Japan enacts bill to stabilize rice supply after 2024 shortages
The Diet, Japan's parliament, on Wednesday enacted a bill designed to stabilize rice supply and demand, JIJI Press reports.
The bill to revise the staple food law was approved at a plenary session of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet. It cleared the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, last month.
Farmers will now be responsible for demand-driven rice production to help stabilize rice supply and demand.
In response to a severe shortage of rice and subsequent price surges in 2024, a provision on production adjustments was scrapped. The provision, which was based on the assumption that rice demand would decline, had remained in place even after the end of the "gentan" rice acreage reduction policy in 2018.
The rice market turmoil was attributed partly to the government's failure to assess rice distribution accurately and make reliable supply and demand forecasts.
Earlier, it was reported that India is leading global rice production after record harvest.
