Nation's food self-sufficiency rate up for second year running, hits 41%

Kyodo News Japan's food self-sufficiency rate in fiscal 2008 increased 1 percentage point from the previous year to 41 percent in caloric intake, on increased domestic production and decreased imports, rising for the second straight year, the farm ministry said Tuesday. The amount of such domestic products as soybeans and sugar cane increased, while food imports, including cheese, decreased due to skyrocketing prices globally, the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry said. The food self-sufficiency rate still remains at the lowest levels among major advanced nations. By value, the total rate fell 1 percentage point to 65 percent for the third straight year of decline, due mainly to a decrease in tangerine production and price declines in apples, the ministry said. The food self-sufficiency rate stood at 73 percent in fiscal 1965 but plunged to 37 percent in fiscal 1993. After staying at 40 percent from fiscal 1998 to 2005, the rate dropped to 39 percent in fiscal 2006 but recovered to 40 percent the following fiscal year. The Liberal Democratic Party says in its platform for the upcoming Lower House election that it aims to boost the food self-sufficiency rate to 50 percent, while the Democratic Party of Japan, the main opposition force, says that it aims to make the country fully self-sufficient in terms of main grains.