Turning schoolyards and golf courses into sweet potato fields… The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is “serious” about the issue of food self-sufficiency and is considering a “potato-centered” diet.

Defense spending is “10 trillion yen” annually, the solar power purchase program “4.2 trillion yen”, while the agricultural budget is “just over 2 trillion yen”…

Food prices keep going up. One wonders how high the prices will go, but one is told that it is still a good thing if one can buy it if one has to pay for it.

Even if we wanted to import, our “buying power” has decreased due to the weak yen and other factors, and we are losing out to China. The world situation is unstable, and there is no guarantee that something like the invasion of Ukraine will not happen again. When we can no longer import food as we have in the past, the Japanese may be the first in the world to go hungry.

Professor Nobuhiro Suzuki of the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Tokyo warns.

The self-sufficiency rate of food in Japan is said to be about 38%,

Most fertilizers and vegetable seeds are imported from overseas. If we could no longer import seeds, we would be down to about 10% of what we can produce domestically. Without chemical fertilizers, crop yields would be cut in half.

The self-sufficiency rate for vegetables is 80%, but 90% of seeds are imported. If that were to stop, the true self-sufficiency rate would be only about 8%.

The corn used to feed meat is also 100% imported, so if that were to stop, production would be reduced to about 10%.

Fish, however, seem to be in good hands,

Most of the fishmeal used in aquaculture is also imported, so fish will be greatly affected.

Chicken chicks are also almost 100% dependent on imports.

Now that supplies are becoming unstable worldwide, we must ensure that both feed and fertilizer are produced within our own country by recycling resources, such as by using domestic resources.

We are in a situation where we need to put more effort into agriculture and increase the number of people engaged in farming, yet both farmers and dairy farmers are now under economic strain due to the rising cost of fuel. According to Professor Suzuki, 98% of dairy farmers and 93% of rice farmers are in the red.

If energy, defense, and food are the three pillars of security, then it is not surprising that more money should be spent on food. We spend 10 trillion yen on defense every year, and further increases are being considered. The solar power purchase program alone spends 4.2 trillion yen. In contrast, the agricultural budget is just over 2 trillion yen. If we don’t make up the current deficit urgently, farmers will disappear.”