Govt adopts measures to boost food security, domestic production

Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
The Prime Minister’s Office in Tokyo

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The government on Tuesday adopted a set of measures to strengthen the country’s food security including the promotion of domestic production of fertilizers and animal feed to reduce its dependence on imports.

In the package, adopted at a relevant meeting, the government says it will “secure with responsibility funds necessary to implement reforms for enhancing food security through the budget compilation process every year.”

“We will strongly promote a structural shift of the agriculture sector to solidify the foundation of food supply, which is directly linked to people’s lives,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said at the meeting of the government’s headquarters on measures to ensure stable food supply and strengthen the foundations of the farm, forestry and fisheries industries.

The package is designed to address growing risks to food security traced to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and natural disasters caused by climate change.