Photo/Illutration Mitsuo Nakamura, a member of food bank operator Asile, checks the amount of rice stored in a low-temperature refrigerator at the association’s office in Tokyo’s Arakawa Ward on April 11. (Nobufumi Yamada)

Rice shortages are pushing food banks to the brink of closure and threatening to hurt the most needy in society.

Although the government has released emergency rice reserves, the staple is quickly disappearing from the warehouses of food bank operators.

In late March, the low-temperature refrigerator of Asile, a general incorporated association based in Tokyo’s Arakawa Ward, contained roughly 100 kilograms of rice.

The refrigerator can store four tons.

Although the load increased to several hundred kilograms in early April, “it was almost full before, so it is quite a small amount,” said Mitsuo Nakamura, a 73-year-old staff member.

Asile had distributed about 1 ton of rice each month to 29 groups, including operators of cafeterias that provide meals to children from low-income families and supporters of homeless people and refugees.

But Asile was forced to suspend its activities in late March.

The association has called for support on its website, saying it faces an emergency situation with no rice left in stock.

It said life will be even more difficult for many people if the rice shortage continues.

Asile receives rice donations from general households, as well as farmers with whom it has known for many years.

However, the amount of rice sent to the association has decreased as rice prices rise.

It sought other procurement options, but it has yet to find a route to secure enough rice.

Support groups say they won’t be able to run soup kitchens when the rice supply runs out.

Nakamura said the food bank has never faced such a predicament in its 25-year history.

“If this continues, we would be robbed of opportunities to connect needy people with society,” he said.

MUCH DEMAND, LITTLE SUPPLY

In February, the agriculture ministry started accepting requests to deliver stockpiled rice for free to food banks and other organizations. It decided to distribute a total of 823 tons to 76 organizations across Japan.

In late March, Second Harvest Japan, a major food bank in the country, received 8.5 tons of its expected 50 tons.

When the organization asked about 400 collaborating groups if they needed rice, it was flooded with requests.

It could only provide rice to 32 groups after all the allotments were filled up.

The stockpiled rice will be delivered in six batches in six months to the organization.

“Next time, we want to give priority to groups that haven’t received rice yet and also adjust the amount,” said Second Harvest Japan official Yuji Shibata, 48. “We want the agriculture ministry to raise the supply of stockpiled rice to food banks.”

Hiroaki Yoneyama, 41, who heads the National Association for the Promotion of Food Bank, with which 65 organizations are affiliated, said the rice shortages that began last year have seriously affected food banks nationwide.

With rice donations from farmers and general households rapidly declining, the organizations are devising ways to continue their support activities.

For example, they have reduced the amount and number of times they send rice to struggling households. As a set with the rice, they have also sent alpha rice that is reserved for disaster preparedness.

“Groups that received (stockpiled rice) have secured enough for the time being, but others continue to be short of rice,” Yoneyama said.

(This article was written by Nobufumi Yamada and Suzuka Tominaga.)

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