Japan's food self-sufficiency rate for fiscal 2006 declined to 39 percent in terms of calories supplied. This is the first time the rate has dipped below 40 percent since fiscal 1993 when the rate fell to 37 percent due to a poor rice crop. Japan's food self-sufficiency rate is clearly low when compared with that of other developed countries. Corresponding rates, for example, are 84 percent for Germany, 128 percent for the United States and 237 percent for Australia.

In fiscal 1965, Japan's food self-sufficiency rate was more than 70 percent. But it dropped over the years as Japanese eating habits became Westernized, leading to decreased demand for rice, Japan's staple crop, and increases in food imports. Per capita yearly rice consumption fell from 61.4 kg in fiscal 2005 to 61 kg in fiscal 2006. Although the government has a goal of increasing the self-sufficiency rate to 45 percent by fiscal 2015, there are no prospects of achieving the goal.

There has been the argument that Japan can and should import necessary foods. But the government's fiscal 2006 white paper on agriculture pointed out that worldwide food supplies will become tight because of population increases in developing countries and greater demand for those crops that are also converted to bioethanol. Climate changes due to global warming will also make food supplies tight. The white paper stressed the importance of increasing domestic food production. But there is the view that Japan's agricultural industry has been unable to meet the diversified demands of consumers.