61477    Under the new system, as long as growers report the quantity, they can sell rice to anybody with no restrictions without going through the government.

61478    In other words, free market rice, as it has been called, is getting the nod of official approval.

61479    In the meantime, the main role of the government concerning the management of rice will be to secure a supply.

61480    As the standard rice reserves including the minimum import access are set at about 1.5 million tons, the quantity of domestic rice that the government will purchase is expected to be up to just over 1 million tons.

61481    Considering that the quantity of rice the government purchased topped 3 to 4 million tons until several years ago, the Food Agency's role will be significantly reduced.

61482    Also, distributors used to be under a license system, but that will change to a registration system.

61483    The amount of paperwork and guidance or monitoring in this respect will also be reduced.

61484    In light of the foregoing institutional reform, a considerable downscaling of the organization is inevitable and, if anything, it may be necessary to question whether the cutback to this extent is really sufficient.

61485    In the mid 1960s, the number of personnel at the Food Agency was approximately 29,000.

61486    Later on, as the voluntarily marketed rice system was implemented and the voluntarily marketed rice in which the government was not involved in the buying or selling became more prevalent, the number of Food Agency personnel has been cut back.

61487    For example, lately, the downsizing by approximately 2,800 was carried out over the five years prior to 1993 and the current quota is approximately 11,500.

61488    Given the current cutback plan, there is no doubt that the number of personnel will dip considerably below 10,000 in several years.

61489    Then the size will be less than one-third of what it was at one point, but it is still is a large staff.

61490    More than a half of the Food Agency staff are rice inspectors and even under the new system the inspection is being performed on both the government-purchased rice and the voluntarily marketed rice.

61491    While the rigorous government inspections may have been necessary in those days when rice played a significant role in the national economy and the lives of the people, it is questionable if the government still needs to be directly involved in inspection using its own personnel now that the significance of rice has been reduced considerably.