【国際】「日本が輸入米を飼料にするのは狂ってる。ただちに放出せよ」と米紙[5/19]
Release the Rice
How Japan can ease the global food crisis
AS PRICES rise on global commodity markets, U.S. agriculture policies that contribute to higher food costs are coming under fire
-- especially subsidies for ethanol production. That criticism is warranted. But this country does not have a monopoly
on irrational food policy. Consider Japan's rice mountain.
Rice cultivation in Japan is notoriously inefficient. However, it is an ancient tradition and, perhaps more important,
the livelihood of a powerful political constituency. So the country blocks rice imports through a prohibitive tariff.
In the 1990s, Japan agreed to buy a limited amount of foreign rice as a concession to the United States and other producers.
But Japan didn't agree to eat it: Instead, to protect domestic producers, it stored the grain, about half of which is American,
in air-conditioned warehouses. (Japan gives away a tiny percentage as food aid each year.) The stockpile, which is separate
from Japan's homegrown emergency reserves, peaked at 1.9 million metric tons in 2006. At that point, Japan's Board of Audit complained
about the storage costs, so the government began releasing 25,000 metric tons per month -- to feed livestock. More recently,
it has considered using the rice for ethanol, according to a report by the U.S. Agriculture Department's office in Tokyo.
How Japan can ease the global food crisis
AS PRICES rise on global commodity markets, U.S. agriculture policies that contribute to higher food costs are coming under fire
-- especially subsidies for ethanol production. That criticism is warranted. But this country does not have a monopoly
on irrational food policy. Consider Japan's rice mountain.
Rice cultivation in Japan is notoriously inefficient. However, it is an ancient tradition and, perhaps more important,
the livelihood of a powerful political constituency. So the country blocks rice imports through a prohibitive tariff.
In the 1990s, Japan agreed to buy a limited amount of foreign rice as a concession to the United States and other producers.
But Japan didn't agree to eat it: Instead, to protect domestic producers, it stored the grain, about half of which is American,
in air-conditioned warehouses. (Japan gives away a tiny percentage as food aid each year.) The stockpile, which is separate
from Japan's homegrown emergency reserves, peaked at 1.9 million metric tons in 2006. At that point, Japan's Board of Audit complained
about the storage costs, so the government began releasing 25,000 metric tons per month -- to feed livestock. More recently,
it has considered using the rice for ethanol, according to a report by the U.S. Agriculture Department's office in Tokyo.
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