The Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has revealed plans to spend around ¥155.4bn (US$1.27bn) on measures to eradicate BSE from the national herd, in this current fiscal year alone.
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In a policy approved this morning [Wednesday] by a committee of the Liberal Democratic Party, the farm ministry will spend ¥48.8b directly helping dairy farmers and distributors affected by the outbreak of the disease.
A further ¥37.6bn has been allocated to pay for the disposal of the potentially contaminated meat-and-bone meal that was banned from distribution on 4 October and which has remained in storage ever since.
A total of ¥ 9.2bn has meanwhile been earmarked to cover the cost of storing beef shipped before the government began examinations of all the cows intended for human consumption on 18 October.
Looking for ways to finance the plan, the ministry is set to ask the Ministry of Finance to put aside ¥26.5bn from this year’s supplementary budget. Funds included in the initial fiscal 2000 budget will provide a further ¥51.2bn.
