The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry plans to ask for 104.2 billion yen to aid the livestock industry, struggling in the wake of last month's discovery of mad cow disease, ministry officials said Wednesday.
The ministry plans to ask for 26.5 billion yen from the supplementary budget for the current fiscal year. The remaining 77.7 billion yen will be covered by subsidies earmarked for Agriculture & Livestock Industries Corp., a special corporation affiliated with the ministry.
The ministry also plans to spend 51.2 billion yen from this year's initial budget to help livestock farmers implement mad cow disease-related programs, bringing the total to be spent in coping with the bovine disease to 155.4 billion yen, the officials said.