The Japanese government is seeking to revive the country's agriculture sector in a bid to strengthen economic ties with other countries.

As part of the plan, it wants to increase the average acreage of farms.

It also aims to double the number of young people working in the farming industry by the end of March 2017. The government will offer about 19,000 dollars a year, for up to 5 years, to people aged 45 or younger entering the sector. It will also pay farmers to rent their fallow fields.

The government will earmark nearly 13 billion dollars in the 2013 budget to boost efforts to strengthen domestic agriculture.

Nagoya University Professor Shinichi Shogenji praised the plan and says the goals are ambitious.

He says government policies have been inconsistent over the past few years and that he expects the government will maintain the direction of its new policies.

Source: http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20120105_03.html

Image credit: http://static8.businessinsider.com/~~/f?id=49e5ce8614b9b92900b41331