Toyota Wild Boar Meat Curry

#SDGAction43063

Description

Intro

o Toyota City has been selected as one of 29 “SDGs future cities” by the Government of Japan that can serve as a model to promote the implementation and monitoring of SDGs at the municipal level.<br />
o What makes the Toyota City initiative unique is the existence of a major urban and rural platform. The two platforms are linked organically and can solve cross-sectoral problems by involving stakeholders from both areas to promote SDGs while strengthening their urban-rural linkage.<br />
o A good practice has emerged from the rural platform, an organization known as Oiden Sanson Center, which coordinates exchange programs between urban and rural areas.

Objective of the practice

o A company running a chain of curry restaurants in Aichi Prefecture contacted Oiden Sanson Center about holding a course to teach its employees about agriculture and where the ingredients used in its products come from.<br />
o During the course, the company learned that the destruction of fields by wild boars and other wildlife was a major issue for people living in the area. <br />
o It subsequently proposed producing and marketing curry made from wild boar meat as a local contribution activity. (Since game meat is not popular, vermin extermination programs had not achieved the desired results.)

Partners

o Game meat processing: YAMAKEI Co.
o Merchandise development: Wise Co. running 15 curry restaurants called CoCo Ichibanya in Aichi Prefecture.
o Official mascot design: Aichi Prefectural Asuke High School
o Coordinator: Oiden Sanson Center

Implementation of the Project/Activity

o A game processing plant, high school students from the village and the company worked together to develop a wild boar meat curry with the support of Oiden Sanson Center.

Results/Outputs/Impacts

o Ready-to-eat (retort pouched) wild boar meat curry has fully succeeded as a local specialty. (Cumulative sales: more than 25,000 packages; Revenue: 15.2 million yen (about US$140,000); Number of stores that stock the product: 32 (As of Dec. 2018)
o Curry is a popular dish in Japan
o In the future, data can be expected to be collected on:
 Short/medium term: Increase in the number of wild boar caught and ratio used for food
 Long term: Reduction in damage by wildlife, including crop damage and total agricultural yield; Regional vitalization, including the number of agricultural workers and population
 Transition of the number of migrants to rural areas;
FY2014 FY2015 FY2016 FY2017 2018 (from April to December)
Households 77 71 83 122 71
Population 228 225 251 357 210
o Unanticipated outcome: The staff training was made into a “creating shared value” project in the company

Enabling factors and constraints

o Matching of multistakeholders generated new commercial value
o Oiden Sanson Center brought together stakeholders in urban and rural areas that until then had no contact with each other.
o Existence of a coordinating organization
o Powerful leadership
o Involvement of multistakeholders

Sustainability and replicability

o The game (wild boar) meat obtained by vermin extermination was used to produce ready-to-eat curry and marketed as a local specialty which was not distributed for food before by virtue of a partnership between a company and local area.
o This project enabled us not only to exterminate vermin stably, which was important because the vermin destroy the fields, but also to make good use of the game meat for a local specialty and enrich the local economy.
o In the long term, it has great potential for promoting migration to the area and creating more agricultural jobs, which will in turn revitalize the community and further reduce damage by wildlife.
o Cost/Efficiency: All stakeholders participate in this project as part of their own business or organizational activities.
o Possibility of launching projects with a similar synergy in other locations through the establishment of a coordinating organization like Oiden Sanson Center.

Conclusions

The linkage of various stakeholders made it possible to find solutions, create new value, and boost economic circulation in the city.

Other sources of information

*Only in Japanese

o Oiden Sanson Center
 http://www.oiden-sanson.com/
o Toyota Wild Boar Meat Curry
 https://www.discovermuranotakara.go.jp/sentei/select5/no16/
 http://www.oiden-sanson.com/sansonshow/pickupshow/entry-1586.html

SDGS & Targets