Q164Hasn't Japan been requested at the World Trade Organization (WTO) new multilateral trade negotiations (the Doha Round) to significantly reduce tariffs on important agricultural products such as rice? If tariffs are reduced significantly and Japan imports large volumes of cheap rice, won't the country's food self-sufficiency rate suddenly plummet?
A164Japan exports manufactured goods around the world, as a result of which it obtains foreign currencies. It then procures the food, natural resources and energy that it needs. In exchange for all the manufactured goods they import, agricultural exporting nations wish to export more agricultural products to Japan. Therefore, it is essential to create a mutually beneficial system according to which Japan continues to import foodstuffs. However, if large amounts of cheap rice are imported into Japan, this will have a huge impact on the life of the remaining rice farmers. There has been a continuous policy of production adjustments, in response to the falling consumption of rice, and the reduction of cultivated acreage has been encouraged through incentives. Irrigated rice fields do not merely yield rice, but also function as flood barriers that benefit the land and the environment. The expansion of agricultural production is supported as it helps maintain these functions.
