第18回 の解答

Japan's Food Self-Sufficiency

Japan produces less than 40 percent of the calories its population consumes, one of the lowest rates among major developed countries. This dependence on imports has become a growing concern as climate change, international conflicts, and rising global demand threaten supply chains. Japan relies heavily on foreign sources for wheat, soybeans, and animal feed, meaning that even livestock raised domestically depends indirectly on imports. If feed shipments were disrupted, the production of meat, milk, and eggs would also suffer.

Opinions differ on how to respond. Some experts argue that the government should subsidize farmers to grow more wheat and soybeans, even if doing so is more expensive than importing them. Others point out that the calorie-based measure can be misleading. When measured by production value instead, Japan's self-sufficiency rate is considerably higher, because the country produces many high-value products, such as fruit and vegetables, that contain relatively few calories. These experts suggest that, rather than trying to produce everything domestically, Japan should maintain good relationships with a variety of trading partners so that no single disruption can threaten its food supply.

Both sides, however, recognize a more fundamental challenge. The average age of Japanese farmers is high, and many are retiring without successors, leaving farmland abandoned. Once fields have been neglected for several years, restoring them can be difficult and costly. Some analysts therefore argue that the most important measure of food security is not the current self-sufficiency rate but the country's capacity to increase production in an emergency, which depends on maintaining farmland, skills, and a new generation of farmers willing to take up the work.