Amira and Yamato are Kamome High School students. Amira came to Japan from *Bangladesh two years ago. Ms. Smith is their English teacher.
They are talking in the classroom after school. |
| Ms. Smith |
Hi, Amira and Yamato.
What are you doing? |
| Amira |
We are talking about our presentation in your class.
We are going to make a presentation about *solutions to the problem
of *unstable *access to *nutrition.
But Yamato doesn’t think this is a big problem in Japan. |
| Yamato |
Here in Japan, I can buy food anywhere,
so I don’t understand why this is a big problem. |
| Ms. Smith |
What do you think about his opinion, Amira? |
| Amira |
That may be true now, but in the future,
there may be a different situation in Japan.
For example, Japan *imports animal *feed for chickens, cows,
and pigs from other countries.
These days, because of several world events,
the price of animal feed has become higher than before.
Look at these *graphs. In ①Graph1,
the price of animal feed was 63,000 yen *per ton in 2016.
It stayed between 63,000 yen and 67,000 yen until 2020.
But after that, the price continued to rise
and reached the highest price in eight years in 2023. |
| Ms. Smith |
So, because of this, the price of *meat is also getting higher. |
| Yamato |
Now, I understand why my favorite hamburger got very expensive these days. |
| Amira |
Right! And in the future, more Japanese people
may not get enough *protein from meat.
Here is one more example.
To *produce 1 kg of beef, 11 kg of corn is needed.
Japan imports almost all of its corn used for animal feed from other countries.
Look at ②Graph2.
It shows that Japan imports this feed the most from the U.S.
More than 40% is imported from Brazil.
6% is from *Argentina and 6% is from other countries. |
| Yamato |
I see. So, if Japan doesn’t get animal feed from foreign countries,
it will be really difficult to *raise chickens, cows, and pigs, right? |
| Amira |
Yes, that’s right. |
| Ms. Smith |
You know a lot about these *agricultural topics, Amira. |
| Amira |
Thank you. I have been learning about these topics
since I was in junior high school because my dream
is to be an agricultural scientist in the future. |
| Yamato |
Oh, I didn’t know that.
I think I am beginning to understand the problem.
Let’s try to find a good solution! |
* Bangladesh : バングラデシュ solutions : 解決策 unstable : 不安定な
access to ~ : ~の利用機会 nutrition : 栄養物 imports ~ : ~を輸入する
feed : 飼料 graphs : グラフ per ton : 1トンあたり meat : 肉
protein : タンパク質 produce ~ : ~を生産する Argentina : アルゼンチン raise ~ : ~を育てる agricultural : 農業の |