The 13th OECD Rural Development Conference was held in Cavan, Ireland on 28-30 September 2022 under the theme "Building Sustainable, Resilient and Thriving Rural Places". These are the presentations from the Pre-conference session "Exploring the Opportunities for Rural Development when taking a FoodSystem view on Agricultural Policy". For more information visit https://www.oecd.org/rural/rural-development-conference/.

1. Rural Development and Environmental Conservation
by Strengthening Food Systems
- Japan’s Approach－
13th OECD Rural Development Conference
28-30 September 2022, Ireland
Exploring the Opportunities for Rural Development when Taking a Food-System-view on Agriculture
Policy
Kazuhiro WATANABE
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF)
Japan

2. Outline of the presentation
This presentation introduces the following items:
1. Recapture close relationship between food systems and rural
development
2. Food systems for rural development
- An initiative for strengthening environmentally sustainable climate
friendly food systems
3. Rural development for food systems
- Regional management organizations (RMOs) for integration
- External experts to support local governments
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3. ・Food systems comprise various sub-sectors including input production, agricultural production,
manufacturing and distribution of food, and retailing or consumption of food.
・ Therefore, strengthening food systems closely relate with rural development and will serve as an
effective measure for its promotion.
・An approach of rural development covering the entire rural area will integrate the strengthening
of food systems, the development of local economy, and the preservation of the natural
environment, which contribute to the consistency of measures and policies.
Rural Development or Rural Area (Rural Life)
Food System
Diagram: Illustration of nexus among rural development, food system and natural environment
Economy Natural Environment
1. Recapture close relationship between food systems and rural development
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4. ・The importance of sustainable food systems has been increasing with a decade of achieving SDGs.
・Japan formulated the “Strategy for Sustainable Food Systems(MeaDRI)” while EU formulated “Farm to
Folk strategy”.
・Efforts of building sustainable food systems are expected to reduce environmental load, improve
incomes and living conditions in rural areas and revitalizing rural communities.
【Main Features of Japan’s Strategy for Sustainable Food Systems (MeaDRI)】
1 This strategy aims at achieving both increased productivity and sustainability in the agriculture,
forestry, and fisheries and food sectors through innovation.
2 Based on this strategy, we will promote workload reduction, productivity growth, optimization
of local resources, decarbonization, reduction of chemical pesticide and fertilizer, and
conservation and restoration of biodiversity through the whole process of supply chain such as
procurement, production, processing, and consumption.
3 We consider that there is no-one-size-fits-all solution. Climate, soil and other production
conditions, which differ from place to place, require location-specific countermeasures.
2. Food systems for rural development:
Environmentally sustainable, climate friendly food systems
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5. Location：Toyooka city, Hyogo Pref.
Farming formula to nurture storks
(to maintain water in paddy fields in winter)
Wetland conservation activities
by companies
Stork Rice
The Council for “Storks’ reviving in the wild”
【Companies/
Organizations】
【Residents・ＮＰＯ】
【Specialists】
【Administration】
2. Food systems for rural development:
A case of environmentally sustainable, climate friendly food systems
・More than 100 storks now live in the area after more than 50 years of efforts to revive the wild storks that
formerly inhabited the area.
・Efforts are being made to promote agriculture methods that do not rely on chemical pesticides/fertilizers
with utilizing wet paddy fields in winter for nurturing storks.
・The story of wild storks has led to the successful branding of rice and other agriproducts with value-
added prices as well as attracting tourists to the area.
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Stork

6. ＜Current status＞
・In Japanese rural areas, each community has basically performed a wide range of functions necessary for rural life,
including (1) complementing production activities, (2) preserving the local environment, (3) utilizing local resources,
and (4) providing livelihood support.
・These functions of rural communities have been supporting rural life even after the current development of private
services.
・Due to the declining population and ageing communities, these functions do not work well at present, which makes
rural life for residents more difficult.
＜Actions＞
・An RMO is a regional management organization that incorporates plural communities, establishes a council, and its
subdivisions carry out activities needed for rural communities.
・RMOs enable integrated efforts for improving local economies, livelihood support and agricultural production.
・The government provides financial supports for activities and initiatives that meet certain objectives.
・The key factors for the success of RMO activities will be: (1) discussions within and between the communities, (2) the
strong and stable functions of the Secretariat to continue activities, and (3) participation of personnel from outside
the community
3. Rural development for food systems:
Regional management organizations (RMOs) for integration
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7. 【Image of the area targeted by rural RMOs】
○Consists of 11 communities with 252 residents.
About 12 kilometers away from the city.
○Maintaining farmland is difficult due to declining in population,
ageing and losing vitality in the community.
○No schools or shops, and it is a challenge to maintain life.
General
Affairs Dept.
Livelihood
Dept.
Inter-communion
Dept.
Industry
Dept.
Resource
Dept.
Residents’ committee,
Neighborhood association,
Women’s association, PTA,
Social welfare council, etc.
Secretariat
Rural community agreement
Community farming
Agricultural corporation, etc.
Council
Implementation Arrangements for RMOs
・Collaboration between farmers’ organizations and various other entities such as residents’ association
led to the establishment of RMOs covering plural rural communities.
3. Rural development for food systems:
Image of regional management organizations (RMOs)
Rural
community
Rural
community
Rural
community
Rural
community
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8. Conservation of farmland/
the local environment
Utilization of local resources Livelihood support
Farmland conservation in cooperative work
Introduction of ownership
of rice terrace
Local production for local consumption
at a farm restaurant
Processing agriproducts for
commercialization
Supporting to see over elderly people
Helping elderly people shop
daily essentials
3. Rural development for food systems:
Some activities by regional management organizations (RMOs)
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9. ・There are examples in which utilization of external personnel effectively worked for development of local economy,
improving livelihood conditions, and development of agriculture, as a tool of rural area development
・External personnel in a town office may contribute to promoting consistent policies to respond to local challenges.
【Location】Shikashuku Machi, Miyagi Pref.
【Activity】
・Making a career move from a chef outside of the town to a
cooperative town officer, Mr. Okuda involved in the
management of a farm restaurant, planning a dinner party
for elderly people, and rice cultivation.
【Name】Rikiya Satake
【Location】Aki-Ota Cho Hiroshima Pref.
【Name】Keisuke Okuda
3. Rural development for food systems:
Roles and importance of external experts working in rural areas
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【Activity】
・Making a career move from a businessman to a cooperative town officer,
Mr. Satake involved in the management of a town community center which
was renovated from a 100- year-old fork house, promoting an activity for
attracting incomers to the town, planning an agricultural experience event.
Lunch meeting for elderly people Participation in an event Community Center Farming experience

10. 1/ Strengthening food systems and rural development are closely related.
2/ Efforts to build sustainable food systems can be an effective tool to develop
rural areas.
3/ Rural development approaches enable us to strengthen food systems involving
various sectors, preserve the local natural environment, and ensure residents’
livelihood services.
4/ Specifically, RMOs, which cover areas across sectors, are expected to realize
effective integration of various policy efforts.
5/ It is also expected that the utilization of external experts, which is part of rural-
urban linkages, will have a positive impact on various sectors in rural areas.
Summary of the presentation
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