Rice growers pin their hopes on new varieties

Mamoru Muta considers this an important year in determining whether a new variety of rice he is growing will take root as a product of Saga Prefecture.

The 61-year-old farmer in the city of Saga is cultivating the type called Sagabiyori, which the Saga Prefectural Government has developed with the aim of outclassing Kyushu's representative Hinohikari brand of rice. Its distinctive feature is its resistance to summer heat.

Muta is one of many farmers who are fighting an uphill battle against a steady decline in the consumption of Japan's traditional staple food. Per capita consumption of rice totaled 61.4 kg in fiscal 2007, nearly a 50 percent drop from 1965.

The price of rice remained sluggish, in the range of ¥15,000 per 60 kg on average, for all brands yielded in Japan last year.

Farmers in rice-growing areas across the country are watching the developments of new rice varieties closely, feeling their product might not have a bright future if they do not adapt and consumers continue to shy away.

"2009 is an important year in deciding whether Sagabiyori will gain a foothold as the rice produced in Saga Prefecture," Muta said.

He began to plant Sagabiyori after global warming began to affect Hinohikari several years ago. The rice's yield dropped and its flavor consistency deteriorated due to unusually high temperature during summer.

"Consumers would just turn their backs on our rice if nothing is done to change the situation," Muta said.

Many Saga farming households made a rush for Sagabiyori this year, raising the total area of its cultivation to 1,200 hectares and generating expectations for its spread.

Yuji Hirota, section chief of the Saga prefectural agriculture experiment research center, expressed confidence in the new variety's grains, saying they look beautiful and provide a faint sweetness as well as firmness.

Rice growers in some other prefectures in Kyushu meanwhile are working on new brands to replace Hinohikari. In Fukuoka they're planting Genkitsukushi while Kumamoto is trying Kumasan no Chikara. Farmers in Kagoshima Prefecture are growing the brand called Akihonami.

Similar efforts are on the way in Hokkaido.

Although Hokkaido is the nation's leading rice-producing prefecture, it has had to put up with a low evaluation of quality. However, it is scheduled to market a type called Yume Pirika this year in what prefectural officials describe as an attempt for the new high-grade brand to overturn an image that Hokkaido rice is not tasty.

The rice beating such famous-brand grains as Koshihikari and Hitomebore at tasting events held in Sapporo and Tokyo in March and May, with about 660 consumers participating.

Farmers planted the new variety in 3,000 hectares of paddies for this year's harvest. For the time being, officials are expected to cap paddy area growing the new strain at about 10,000 hectares, accounting for about 10 percent of all paddies in Hokkaido, so they can position it as a high-class grain.

With the price to be set high, Yume Pirika is slated to make its debut outside Hokkaido this year.

Tetsuro Shimizu, chief researcher of Norinchukin Research Institute Co., said demand for low-priced and tasty rice is increasing.

"There's a chance for new brands of rice to spread centering on the food services industry, such as restaurants and 'bento' boxed lunch retailers," Shimizu said.