Report No.240902

NEWS

- Domestic -

MAFF Finalizing Countermeasures against Global Warming as soon as June
Preparing Road Map for Measures

On April 25, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries identified the current influence of the global warming on the domestic agricultural production, and decided to finalize countermeasures for crops to adapt to the warming as soon as within June on the assumption that the warming will increase. At the same time, the ministry will prepare a road map for measures in line with the countermeasures. Given that "the warming may undermine the preconditions for agricultural production," the ministry will accelerate the discussion about the adaptive provisions along with the preventive ones.

The increased global warming will change areas and seasons suitable for cultivation, which is likely to force producers to grow agricultural products that are different from those they used to grow. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an international organization that researches the global warming, published a report in April that says the global warming would continuously increase in the future, having a great influence on the global agricultural production mainly due to water shortage.

The ministry identified the current influence mainly based on the results of a survey conducted by the ministry in February about prefectures in Japan. The results show that the influence, including high temperature injury in rice plants, shy bearing in fruits, and frequent disease and insect damage, can be seen across the country.

The ministry will finalize the commodity specific provisions to adapt to the warming as soon as within June to help the guidance to farm households. According to the ministry, the purpose is to present practical provisions, not just provoking the sense of crisis. In addition to immediate adaptive provisions and challenges such as switching varieties and changing cropping types, the package will contain policies to response to the further increased global warming.

A road map will be prepared to reflect the long-term adaptive provisions in measures. The "Office for Global Environment (tentative name)" is planned to be established so as to implement the progress schedule.

Examples of Countermeasures (draft) for Rice Plant

Influence of Global Warming	Immediate Adaptive Measure	Challenge and Future Policy
Occurrence of white unripened grain of rice Occurrence of cracked rice kernel	*Delayed heading time through late planting	Cooperation with raising seedling facilities Promotion of commissioned work *Promotion of direct sowing that significantly delays the heading time
	Lowering soil temperature by watering during ripening period	Water utilization practices may need to be changed.
	Switch to high temperature tolerant varieties	Ensuring appropriate variety composition
Many pecky rice	Weed control before and after the heading based on the forecast of rice bugs	Development of accurate forecast and control technology
Many pecky rice	Removal of damaged rice grains using color sorting machine.

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