Preventing a food crisis, what we can do now
Increasing the 窶徭elf-sufficient ratio窶・in Japan
Do you know where the food you eat every day comes from? While rice and vegetables such as cabbage and lettuce are mainly produced in Japan, much of our other foodstuffs, including wheat, soybeans, soy sauce, and salt, are imported. Even the meat and eggs that are produced domestically rely on imported feed to sustain livestock.
In terms of food, Japan's "self-sufficient ratio" is only 41% (on a calorie basis). Around 60% of the food supply is dependent on imported food. What would happen, though, if food could no longer be imported from foreign countries due to such factors as climate change or population growth?
Human beings cannot survive without food. Japan is a nation with a surplus of food, a "country of plenty." At the same time, overseas, many people suffer from poverty and fighting can occur over food. This lack of food can lead to war.
For this issue of Peace Seeds, we first checked the self-sufficient ration of our daily meals and we then researched measures to guard against a food crisis. Finally, we pondered ways that can be adopted today to increase our self-sufficient ratio.
Rice (domestic) ,Grilled squid (squid: imported; mayonnaise: unknown) ,Scallions mixed with vinegar and miso (scallions: domestic; scallops: domestic) ,Miso soup (tofu: imported; miso: unknown) ,Natto/fermented soybeans (Natto: imported; egg: domestic) The self-sufficient ratio is relatively high, because the meal includes no meat. However, as the "grilled squid" is imported and dressed with mayonnaise, which itself was judged to be only 1% of the self-sufficient ratio, the total ratio for the meal is actually 3% lower than the average ratio for the same items. 
Rice (domestic) ,Ginger-flavored slices of fried pork and onion (pork: domestic; onion: domestic) , Boiled mackerel in miso (mackerel: imported from Norway)縲,Miso soup with sweet potato and enokitake /thin white mushrooms (miso: domestic; sweet potato: unknown; enokitake: domestic) The meat for the ginger-flavored slices of fried pork and onion is domestic. However, the feed for the pigs is mainly imported, with the self-sufficient ratio at only 11%. In addition, the mackerel was imported from Norway. As a result, although the menu is typically Japanese, the ratio is low. 
Rice (domestic) ,Omelet (beef: imported; potato: unknown; egg: domestic; strawberries: domestic) ,Pot-au-feu (sausage: unknown; cabbage: domestic) ,Steamed meat dumplings (pork: unknown; katakuriko/potato starch: unknown) The beef for the omelet is imported, while the areas of production for the pork in the meat dumplings and the sausages for the pot-au-feu are unknown. A number of high-calorie meats are used and they aren't domestically produced. Thus, the ratio is low even if served with a bowl of Japanese rice. 
What sort of meals would attain a self-sufficient ratio of 100%? The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries offers an example. Assuming a caloric intake of 2,000 calories a day, to prepare meals using only domestic products, a lot of rice and potatoes would have to be included in the menu. Such a day's menu would look like this: Breakfast: rice, kofukiimo, pickled vegetables , Lunch: baked sweet potato, steamed potato, apple , Dinner: rice, baked sweet potato, grilled fish Moreover, we could only drink one glass of milk every six days and eat one portion of meat every nine days because, using only domestic feed, we wouldn't be able to maintain the same number of cows, pigs, and chickens as we can by importing feed. Currently, we eat eggs almost every day, but in such circumstances, we could only eat one egg per week. Still, we could consume domestic fish on a daily basis. "I think you now see how much imported food we eat," Mr. Takata said. He hopes that people will try to buy more domestically-produced food each day, despite the higher price of these items. (Reika Konno, 15) |
Chisa Nishida's breakfast (March 27)
Masaya Obayashi's dinner (March 26)
Marina Ishimoto's dinner (March 28)
Three meals using only domestic products
Hunger could lead to war:
"If no action is taken, a food crisis will occur and war will break out," warned Yoshiaki Kuroki, 66, the former senior managing director of Hiroshima Prefectural Central Union of Agricultural Co-operatives. He says that riots and wars over food could erupt in the world and result in killing. In such a scenario, Japan would be forced to convert all available land, including school grounds and golf courses, into rice fields and vegetable fields in order for the people to survive on domestic rice and potatoes.
One possible cause of a food crisis is the population explosion. In 1961, the global population stood at about 3.1 billion but it has since increased to about 6.8 billion today. It is estimated that it will grow to about 9.1 billion by 2050. At the same time, the areas of the earth used for food production have not expanded significantly. On the contrary, the land is suffering from rapid desertification. The rate of grain production per unit area is now decreasing.
Even today, one out of every six children in the world is malnourished, and one child dies every six seconds due to hunger. This is the consequence of the inequality in food distribution arising from the gap between rich and poor. The richest 20% of the population monopolizes 80% of the global wealth.
Japan's self-sufficient ratio, with regard to food, is only 41%. Japan, in fact, imports approximately 10% of the world's food. As a way out of a looming crisis, Mr. Kuroki is focused on improving the self-sufficient ratio. If the people of Japan would all eat a bowl of rice each day instead of bread and noodles made from imported wheat, the ratio would increase by 8%.
He points out that the food in Japan is so abundant that many people don't appreciate the blessing of food. "The Japanese people start their meals by saying the expression 'Itadakimasu' (I humbly receive). This means that we feel appreciation for the life that has become food for us and cherish our meals as we eat them. We need to grasp this fact well," Mr. Kuroki says. (Chisa Nishida, 15, and Marina Ishimoto, 14, with photos by Akane Murashige, 17)
A variety of measures
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High-tech mass production used at huge greenhouse Crossing a mountain pass, a huge building suddenly looms as if part of a futuristic city. It houses the 窶彜era Vegetable Field窶・ a subsidiary of Kagome, the largest maker of tomato food products in Japan, located in the town of Sera in Hiroshima Prefecture. The largest glass greenhouse in Asia, it was constructed in 2001 and is 8.5 ha, an area equivalent to seven Mazda baseball stadiums (Hiroshima's ballpark). Some 200,000 tomato plants grow there and the shipment of tomatoes each year reaches 2,300 tons.
An environment suitable for raising tomatoes in the greenhouse is automatically controlled by computer. The temperature is controlled by opening and closing windows or turning on heaters while measuring the outside weather and wind speed. Liquid fertilizer is provided depending on the condition of the soil. It is a very high-tech facility. Tomato plants grow up to 15 meters a year. Tomatoes raised outdoors produce fruit only between spring and summer. However, in this vegetable field, a tomato plant can bear fruit for ten months. The Sera vegetable field supports efficient mass production through the use of advanced technology. Takeshi Kodama, 34, the senior managing director, says, "We only grow tomatoes here, but ways to pursue mass production of other crops is needed as a measure to guard against a food crisis." (Akane Murashige, 17 and Masaya Obayashi, 12) | ||||||
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Farmer's restaurant offers many local products
"I don't want the responsibility for the food problem to be pushed onto those of us who live in the countryside," says Toshiko Nagase, 63, one of the owners of "Apple Field," a farmer's restaurant in the city of Shobara. Producing more farm products will not prevent a food crisis. In Japan, the diet has become Westernized. The government has pursued a policy of cutting back on the acreage under cultivation so an excess of rice will not be produced. Meanwhile, other foodstuffs must be imported. For example, it costs a lot to grow rice and vegetables, such as investing in the machinery needed, but the crops can't command a high price. Living the life of a farmer is hard, so young people today are shying away from work in agriculture. The Apple Field restaurant serves dishes which use vegetables and edible wild plants produced in the area. There are about 40 kinds of dishes at the buffet-style restaurant. Ms. Nagase and the two other co-owners, Mariko Maeda, 61, and Emiko Gishi, 57, obtain the edible plants, which make up one-third of their ingredients for the restaurant, from the nearby mountains. They themselves grow most of the more than 90 kinds of vegetables with few agricultural chemicals. Sometimes they receive vegetables from neighboring farmers because the shape of the vegetables makes them difficult to sell at the market. "I think our restaurant plays a role in letting people know how delicious our local ingredients are," says Ms. Maeda. (Masashi Muro, 17, and Yuka Ichimura, 13) |
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University professor seeks to revive farm land with jellyfish
Swarms of giant jellyfish, called Nomura's jellyfish, which are distressing Japanese fishermen, may soon contribute to producing fertile soil from barren land. Tsugio Ezaki, 64, a professor of the Faculty of Agriculture at Ehime University, is engaged in research to make dry fields moist and productive using the jellyfish. Professor Ezaki is focusing on the jellyfish's ability to retain water. Salt is first removed from the jellyfish by means of osmotic pressure and then they are dried and cut into chips. When mixed with soil, the chips are able to retain a lot of water when it rains. After a year, the jellyfish chips decay and provide nutrients for the soil. This method, he says, can contribute to reviving land that is suffering from desertification or mountains that have become barren due to fire. "If we can change unproductive areas into farm land, this could help overcome a food crisis," says Mr. Ezaki. He has already begun conducting experiments on a burnt area of a mountain in Ehime Prefecture, Shonai Dune in Yamagata Prefecture, and land in Korea. If the costs can be controlled, it won't be long before the experiments can be put to practical use. (Rena Sasaki, 13) | ||||
| Our ideas for preventing a food crisis |
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1. Grow your own vegetables. First, let's try growing green onions. Buy green onions with the roots attached, cut them to 7 or 8 cm in length, and plant them in a garden planter so the shoots will grow. When harvesting the onions, leave 1 cm of the shoots and roots in the ground so they will grow again. You can also grow tomatoes, parsley, and cucumbers in a planter. (Marina Ishimoto, 14) 2. Eat rice and potatoes. A large amount of rice and potatoes are produced in Japan. Let's eat these instead of bread, pasta, noodles and ramen (Chinese noodles). (Masaya Obayashi, 13) 3. Try to eat local products. Be aware of where the food you eat comes from. Buy domestic products and don't buy products in cases that you can't identify the growing areas. Be careful about eating out, too, as it's often difficult to know the source of the ingredients in such meals. (Masaya Obayashi, 13) 4. Eat products in season. Some vegetables available out of season are imported. Let's eat local food products in season. For example: cabbage, strawberries, and peas in the spring; green soybeans, cucumbers, and okra in the summer; sweet potatoes, taro, and pumpkin in the fall; and Chinese cabbage, Japanese white radish, and carrots in the winter. (Rena Sasaki, 13) 5. Don't buy more than you need. Eat everything on your plate. Avoid wasting food by letting it sit until after the "freshness date" has expired or allowing it to go bad. If you don't think the food can be eaten today, try to eat it the next day. It's also important to cut down on eating snacks between meals. (Chisa Nishida, 15) 6. Buy fair trade goods. "Fair trade" is the term for fair trade between developed countries and developing countries. The price of fair trade products is a bit higher because it includes a return for the producers, but this money supports the poor. Fair trade goods include chocolate, coffee beans, jam, pencil cases, and accessories. (Akane Murashige, 17) 7. Show interest in agriculture. If you know any farmers, offer them your support. You can also take part in a system in which you can become the owner of a fruit tree, like an orange tree or a pear tree, and a farmer will care for your tree. In this way, you can enjoy picking and eating the fruits of your own tree. (Chisa Nishida, 15) 8. Eat fish instead of meat. Most of the feed for cows and pigs bred in Japan is imported. And this feed comes from crops which could be food for humans, too. In place of meat, if fish--especially fish from Japanese seas--are used as feed, this would lead to the greater consumption of local products. (Akane Murashige, 17) |
- Food self-sufficient ratio
The ratio showing the percentage of domestic food products consumed in relation to all food consumed in the country. In our reporting, the percentage is calculated on a calorie basis.
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