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Report
No.221001 |
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- Domestic - |
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MAFF Presents Mid-term Technological Goals for the Infrastructure Project On March 31, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) decided on a mid-term plan for the development of technology to be used for the Infrastructure Expansion and Improvement Project for Agriculture/Rural Communities. The mid-term plan shows images for the development of 104 types of technology desirably to be applied to field practice. They were chosen to help achieve 8 policy goals such as the fostering of "core farmers". MAFF plans to develop these technologies by the end of fiscal year 2008 (March 2009) in collaboration with researchers. The mid-term plan aims to reduce the cost of the Infrastructure Expansion and Improvement Project and was drafted based on the new "Long-Term Plan for Farmland Improvement" launched in October, 2003. The mid-term plan took into consideration the new Basic Plan for Food, Agriculture and Rural Areas decided at the end of March this year, and shows the basic policy lines for technology to be used in the Infrastructure Expansion and Improvement Project. Main target of the plan is to achieve, at low cost, the fostering of "core farmers", raising the self-sufficiency ratio of food and the conservation of local resources. Technology which MAFF judged desirable to be developed for field practice includes a system to command pictures using satellite data of paddy fields, paddy fields converted to the cultivation of other crops, farmland lying idle as a result of abandonment of cultivation and so forth, and a technology to help reduce burden on environment by water-quality purifying plants which would eventually result in the supply of agricultural products one can eat safely and with peace of mind. In order to facilitate technological development, MAFF instituted a system of granting aid to development programs jointly run by public research institutes and private sector businesses. "I expect to see fresh initiatives arise, making use of the grant system, to create new types of agriculture and rural community in a joint public and private sector cooperation," an official at the Rural Development Bureau commented. |
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