Rural Town Wins 5th Environment Minister's Grand Prix

A project with the slogan "Expanding Potentiality toward Environmentally Advanced Farm Village" brought Ikeda, a town in Fukui Prefecture in Central Japan, the Environment Minister's Award in the fifth annual Grand Prix sponsored by the Japan Productivity Center for Socio-Economic Development. A total of 14 municipalities from all over the nation participated in the event.

Ikeda has a well-established product management system, known as "Organic, Energetic and Honest Farming", to certify agricultural products meeting its unique safety standards and cultivation rules.

In 1999, the town opened a shop in Fukui City, the prefectural capital, to sell its agricultural products. The shop drew about 170,000 visitors and recorded 190 million yen in sales in 2002, more than doubling the figures for the opening year.

Ongoing projects run by the town also include "Food U-turn," which composts cow manure and food waste to help grow organic rice, and the "Eco-Point System," under which shoppers are given gift vouchers for returning coat hangers to dry cleaners or using their own containers for fresh food purchases such as tofu.

The town, located in a mountainous region with heavy snowfalls during winter, has a population of less than 3,700 and has the highest proportion of elderly among the municipalities in Fukui. Its endeavors to overcome its circumstances and revitalize its agricultural community were evaluated highly.


- Iida City, 3 Others Win 2004 Environmental Grand Prix (Related JFS article)
http://www.japanfs.org/db/804-e

Posted: 2006/04/09 11:41:17 AM
Japanese version