Unit name: Research Unit for Local Resource Development Technology

Key words: local resources, local-production-for-local-consumption, food, energy, biomass

       Japan is increasingly expected to shift to a low-energy society. We have various potential resources, including agricultural and food products, biomass resources, and natural energy, in our communities. The research unit aims to develop technologies for the sustainable and advanced utilization of these potential resources, and establish the “local-production-for-local-consumption system for the 21st century”. Production/consumption activities in a community is based on self-sufficiency, which is also referred to as the “senary industry”, to save energy required for the distribution of products.

Success in the commercialization of pudding using rice

       A model of the goals for the research unit is “pudding using rice”, a result of collaborative research conducted by a food manufacturer and Professor Kitamura two years ago (Figure 1). Fewer people are allergic to rice than to eggs, milk, and flour, and processed foods using rice flour have been receiving attention as alternative food for these allergens in recent years. However, since rice cannot be processed into a smooth liquid state, the university and company implemented the whole process of R&D, including the development of processing equipment, trial food products using rice milk, and packaging methods. Among many trial products, pudding is particularly good with the unique chewy texture of rice. It is delicious and can be stored for a long period of time at room temperature, and you can enjoy the chewy texture each time you reheat it. The mass media also covered it as a “food product developed by a university”.

Figure 1: Rice milk and pudding using rice

Development of local resources in Tokushima Prefecture and Jilin Province, China

Figure 2: A scene of a meeting between the University of Tokushima and the Tokushima Prefectural Government

       Another model is the development implemented by members of the research unit in Tokushima Prefecture and Jilin Province, China.

       A large-scale joint study was conducted in Tokushima, in collaboration with local companies and prefectural/national agricultural experimental stations, as a research model or a composite research activity, to cultivate raw materials for traditional Chinese medicine or crude drugs and process them into health food to promote agriculture in hilly and mountainous areas (Figure 2). The key to this project is the installation of solar panels to create shaded areas to facilitate the cultivation of crude drugs while generating energy, and this is a result of a multifaceted approach through interaction among researchers from different fields.

       Professors Kitamura and Yang conduct collaborative research in Jilin Province, China, for the optimization of agricultural production and the sales of value-added products, and there is participation by a university and other public organizations and private companies in Jilin Province. Cross-sectional ideas developed by specialists from different fields are the key to the success of general development while taking into consideration the effective utilization of agricultural waste and by-products (e.g., biomass power generation).

       Although the research unit as a whole has not yet initiated research, we hope that researchers from different fields, as those in these models, will establish the “local-production-for-local-consumption system for the 21st century”.

Interviewed on August 7, 2015