Virtual Water from Australia

A four-day talk on trade liberalization between Japan and Australia has come to nothing. Is it a blessing, or otherwise? One major subject of the talk was the Australian demand that Japan should abolish customs on wheat, sugar, beef and milk products. Japan refused.
Australia has recently been troubled by heat, flood and cyclone. We express our sympathies. We are most surprised by the flood, as Australia is not usually associated with water resources. We will look at the matter from the angle of water.
A small note has been prepared by three Japanese scientists on virtual water trade of Japan(in Japanese). It concludes that, from 1996 to 98, Japan imported virtual water of 48.6 billion cubic meters in the form of agricultural products(rice, wheat, maize and soya beans),and another 53.9 billion in the form of meat(beef, pork and chicken) annually. We will ignore a much smaller quantity of virtual water in the form of industrial products. So we import virtual water of 102.5 billion cubic meters every year. This far exceeds the 59 billion of water used for agricultural purposes domestically, which means that this is really a huge amount of water.
Where is this virtual water coming from, and in what form? The US tops the list, accounting for 59.6 billion, followed by Australia's 25.6. Canada's 5.4 is the distant third. 45.3% of the total is in the form of beef, as it is a commodity which consumes enormous amount of water per unit. The next is wheat which is 18.6%.
What do these figures tell us? Suppose Australia is normally a water-deficit country, as the recent forest fires caused by heat would show. Would she be wise to move toward more export of the agricultural and animal products, especially beef? The same question may also be asked about the US. She is exporting virtual water to Japan more than twice as much as Down Under, and is known for increasing deficit of water. Sustainability does not simply refer to the reduction of the warming gas.
The US is inducing Japan to join the TPP which is based on the principle of the abolition of customs. Australia is already a part of it, together with New Zealand. What about Japan? She is only 40% self-supporting in agricultural products, and it is estimated to dive sharply to mere 13% if customs are taken away. Agreeing to the Australian demands would be an important step in this direction. In no other industrial country the ratio is as low as this. In no other industrial country the overall customs on agricultural products is as low as 12% as it is now.
Do we have to go back on globalization? To a certain extent, yes. We will not be able to play any constructive role if the world food supply can not support the growing population. We will be a liability then, a problem rather than a solution. Moreover, Japan's well-developed irrigated rice cultivation will come into disuse. The process has already started. It may result in the desertification of a large tract of land. Every rice field is a small dam. Thus the import of more virtual water will cause more draining away of real water!