2024 Volume 93 Issue 2 Pages 140-154
To clarify the challenges of rice seed production after abolishment of the Main Crop Seeds Act, we surveyed the offices of the 46 provincial governments and seed producing farmers in 5 selected prefectures in Japan from 2018 to 2021, including the profitability and labor inputs, which have not been widely available to the general public. Among the farmers in Ibaraki and Saitama prefectures, the seed rice producers had about 1600～1900 yen higher income per work hour than the food rice producers. In Hokkaido with its large-scale management (12.6 ha of average producing area) the work hours were shortest and the gross revenue was the highest, which led to a higher self-evaluation of technologies and overall managemental merit. Among the 44 seed farmers in Toyama, where the work hours per area was longest, a larger seed producing area tended to lead to higher labor productivity and higher self-evaluation of overall managemental merit. With the gradual increase in planting of rice varieties from private companies, several prefectures are encouraging public-private partnership. Human resource development, renewal of old facilities, and a more efficient production system have been identified as most important for building the foundation for seed production and for general seed production. Many prefectures produced many varieties for uses other than staple food (e.g., 62 varieties for sake liquor), which would lead to longer work hours for seed production. This research highlighted the importance of improving labor productivity in seed production.
