"Foreign rice is for foreigners, Japanese people like only Japanese rice." - A Japanese rice shop worker.
While Hubby and I was on our train ride to Yanagawa, we passed by some rice fields and he told me stories he heard from his Japanese friends. According to them, Japanese are pretty protective of their rice industry, they make sure that Japan's rice could supply themselves so they do not allow imports. The very few imports they get(for diplomatic effect) goes to making rice wine or foreign aid. So basically, every pack of rice available in the market is made here.
What impressed me is how the government take care of their rice farmers. The seedlings, which I believe are products of an extensive research in our Japanese funded IRI in UPLB, are provided by the government and their harvest are also bought by the government. Per planting season, as they were given seedlings, their estimated yield quantity and cost are recorded so when disaster arise that could destroy their field, the government pays for everything and even for the rehabilitation cost and replanting.
My family's source of income back home is our farm so I could totally relate to the story and couldn't help to compare how our government is treating the farmers. There are no regulations on agricultural imports so the poor farmers could barely compete with the prices.
I remember one time, I had coffee with my tita and our country's agricultural attache to Japan. He said the Japanese sent 100 (or was that 1000?) mini-tractors for donation to Filipino farmers. He promised my tita to reserve one for our farm, but lo and behold, as soon as the tractors arrived, it was sold by the son of our then pareng president and of course, heaven knows where the money went.
Japan is an industrial country with barely a space for their people while Philippines boasts of its endless agricultural resources but the reason why we couldn't come close to the quality of their rice is such a bitter irony to swallow.
While Hubby and I was on our train ride to Yanagawa, we passed by some rice fields and he told me stories he heard from his Japanese friends. According to them, Japanese are pretty protective of their rice industry, they make sure that Japan's rice could supply themselves so they do not allow imports. The very few imports they get(for diplomatic effect) goes to making rice wine or foreign aid. So basically, every pack of rice available in the market is made here.
What impressed me is how the government take care of their rice farmers. The seedlings, which I believe are products of an extensive research in our Japanese funded IRI in UPLB, are provided by the government and their harvest are also bought by the government. Per planting season, as they were given seedlings, their estimated yield quantity and cost are recorded so when disaster arise that could destroy their field, the government pays for everything and even for the rehabilitation cost and replanting.
My family's source of income back home is our farm so I could totally relate to the story and couldn't help to compare how our government is treating the farmers. There are no regulations on agricultural imports so the poor farmers could barely compete with the prices.
I remember one time, I had coffee with my tita and our country's agricultural attache to Japan. He said the Japanese sent 100 (or was that 1000?) mini-tractors for donation to Filipino farmers. He promised my tita to reserve one for our farm, but lo and behold, as soon as the tractors arrived, it was sold by the son of our then pareng president and of course, heaven knows where the money went.
Japan is an industrial country with barely a space for their people while Philippines boasts of its endless agricultural resources but the reason why we couldn't come close to the quality of their rice is such a bitter irony to swallow.
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