In Tokyo, rice farmers protest the “misleading” bases that feed the deficiency

In the United States, The ability to withstand the costs of eggs I paid a national discussion – confirmation Anxiety About the economy and the role of the government in dealing with it. In Japan, there is an equivalent: rice.

Over the past year, Japan wrestled with more than 200,000 tons loss From basic grains. Rice prices have risen, and supermarkets forced to restrict the amounts that shoppers could purchase. The situation became so comfortable that the government was forced to do so handle Emergency rice reserves.

Evolution is that even with Japan dealing with a deficiency, the government pays farmers to reduce the amount of their growth. This policy, in force for more than half a century, consumes billions of dollars annually in public spending.

Farmers were angry at the government regulations that needed Sunday. Under the cherry flowers in a garden in the center of Tokyo, more than 4000 farms collect, wearing straw hats and hats from the sun, with signs of declaring “rice is life” and “We make rice but we cannot gain a living.” He drove thirty tractors in the streets lined with the cabinets in the capital.

Japan’s ability to manage the rice problem may have great implications for the country’s political and economic scene in the coming months.

Last month, fresh food enlargement increased by 19 percent, driven by an increase of 81 percent in the price of rice. Anxiety The cost of food and other foodstuffs It was weighed on Japanese consumers, and economyAlso, families are cut off to spend.

Also, the lack of basic food in Japan occurs before the Senate elections – expected in July – will be the first survey in the country for the Prime Minister, Xiju Ishiba. advance to resign Last August, in the face of the generalized general approval rankings caused by the cost of basic goods.

The lack of rice stems from a mixture of factors, including the standard summer heat in 2023, which harmed the harvest and leap In tourism that led to an increase in rice consumption.

But experts say that the root cause lies in a policy of decades -old ages systematically reduces the cultivation of rice cultivation. Since the 1970s, Japan has supported farmers to reduce rice production. Officials say the goal is to support farmers ’income by maintaining high prices.

The farmers said in the protest on Sunday that the policy was not working.

In 2022, the average profits of rice farmers were about $ 23,000, according to statistics From the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture. This level of income was not enough to attract young farmers, leaving the industry aging and disturbing quickly through tens of thousands of workers every year.

“If things continue in this way, our farms will disappear. The products we produce will disappear.” “Before this happens, we need to change the misleading agricultural policies in Japan.”

Over the past five decades, Mr. Kano said, about a third of the rice field has been abandoned in his city. “Why do we have to reduce production when there is a shortage and available fields?” He asked Mr. Kano. “If my son and grandchildren have to continue planting, then there must be a long -term look.”

Japan continued to adhere to the policy of reducing rice production to maintain high prices, unlike the United States and the European Union, which instead adopted systems that allow farmers to produce as much as they want while they support the losses associated with the price.

The adoption of a similar policy in Japan would cost the government about $ 2.65 billion annually, compared to $ 2.32 billion, which are currently spent on encouraging farmers to reduce production, according to Nobashiro Suzuki accounts, a professor at Tokyo University specializing in agricultural economy.

Although policy that focuses on expanding production will increase rice supplies, although it is more expensive, which enhances food security in Japan, while lowering consumer prices. He said that enabling farmers to grow without restrictions while they were behind their income will make the industry more attractive to new generations of workers.

There are many theories why rice production policies prevailed. Mr. Suzuki suggests that it stems from a wider austerity direction within the Japanese government, making it difficult to justify marginal increases in agricultural spending. I am free Suggest The level of some Paril Pork policy may be a factor.

“Like anything else,” said the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, a spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture.

Historically, discussions in Japan on agricultural policy have motivated political transformations. In 2007, it was one of the main factors in the brief overthrow of the liberal Democratic Party – which has been carrying power almost continuously since its foundation in 1955 – was to invite the opposition party to get rid of policies that reduce rice production.

Mr. Suzuki, a professor at the University of Tokyo, said that what is clear is that even the agricultural policy is subject to basic reform, the problem of rice deficiency will continue. He said, this means, heading to the summer elections, “will continue to be angry with farmers and citizens.”