By Ning Xia, Research Team on “Strategic Adjustments in Agriculture in the Context of High-level Opening-up”, Research Department of Rural Economy, DRC

Research Report, No. 116, 2020 (Total 5860) 2020-5-20

Abstract: Japan and China are both featured by small-scale farming, whereas Japan has experienced rapid industrialization and urbanization earlier than China. Japan’s experience relating to agricultural opening-up amid swift industrialization is worthy of reference for China as we are speeding up industrialization and urbanization, which have, nevertheless, imposed pressure on agriculture induced by opening up. In the course of post-war industrialization, Japan’s comparative advantage in agriculture has become quickly weakened and has to embark on the path of opening up to the outside world so as to address external pressure. To counter such impact to its agriculture, Japan has turned its border protectionism strategy into various buffer measures to mitigate the impact while leveraging the functions of non-tariff barriers to protect its agricultural development. Meanwhile, its agricultural competitiveness has been enhanced through boosting its competitive advantages, improving efficiency and taking active part in global competition. Japan’s agricultural opening-up progress and its practices tell us that China needs to fully realize the necessity and inevitability of agricultural opening-up, take the initiative and autonomy in our own hands, focus on our comparative advantages in farming, and enhance agricultural competitiveness through further reform.

Keywords: opening-up of agriculture, comparative advantages, Japan