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SHIMANE -On a recent sunny September weekend,
Shimane rice farmers were busy harvesting their
rice crop. But for many farmers, this year's
cool summer has yielded a bitter harvest.
Kasutoshi Fujihara, founder of a non-profit
organization that works with farmers, said he
expects Shimane farmers to report a 10 percent
drop in the rice harvest.
Mitsuo Onda, a rice farmer in Nita, is less
optimistic.
"This year's crop is only about 80 percent
of last year's crop," he said. "The
crop is in a state of emergency, this is a limited
year, the rice quality has also dropped."
For the record, this has been the coolest summer
in Japan since 1993. Summer temperatures in
the Chugoku region were .3 degrees Celsius cooler
than in an average year according to Japan's
Meteorological Agency.
In Nita, a rural village in the Chugoku Mountains,
the temperatures were about 2 degrees Celsius
below average, Onda said.
Frequently cloudy skies also left farmers with
few bright spots.
Sunshine is the most important ingredient for
rice's development, said an employee for the
Japan Agriculture Cooperative who lives in Mitoya.
"Lots of sunshine is necessary for lots
of delicious rice to grow," he said. "This
year starting in July, there were low temperatures,
also there was an insufficient amount of sunshine.
The amount of sunshine was only 40 percent of
what is usual in a normal year."
The lack of sunlight caused the rice to develop slower. Compared to a common
year's crop, this year's rice is 7 to 10 days delayed in coming out, the JA employee
said. Because the young rice stalks did not receive enough nutritious sunlight,
the plants produced fewer rice kernels, he explained.
"The amount of harvestable rice is decreased,"
he added.
Onda, who lives in a large traditional Japanese
farmhouse with his son and his son's wife and
their four children, said he is letting the
rice stay in the field longer in the hopes that
the rice will mature.
Cloudy skies also brought heavy rains, drenching
Shimane rice fields in 1.7 times more precipitation
than is usual. As bad as the summer weather
was, Shimane fared better than other regions
of Japan.
According to a September report from the Japanese
government the rice harvest in Aomori prefecture
received a 71 out of 100 on the rice index.
The index measures the expected rice yield with
a benchmark of 100 representing an average harvest.
For all of Japan, the expected harvest is 92.
Shimane received a 91, a number that places
it among the 10 hardest hit prefectures.
This year's harvest is similar in many ways
to 1993, which was the worst year for rice farmers
since World War II. In 1993, the rice index
was 74. A decade ago, the rice suffered from
a cool summer with an extended rainy season
lasting from June to September.
Conditions worsened with the arrival of several
typhoons late in the season, said the JA employee.
The Japanese government was forced to buy foreign
grown rice to blend with the meager homegrown
crop. Not everyone was happy with the solution.
Many older Japanese complained, saying they
didn't like the blend's taste or the smell of
the foreign rice, said a teacher who lives in
the Nita region.
This year the Japanese government is better
prepared and has already announced initial plans
to sell 190,000 tons of 1.5 million tons of
stockpiled rice. In 1993, there was only about
200,000 tons in stockpile.
The government's announcement hasn't prevented
rice prices from climbing. At Kyushu's rice
market, specialty rice sold for prices about
20 to 30 percent higher. In 1993, rice prices
were about 607 yen per kilogram higher.
The increase in price is the only bright point
for this year's crop, said Onda.
"Since I started farming this is worst
year I have experienced," he said. "This
year's weather has caused the crop to be smaller,
the taste has become worse but on the other
hand the price will go higher."
Onda has grown rice in Nita for 58 years. Onda
dropped out of high school to become a full-time
farmer when he was 17 years old, after his father
was killed fighting for the Japanese army in
World War II.
With 58 years of farming behind him, Onda said
he still enjoys the work. It's a tradition in
his family. Next to the small Nita rice field
is a carefully tended cemetery where 300 generations
of the Onda family rest.
"I like seeing rice grow and the power
of nature, the rice is growing day by day so
that is why I like to grow rice and why I continue
to grow rice," he said.
An occasional bad harvest is only to be expected
he added.
"We totally depend on the weather, we can't
overcome nature's forces." |
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