A Matter of National Security: Japan’s Food Self-Sufficiency Ratio Stagnates at 38%
Japan’s food self-sufficiency rate on a calorie basis remained unchanged from the previous year at 38% for fiscal year 2024, tying the second-lowest figure on record. The data, released by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) on Friday, paints a picture of a nation heavily reliant on foreign imports for staple commodities, despite shifts in domestic production and consumption patterns.
In contrast, the self-sufficiency rate on a production-value basis saw a notable increase, rising three percentage points to 64%. This divergence underscores the impact of fluctuating crop yields and sharp price increases, particularly for rice, on the two primary metrics used to measure the nation’s food security.
The fiscal year 2024, which ran from April 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025, saw the average daily calorie supply per capita rise to 2,248 kcal from 2,197 kcal in the previous year.
Japan’s extremely low energy self-sufficiency rate, with the last reading from November 2024 at 15.2%, is more widely understood than the matter of food security. We have argued previously, for the example at the Impact Future Weekend in May 2025, that Japan’s priorities for startup ecosystem development should be much more tilted to the three critical sectors of defense, (renewable) energy, and food.
AloJapan.com