Hereinafter, data on agricultural production and farming
areas are cited from statistics prepared by the MAFF. Recent
gross agricultural production and farming areas of Japan are
shown in Figs. 2.30 and 2.31, respectively. The area of
paddy fields was 3.38 million ha in 1960 and decreased to
2.43 million ha by 2016. The paddy rice-growing area was
3.31 million ha in 1960 and was halved to 1.48 million ha by
2016. Paddy rice production was 3.9 trillion yen (equal to
34% of all agricultural production) in 1984 and had
decreased to 1.7 trillion yen (18%) in 2016. The decrease of
paddy rice farming was principally caused by a decrease in
the consumption of rice in Japan with changes in Japanese
dietary habits. In the 1970s, the domestic production of rice
became sufficient to meet demand. In 1971, the Japanese
government started to introduce the gentan policy, which
involved subsidizing farmers who stopped growing rice for
consumption as a staple and instead switched to producing
other crops including non-staple rice in their paddy fields.
Fig. 2.30 Farming area of
Japan. Data source. http://www.
maff.go.jp/j/wpaper/w_maff/h28/
h28_h/trend/part1/other/P044_
h28_d0_2_21.xls
Fig. 2.31 Gross agricultural
production of Japan. †100
yen = 0.94 US$ = 0.80 EUR
(rate at 9/September/2020) Data
source. https://www.e-stat.go.jp/
stat-search/filedownload?
statInfId=
000031701883&fileKind=0
46
K. Tamura et al.
areas are cited from statistics prepared by the MAFF. Recent
gross agricultural production and farming areas of Japan are
shown in Figs. 2.30 and 2.31, respectively. The area of
paddy fields was 3.38 million ha in 1960 and decreased to
2.43 million ha by 2016. The paddy rice-growing area was
3.31 million ha in 1960 and was halved to 1.48 million ha by
2016. Paddy rice production was 3.9 trillion yen (equal to
34% of all agricultural production) in 1984 and had
decreased to 1.7 trillion yen (18%) in 2016. The decrease of
paddy rice farming was principally caused by a decrease in
the consumption of rice in Japan with changes in Japanese
dietary habits. In the 1970s, the domestic production of rice
became sufficient to meet demand. In 1971, the Japanese
government started to introduce the gentan policy, which
involved subsidizing farmers who stopped growing rice for
consumption as a staple and instead switched to producing
other crops including non-staple rice in their paddy fields.
Fig. 2.30 Farming area of
Japan. Data source. http://www.
maff.go.jp/j/wpaper/w_maff/h28/
h28_h/trend/part1/other/P044_
h28_d0_2_21.xls
Fig. 2.31 Gross agricultural
production of Japan. †100
yen = 0.94 US$ = 0.80 EUR
(rate at 9/September/2020) Data
source. https://www.e-stat.go.jp/
stat-search/filedownload?
statInfId=
000031701883&fileKind=0
46
K. Tamura et al.