Restructuring of the cut-up meat production area of broiler in South Kyushu with the increase in imported chickens

Abstract

Agricultural policies in Japan considered the peripheral regions (Hokkaido, Tohoku, and Kyushu) to be food supply areas in the 1970s, and those peripheral food production areas were formed based on the livestock farming sector. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the restructuring of the cut-up broiler meat production area in South Kyushu (Miyazaki and Kagoshima Prefectures), which can represent the typical pattern of restructuring of peripheral food production areas with rapid increases in imported agricultural products. The oil crisis made feed prices more expensive and unstable in the mid-1970s. Regardless of this, some general trading firms (Marubeni Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi Co., Ltd., and Nihon Nosan Kogyo Co., Ltd.) and Agricultural Cooperative group maintained direct vertical integration of broiler production. These firms increased broiler production in South Kyushu by demanding a supply of cut-up broiler meat. With the increase in the number of imported chickens after the mid-1980 s, however, the production area in South Kyushu has been significantly restructured. At the prefectural level, especially in Miyazaki Prefecture, the Koyu area, which has a high density of broiler raising farms, has reduced its production remarkably since 1990. The reason for this notable reduction is mainly attributed to the following three factors: 1) a decline in productivity represented as the "production score" 2) a change in the broiler collecting strategy by two of the largest broiler processing factories after 1990; and 3) the differentiation of farmers' reaction caused by low profits. Because of the difficulty in adapting an all-in and all-out method for broiler collection, overcrowded raising conditions result in high chicken disease risks, and the cost of medication becomes more expensive for farmers. The decline in the cut-up meat price forced broiler processing factories to change contract prices, and thus farmers' reaction differentiated more remarkably in low-profitable area. Finally, the restructuring of cut-up broiler meat production area in South Kyushu can be viewed as a process in which the exhaustion of a production area occurs due to the drop in the price of cut-up meat caused by imported chickens. It is evident that the strain on the mass production structure in the broiler sector has become a major problem in Miyazaki Prefecture since 1990.