V The Long-Term Outlook for Supply and Production of Sweetpotatoes

The old Basic Agricultural Law was revised July 16, 1999, for the first time in 40 years. The new Basic Law, "Basic Plan for Food, Agriculture, and Rural Areas," lays out four principles: 1) Stabilizing food demand, 2) Implementation of manifest functions, 3) Continued agricultural development, and 4) Further improvement of rural life.

The ideology and policy measures introduced in the new Basic Law were approved by the Cabinet on March 24, 2000. The new Basic Law will be reviewed after about 10 years to decide its effectiveness in improving agriculture and rural life. After being revised, it will be subsequently reviewed and revised every 5 years.

The basic plan is based on a goal of Japan becoming self sufficient for 45% of its calorie needs. As this figure is influenced by the supply and demand for food, proper understanding and cooperation must be reached among many parties including federal and local governmental bodies, farmers and agricultural groups, the food industry, and consumers. That is, the above groups need to be aware of the various issues involving food production and consumption.

Below is an abbreviated extract from the basic plan that relates directly to sweetpotato:

1. Production Goals

Current sweetpotato production levels basically match market demand, but there is a trend in recent years for a decline in production due to delayed implementation of improved farming practices such as efforts to increase production, or reduction of labor needs through mechanization. However, it is expected that sweetpotato consumption will continue to increase due to interest in it as a healthy food leading to an increased supply of processed sweetpotato products. Therefore it is important for growers to stay in tune with consumer desires so that production can be appropriately increased. To aid in this, mechanization must be encouraged to produce lower cost products and reduce labor needs by up to 70%, and new varieties suitable to meet projected processing demands must be developed. Implementation of these means is expected to maintain sufficient supply to meet market demand.

Ten Year Goal for Sweetpotato Consumption/Production

	unit	1997	1998 (reference)	2010 projected trend	2010 ideal trend
Projected demand (supply outlook)	1000 t	1,140	1,140	1,200	1,200
		(4.8)	(4.8)	(5.3)	(5.4)
Production goal	1000 t	1,130	1,140	1,110	1,160
Yield/10 a	kg	2,430	2,500	2,390	2,390
Area	1000 ha	47	46	46	49
Domestically produced	%	99	100	92	97

Notes:1)	"Projected demand": Upper figures show trend of national supply. Lower figures show trend of per capita demand (kg/person).
2)	"Projected demand" figures are based on the premise that the trend for reevaluating eating habits will continue, so that consumption of fatty foods will decline, intake of rice and other grains will hold steady, and intake of vegetables, beans, and tubers will increase.
3)	"Projected Trend" for 2010 is an extrapolation of current trends.

2. Outlook for Research and Development (Ten-Year Plan)

* Stepped up development of special sweetpotato varieties for pigment, beverage, powder, jam, and other processing needs.

* Development of improved mechnization of sweetpotato cultivation requiring less labor to produce a crop through direct planting of seed sweetpotatoes, and development of new varieties suitable for this purpose. (Elimination of sprout production and replanting would reduce labor needs by 30%.)