DEVELOPMENT OF ORGANIC FARMING IN JAPAN: ISSUES AND PROSPECTS

It was in the 1970s when some farmers and health conscious consumers started having a contract for production of organic foods in Japan. The Government's moves on organic farming were rather slow, and only in 1994 was organic farming officially defined as one form of environment conservation agriculture. Generally in Japan, the emphasis is placed on the reduced use, rather than the termination, of synthetic chemical inputs. In 2001, certification was made compulsory for organic products, but development in organic farming appeared to be slower than anticipated. This paper traced the development process of organic farming and examined the causes of the slow progress in organic farming from the economic and technological viewpoints. Profitability of organic farming appeared to be higher than the conventional farming, but the labour-consuming nature was considered a limitation in the expansion of farm size, presenting a difficulty in realizing a larger total net income by organic farming. Unstable and low yield was apparent in the case of organic farming. The maintenance of soil fertility, pest control and weeding were the major issues for organic rice farming, but alternative practices were limited.