AgricultureID

Country agriculture profile · East Asia & Pacific

Japan

Japan's agriculture is intensive, high-value, and shaped by mountainous terrain that confines farming to limited lowland plains and terraced valleys. Irrigated paddy rice is the dietary and cultural staple and the backbone of the farm sector, complemented by high-quality horticulture, tea, fruit, and premium Wagyu beef and dairy. Farms are typically small and often part-time, the farming population is ageing, and the country relies heavily on imports for feed grains, oilseeds, and much of its food supply. Food self-sufficiency, farmland preservation, and support for an ageing rural workforce are enduring policy concerns.

Stable overview + dated statisticsUpdated: 2026-07-12

Farming systems (stable overview)

Climate zones

  • Humid subtropical (southern and lowland areas)
  • Humid continental (north and highlands)
  • Subarctic (interior Hokkaido)

Agroecological zones

  • Hokkaido arable and dairy belt
  • Honshu paddy plains
  • Terraced mountain valleys
  • Subtropical Kyushu and Okinawa

Dominant crop systems

  • Irrigated paddy rice as the staple system
  • Intensive protected and open-field vegetable and fruit horticulture
  • Upland and Hokkaido field crops (wheat, potato, sugar beet, soybean)
  • Tea and orchard production on hill slopes

Major livestock systems

  • Intensive dairy concentrated in Hokkaido
  • Wagyu and other beef-cattle fattening
  • Confined pig and poultry production

Irrigation: Rice paddies are extensively irrigated through a dense network of small reservoirs, canals, and pumped systems, while abundant, seasonally reliable rainfall limits supplemental irrigation needs for most upland crops.

Latest verified data

Each value is the most recent available observation, shown with its own year and unit. Figures are periodically revised — treat them as dated, sourced statistics, not evergreen facts.

Latest available agricultural indicators, with year and unit
IndicatorValueUnitYear
Agricultural land12.64% of land area2023
Arable land11.09% of land area2023
Cereal yield6,245.1kg per hectare2023
Livestock production index104.84index (2014–2016 = 100)2022
Agriculture value added0.96% of GDP2024
Employment in agriculture(est.)2.88% of total employment2024
Fertilizer consumption202.84kg per hectare of arable land2023
Forest area68.4% of land area2023

Source: World Bank Open Data (World Development Indicators) (opens in a new tab) · dataset version 2026-07-01 · retrieved 2026-07-12

Commodity market data

6,006 official observations across 57 commodities. Figures are shown on each commodity page with the unit, status and release its source published.

Commodities with official market series for this country
CommodityMetrics recorded
AlmondsImports, Import value
AvocadosImports, Import value
BananasArea harvested, Production, Yield, Index value, Imports, Import value
Barley GrainArea harvested, Production, Yield, Beginning stocks, Domestic use, Ending stocks, Feed use, Imports, Index value, Producer price, Exports, Export value, Import value
Black PeppercornsExports, Export value, Imports, Import value
Brown RiceExports, Export value, Imports, Import value
Buckwheat GrainArea harvested, Production, Yield, Index value, Producer price, Exports, Export value, Imports, Import value
ChickpeasImports, Import value
Cocoa BeansExports, Export value, Imports, Import value
Cotton LintBeginning stocks, Ending stocks, Exports, Imports, Export value, Import value
CottonseedBeginning stocks, Domestic use, Ending stocks, Imports, Import value
CowpeasIndex value, Imports, Import value
CucumbersArea harvested, Production, Yield, Index value, Producer price, Exports, Export value, Imports, Import value
DatesImports, Import value
Dried ChilliesExports, Export value, Imports, Import value
Dried Tobacco LeafArea harvested, Production, Yield, Index value, Producer price, Exports, Export value, Imports, Import value
Dry BeansArea harvested, Production, Yield, Index value, Exports, Export value, Imports, Import value
Dry Bulb OnionsArea harvested, Production, Yield, Index value, Exports, Export value, Imports, Import value
Dry PeasArea harvested, Production, Yield, Index value, Exports, Export value, Imports, Import value
FlaxseedImports, Import value
Fresh ApplesArea harvested, Production, Yield, Index value, Producer price, Exports, Export value, Imports, Import value
Fresh OrangesArea harvested, Production, Yield, Index value, Producer price, Exports, Export value, Imports, Import value
Fresh PineapplesArea harvested, Production, Yield, Index value, Producer price, Exports, Export value, Imports, Import value
Fresh StrawberriesArea harvested, Production, Yield, Index value, Producer price, Exports, Export value, Imports, Import value
Fresh SweetcornArea harvested, Production, Yield, Index value, Producer price, Imports, Import value
Fresh TomatoesArea harvested, Production, Yield, Index value, Producer price, Exports, Export value, Imports, Import value
Green CoffeeExports, Export value, Imports, Import value
GroundnutsArea harvested, Production, Yield, Beginning stocks, Domestic use, Ending stocks, Exports, Imports, Index value, Producer price
Head CabbageArea harvested, Production, Yield, Index value, Producer price, Exports, Export value, Imports, Import value
Hemp FibreArea harvested, Production, Yield, Imports, Import value
Hen EggsProduction, Index value, Producer price, Exports, Export value, Imports, Import value
Jute FibreIndex value, Imports, Import value
LentilsImports, Import value
Maize GrainArea harvested, Production, Yield, Beginning stocks, Domestic use, Ending stocks, Feed use, Imports, Index value, Exports, Export value, Import value
Milled RiceBeginning stocks, Domestic use, Ending stocks, Exports, Imports
Millet GrainArea harvested, Production, Yield, Index value, Imports, Import value
Oat GrainArea harvested, Production, Yield, Beginning stocks, Domestic use, Ending stocks, Feed use, Imports, Index value, Exports, Export value, Import value
Pigeon PeasImports, Import value
PistachiosExports, Export value, Imports, Import value
RapeseedArea harvested, Production, Yield, Beginning stocks, Domestic use, Ending stocks, Imports, Index value, Exports, Export value, Import value
Raw Cow MilkProduction, Index value, Producer price, Exports, Export value, Imports, Import value
Raw WoolImports, Import value
Rice PaddyArea harvested, Production, Yield, Index value, Producer price, Exports, Export value
Rye GrainBeginning stocks, Domestic use, Ending stocks, Feed use, Imports, Import value
Sesame SeedArea harvested, Production, Yield, Exports, Export value, Imports, Import value
Sorghum GrainBeginning stocks, Domestic use, Ending stocks, Feed use, Imports, Import value
SoybeansArea harvested, Production, Yield, Beginning stocks, Domestic use, Ending stocks, Imports, Index value, Producer price, Exports, Export value, Import value
Sugar BeetArea harvested, Production, Yield, Index value, Producer price
SugarcaneArea harvested, Production, Yield, Index value, Producer price, Imports, Import value
Sunflower SeedExports, Export value, Imports, Import value
Sweet PotatoesArea harvested, Production, Yield, Index value, Producer price, Exports, Export value, Imports, Import value
Tea LeafArea harvested, Production, Yield, Index value, Producer price, Exports, Export value, Imports, Import value
Triticale GrainImports, Import value
Vanilla BeansExports, Export value, Imports, Import value
Ware PotatoesArea harvested, Production, Yield, Index value, Producer price, Exports, Export value, Imports, Import value
Wheat GrainArea harvested, Production, Yield, Beginning stocks, Domestic use, Ending stocks, Exports, Feed use, Imports, Index value, Producer price, Import value
YamsArea harvested, Production, Yield, Index value, Producer price, Exports, Export value, Imports, Import value

How these figures are recorded

Cereal yield over time

201220182023
Japan — Cereal yield (kg per hectare). Bars start at zero.
Show data table
Japan — Cereal yield in kg per hectare by year
Yearkg per hectare
20126,248.5
20136,281.5
20146,325.1
20156,316.7
20166,253.4
20176,284.5
20186,132.3
20196,295.5
20206,230.1
20216,417
20226,319.9
20236,245.1

Source: World Bank Open Data (World Development Indicators) (opens in a new tab) · dataset version 2026-07-01 · retrieved 2026-07-12

Derived indicator

Arable land as a share of agricultural land: 87.8 % of agricultural land (2023)

Derived value — formula arable-share-of-agricultural-land v1.0.0 (calc v1). Inputs: AG.LND.ARBL.ZS (11.1) ÷ AG.LND.AGRI.ZS (12.6). A derived ratio, not an observed statistic. Sensitive to rounding and to differing revision cycles of the two source series; omit rather than extrapolate when a common year is unavailable.

Documented crops & livestock

Agricultural institutions

  • Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) — National agriculture and food policy authority.
  • National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) — Principal national agricultural research institute.
  • Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS) — National institute for international agricultural research.

Agricultural authorities

Official public bodies verified against government sources. AgricultureID is independent and not affiliated with them.

All agricultural authorities

Data coverage & limitations

Covered by the World Bank WDI snapshots for land, production, yield, economy, inputs, and environment indicators.

What AgricultureID has indexed for Japan
LayerStatusWhat is held
Agricultural authoritiesCovered1 record
Official registriesCovered1 record
Compliance requirementsNot yet indexed—
Support programmesNot yet indexed—
Biosecurity listingsNot yet indexed—
Variety registrationsOfficial source not in a usable form—Japan’s plant variety registration database was found and searched. It publishes variety denominations in Japanese script only, so a name in this corpus cannot be identical to one in that register, and identity here is established by identical names.
Input authorisationsNot yet indexed—
Extension resourcesNot yet indexed—
Market statisticsCovered405 records
Soil survey observationsNot yet indexed—
Border requirementsCovered1 record
Farm economics figuresNot yet indexed—
Climate, drought and water valuesCovered39 records

This page describes what AgricultureID has indexed, not what exists. A layer shown as not yet indexed means nobody has looked, and never that the thing is absent in that country. How coverage is worked out.

  • Statistics are dated, versioned, and periodically revised; always read them with their reference year and dataset version.
  • National definitions of farm, cultivated land, and self-sufficiency differ from those used elsewhere.
  • Japan's small average farm size and prevalence of part-time farming complicate comparison with land-extensive systems.
  • Food self-sufficiency is often reported on a calorie basis, a national convention that differs from value-based measures.

Sources

This article draws on the following authoritative sources. See our sources & methodology for how they are selected.

  1. [1]World Bank Open Data — World Development Indicators (opens in a new tab)

    World Bank

    Authoritative

    Cited for: Agricultural statistics (WDI)

    Type:
    Intergovernmental organization
    Jurisdiction:
    Global
    Accessed:
    2026-07-12
  2. [2]FAO — Food and Agriculture Organization (opens in a new tab)

    Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

    Authoritative

    Cited for: Production systems and food-balance context

    Type:
    Intergovernmental organization
    Jurisdiction:
    Global
    Accessed:
    2026-07-12