Prime Minister Naoto Kan held the fifth meeting of the Council for the Realization of the Revival of the Food, Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishery Industries at the Prime Minister's Office.

Discussion took place on the considerations being made with a view to establishing the midterm proposal for the revival of the food, agriculture, forestry, and fishery industries in Japan.

The Prime Minister said in his opening address, "The agriculture industry is faced with the issues of how to encourage young people to newly enter the industry, promote the 'sixth industry' approach, and enlarge the rice field acreage. It is also faced with new emerging issues in the wake of the earthquake disaster, such as the use of natural energy.
In this sense, I would like this Council to go beyond simply restoring the traditional practices, and to actively make efforts towards originating a new model from the Tohoku area in order to indeed pave the way for a new start for the agriculture, forestry, and fishery industries in Japan."