Low-cost rice: to open up the middle-class market in Asia - production costs reduced by 40%

Recently the Nihon Keizai Shimbun Electronic Edition reported the following:

低コスト米、アジアの中間層開拓　生産費4割減へ

経済

2019/4/23 12:22日本経済新聞　電子版

農林水産省は輸出向けに低コストのコメ栽培技術を開発する。大量に収穫できる品種を活用したり、自動運転トラクターなどIT（情報技術）を生かしたりすることで生産コストの4割超の削減を目指す。日本のコメはアジアで販売が伸びるが、価格の高さから高級外食店などに売り先が限られる。国内需要は減少が続いており、安価なコメの栽培技術を確立して海外市場を開拓する。

今春から2年間、宮城・茨城・福井・岐阜の4カ所で、農家や企業、自治体などのグループが実証試験をする。国立研究開発法人農業・食品産業技術総合研究機構（農研機構）が成果をまとめ、普及につなげる。

コスト削減の柱の一つは労働負担の少ない栽培方法の開発だ。通常は10アールあたり544キログラム程度のコメがとれるが、近年は同720キログラムが収穫できる品種がある。稲を植えるのではなくタネを直接水田にまく直播栽培の研究も進んでおり、いずれも収穫までに必要な労働力の軽減につながる。

もう一つのポイントはITの活用だ。農業用ドローンを使い、必要な苗へ自動的に肥料や農薬を散布することで、無駄な農薬投入を減らすほか、農家の負担も軽減させる。自動運転トラクターなども活用し、広い農地を効率的に耕す工夫もする。

農水省によると、2018年のコメの輸出量は1万3794トンで、前年に比べ16%伸びた。特に香港やシンガポール向けが多いほか、中国向けも足元で伸びている。輸出数量は10年に比べ7倍の規模に拡大している。

足元の輸出は主食用米の生産量（18年産733万トン）に比べて1%にも満たないが、海外市場の重要性は高まっている。国内では若者を中心にコメ離れに歯止めがかからず、需要が毎年10万トンのペースで減っているためだ。

現在輸出しているコメは1キログラムあたり600円以上の価格帯が中心で、海外で食べているのは主に高所得者層という。今後、コスト削減で同300～600円程度まで引き下げることができれば、中国で展開する日系外食チェーン店など幅広い層に売り込みが可能と農水省はみている。

低コスト米の技術確立は従来の品種改良などの流れと大きく異なる。

これまでは国内で生産されるコメが余り、減反を通じて生産調整をしていたことから、国や自治体は今まで低コストでのコメの増産技術には積極的に取り組むのが難しく、コメ栽培の研究は味の良い品種をどう作るかが中心だった。

だが、近年は日本食ブームを背景に、海外が日本米の有望市場になってきた。農水省はITを活用したスマート農業も活用し、海外でも価格競争力のあるコメの栽培技術の確立を目指す。

Translation

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries was developing a low-cost rice cultivation technology for rice export. It aimed at reducing production cost by more than 40% by utilizing the breed that could be harvested in large quantities, and by utilizing IT (information technology) such as self-driving tractors. Although Japanese rice sale was growing in Asia, due to its high price, sale outlets were limited to high-end restaurants. As domestic demand continued to decline, low cost rice cultivation technology would be set up and to open up rice markets overseas.

From this spring onward, groups such as farmers, companies and local governments would be conducting demonstration tests at four locations: Miyagi, Ibaraki, Fukui and Gifu. The National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) would summarize the results and link it to rice popularization.

One of the pillars of cost reduction was the development of cultivation methods with less labor burden. Normally, about 544 kilograms of rice could be obtained per ten 100-sq. m, but there were some varieties that could yield 720 kilograms in recent years. Instead of planting rice, research on direct sowing cultivation was also in progress in which seeds were directly sown in the paddy field. All these could lead to a reduction of labor required up to harvesting.

Another point was the use of IT. By using agricultural drones automatically spraying fertilizers and pesticides to the necessary seedlings, it reduced unnecessary pesticide inputs and reduced the burden on farmers. Automatically operated tractor etc. to cultivate large farmland efficiently would also be utilized.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the export volume of rice in 2018 was 13,794 tons, a 16% increase over the previous year, in particular to Hong Kong and Singapore; footsteps towards China were also being extended. Export volume had expanded by seven times in size compared to a decade ago.

Although the current export volume was less than 1% compared to the production volume of all staple rice (73.3 million tons produced in 2018), the importance of overseas markets was increasing. Domestically centering around the young people, moving away from rice had not stopped. Rice demand was decreasing at the rate of 100,000 tons every year.

Currently exported rice mainly priced at 600 yen or more per kilogram, and it was said that mainly the high-income earners abroad were eating it. In the future, if the cost could be reduced to about 300 to 600 yen, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries saw that it could be sold to a wide range of customers in China, expanding it to chain restaurants beyond Japanese food.

The setting up of the low-cost rice technology was largely different in flow from conventional breed improvement etc.

Until now, domestically produced rice had been making production adjustments through reductions, so it had been difficult for governments and local self-governing bodies to actively work on techniques for increasing rice production at low cost, and rice cultivation research focused only on how to make tasty varieties.

However, in recent years, overseas had become a promising market for Japanese rice due to the Japanese food boom. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries also used smart agriculture that made use of IT, and aimed at setting up some rice cultivation technology to achieve competitive prices overseas.

         I look forward to seeing cheaper Japanese rice reaching the Asian markets soon.