projects implem
Page 22 and 23: y the terminal year of the Fifth Pl
Page 24 and 25: cropping. This has only been possib
Page 26 and 27: process and export those labour int
Page 28 and 29: g) restoration/improvement of soil
Page 30 and 31: 8. RECOMMENDATIONSConsidering the i
Page 32 and 33: enthusiasm of the farmers in their
Page 34 and 35: 3.3 The Formation and Development o
Page 36 and 37: carried out for years, guarantees t
Page 38 and 39: environment protection. Special att
Page 40 and 41: 2. CROP PRODUCTION AND ECONOMICS SC
Page 42 and 43: What is most notable is the change
Page 44 and 45: 8.36 m/ha involved in the area shif
Page 46 and 47: fact that the area shares of the do
Page 48 and 49: country. Therefore, a judicious use
Page 50 and 51: 5.3 Emerging Technology and Crop Di
Page 52 and 53: 7. CONCLUSIONSIndia, being a vast c
Page 54 and 55: Table 3. All India: Temporal Change
Page 56 and 57: Table 5. All India: Temporal Change
Page 60 and 61: production, these ratios were deter
Page 62 and 63: soybean using paddy fields should c
Page 64 and 65: food industry have sharply increase
Page 66 and 67: 7. CONCLUSIONSThe Japanese socio-ec
Page 68 and 69: Figure 2. Change of Rice Productivi
Page 70 and 71: Figure 4. Aid Provided by Major Cou
Page 72 and 73: The Natural Rubber (NR) industry co
Page 74 and 75: About 78 percent of the rubber grow
Page 76 and 77: should be attractive to justify the
Page 78 and 79: REFERENCESAnon. 1990. Proceedings o
Page 80 and 81: Table 3. Agriculture Land Use in Sa
Page 82 and 83: Table 7. Paddy Production, 1985-199
Page 84 and 85: Table 10. Imports and Exports of Fr
Page 86 and 87: Table 14. Exports and Imports of Pr
Page 88 and 89: CROP DIVERSIFICATION IN NEPALK. C.
Page 90 and 91: We know hill farmers face many prob
Page 92 and 93: Table 2. Growth of Agricultural Com
Page 94 and 95: 3. PATTERN OF CROP DIVERSIFICATIONN
Page 96 and 97: With regard to success stories of c
Page 98 and 99: 5. CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES AND PR
Page 100 and 101: It recognizes the need for a differ
Page 102 and 103: CROP DIVERSIFICATION IN THE PHILIPP
Page 104 and 105: 2.3 Yield Per Hectare of Agricultur
Page 106 and 107: In coconut, diversification means t
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were used in the preparation of the
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There are a variety of factors that
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Table 1. Production Area of Commerc
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Table 3. Yield (tonnes) Per Hectare
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Table 5. Selected Macroeconomic and
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Table 7. Dominant Rice Cropping Pat
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1.2 Soils in the Crop Diversificati
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Table 1. Major Crops, Their Extents
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drained and rice on poorly drained
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Figure 3. Schematic Representation
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The potato production in the up cou
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Table 6 clearly shows that there is
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In addition to the above scenario,
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6. GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND STRATEGI
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Panabokke, C.R. 1996. Soils and agr
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y promoting diversified crops inste
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Over the past few years, agricultur
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Land TenureMore than half of the Th
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The New theory is a novel approach
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Mushrooms: nang-fah mushroom (Pleur
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- Farmers can sell their rice at a
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In order to maintain the growth rat
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REFERENCESAthipanan, Withaya. 1995.
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CROP DIVERSIFICATION IN VIET NAMNgu
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3. PATTERNS OF CROP DIVERSIFICATION
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the contour with mulching using ric
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development of new crop varieties a
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• Cultivated and growing area und
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other hand, the size of an average
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4.1 Crop NutritionA major contribut
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increased from 130 million ha to 15
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in tobacco nurseries. These also he
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past experience. A sustainable prog
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diversification, taking into accoun
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The major outputs are:- Integration
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• Database and information materi
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• Business plans have been formul
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minimize such losses. The developme
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LIST OF PARTICIPANTSBANGLADESHM. En
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SRI LANKAH.P.M. GunasenaDirectorPos
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FAOR.B. SinghAssistant Director-Gen
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