食料自給率が37%に低下、過去最低に

Welcome to Japanese Daily News. I'm Maya. Today is August ninth. Japan now grows less of its own food than ever before — the country's food self-sufficiency rate has fallen to a record low. Let's listen.

Now let's break it down, sentence by sentence.

The Agriculture Ministry announced that last fiscal year's food self-sufficiency rate was thirty-seven percent on a calorie basis.

It means the food self-sufficiency rate — how much of its food a country produces itself.

That's down one point from the year before — a new record low.

It means the lowest ever.

The rate shows how much of the food consumed in the country is produced domestically.

It means a ratio or percentage.

In other words, more than sixty percent of the food eaten in Japan depends on imports.

It means imports — bringing goods in from abroad.

Because rice prices went up, many people appear to have cut back on how much rice they buy.

It means price.

Rice eaten per person fell from fifty-three point three kilograms a year to fifty-two.

It means to decrease.

Meanwhile, most of the wheat for bread and noodles, the soybeans, and the feed for meat and eggs come from overseas.

It means to rely on.

The government aims to raise the rate to forty-five percent by fiscal twenty-thirty, but reaching that goal won't be easy.

It means a goal or target.

Let's listen to the whole story one more time.

Time for a short quiz. Listen and try to answer.

Thirty-seven percent — a record low.

Rice — higher prices pushed consumption down.

Forty-five percent.

That's all for today. Next time you sit down to a Japanese meal, think about how far each ingredient traveled to reach the table. See you tomorrow.