Interview by ”Japan Agricultural News”
4 February 2010
There is a global perspective on agriculture that I would like to put in focus before we start the interview. The number of people in the world suffering from hunger is still increasing. And climate change in combination with a lack of access to food and natural resources will place unprecedented pressures on our ability to provide the food we need for a growing population. We must meet the global demand for food while at the same time preserving the natural resource base that is the foundation of agricultural production.
Norway’s Minister of Agriculture and Food underscored at the WTO Ministerial a couple of months ago that national food production is the main instrument for food security. Every country has an obligation and a right to provide food for its own population. Trade alone cannot prevent hunger. We need to achieve a reasonable balance between liberalizing agricultural markets and the need to accommodate members’ specific domestic situation and concerns. This requires global dialogue, understanding and equitable co-operation.
Questionaire:
1. “Personal memories or experiences in agriculture, if any”
If you scratch any Norwegian, even an Ambassador, and look under the surface, you will find generations of either land-loving farmers or sea-loving fishermen and sailors. My roots are seafaring. My personal experience in agriculture is unfortunately limited to growing apples from one lonely tree along with cherries and raspberries in my home garden, where weeds, to my dismay, are successfully conquering grass. I am proud of my raspberries and the home-made jam that I can produce. I have less success with my apples, which are definitely not of Japanese quality. And sadly, my cherries are always quickly picked and stolen by naughty birds.
2. “Advantages of the Norwegian agriculture especially compared to other Scandinavian countries’ agriculture”
Measured in land area, Norway is the size of Japan. But measured in population, there are about 27-28 Japanese for each Norwegian. Norway is a country of spectacular fjords, mountains and forests. But we have also very fertile areas for farming. Domestic farming has through history been very important, not least considering our geographical location at the outskirts of Europe. Important not only for providing food (our responsible government ministry is called the Ministry of Agriculture and Food) but important also for supporting rural settlement and economic development in our sparsely populated country and preserving rich national cultural traditions associated with farming.
With border protection perhaps stronger in Norway than other Scandinavian countries, our agricultural sector does not face the same competitive challenges as they do. And our government has been willing to provide more domestic support to the agricultural sector. All this enables agricultural activity even close up to fjords, high in the mountains and in the northern parts of my country.
3. “Topics in Norwegian agriculture, which Japanese people may not know”
Thanks to the stream of warm water in the Atlantic that flows north to stroke the coast of Norway (the Gulf Stream), we can have agricultural production in our Arctic area, close to the North Pole. The climatic changes give opportunities for harvesting of products, which need higher temperature than we would have had without the Gulf Stream, but also new challenges.
As in Japan, the prices for agricultural products are high in Norway, much higher prices than world market prices. Nevertheless, the Norwegians use only 12 per cent of their income on food.
Self-sufficiency in agricultural products is only a little bit higher in Norway than in Japan. My understanding is that the figure in Japan is 40 per cent, while the level in Norway is 50 per cent.
Let me also note that Norway, as one of the few countries in the world, has a substantial reindeer population that provide us with meat and skins. And we all know that at Christmas time, Santa Claus uses special flying reindeer to bring his sleigh of gifts to children all over the world.
4. “Differences between Norway and Japan in agriculture”
A major difference is our climatic conditions. Japan has Asian climate and can produce for example rice. Norway is a grass and grain land and cannot produce rice. This enables Japan to produce excellent sake from rice, while Norway can produce excellent “aquavit” (Norwegian shochu”) from grain.
The average farm size in Norway is not especially large 20 hectares, higher than in Japan. About 5% of our total work force is employed in agriculture and forestry.
We drink a lot of milk in Norway. Our consumption is one of the highest in the world. A Norwegian consumer drinks close to 100 litres of fresh milk per year or two glasses per day. Dairy products are very important for calcium requirements of Norwegians.
Also consumption of meat is much higher in Norway than in Japan and especially for mutton and lamb. Norwegian meals which consist of a lot of bread, fish, meat, vegetables and fruits give a healthy human population. But still not as healthy as Japanese whose life expectancy is a couple of years higher than ours.
5. “Favourite Norwegian and Japanese food”
I am very fond of fish both Norwegian style and Japanese. In Japan, I prefer “sashimi” especially salmon, mackerel and tuna along with grilled “shisamo”, “mentaiko” and whale meat, all accompanied by healthy vegetables. Of course, I also enjoy “sushi” and “shabu-shabu”. I am also very fond of roasted “ginnan” nuts and my wife eats her daily “umeboshi”
6. “Daily diet of the family of the Ambassador”
Our diet consists mainly of our favourite food as indicated above. But we also enjoy a good pizza and curry from time to time.
7. “Advice to readers of the Japan Agricultural News”
First of all - be happy! Enjoy nature and eat high quality Norwegian salmon, mackerel and “shishamo” regularly to stay in good health.
8. Other: “Climate Change and Agriculture”
The Norwegian Government has recently presented to Parliament a White Paper on climate change and the linkage to agriculture. Adapting agriculture to future conditions of climate change is crucial. There will be a need for crop varieties that can withstand the challenges of climate change, such as crops that can cope with heat, drought, floods and other extreme conditions.
Sustainable management of natural resources, based on an eco-system approach, will be central to all our efforts. Not least forest resources can be made greater use of as a climate policy instrument to increase uptake of CO2. Norway’s Prime Minister has launched a comprehensive Forest and Climate Initiative with has an annual budget of about USD 500 million. The achievement of ambitious climate change goals will not be possible without significant reductions in CO2 emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries. These emissions account for almost a fifth of the annual global emissions of greenhouse gases. Reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation must be additional to, and not a substitute for, deep cuts in the emissions from developed countries.