Rice Seed Market

The Japanese Rice Seed Market under the 1986 Main Crop Seed Law and Agribusiness Strategies

Seeds are one of the most essential materials for agricultural production. In order to improve the agricultural productivity and quality of product, it is important to breed new excellent plant varieties and to produce and distribute superior quality seeds. Especially, the development of the cultivars of the main crops (rice, wheat, barley and soybean)require a long time, lots of effort and money. The development also requires a specially arranged system, organization, and production technology. So far, in Japan, various programs are conducted that are essential to the production and distribution of main crop seeds. These programs are supervised by the public sector and the agricultural cooperatives under the 1986 Main Crop Seed Law, which is an amendment to the 1952 Main Crop Seed Law. Although this amendment and the related treatment enables the private sector to participate in the main crop seeds market to some degree, there have not been noticeable changes of the main crop seed system. The purpose of this study is: i)to examine the function and actual situation of the administrative system for rice seed, ii)to consider the strategies of Japanese agribusiness companies and several transnational companies aiming to enter the rice seed business under the reorganization of global agro-food system; the tidal wave of deregulation and privatization; and the commercialization of biotechnology, and iii)to evaluate their influence on the Japanese rice seed market.

(The Review of Agricultural Economics [Hokkaido University], No.55, now printing)