Goro Takahashi

This paper evaluates a new measurement method, the Supply-Side Food Self-Sufficiency Ratio (SSFSSR), developed to overcome the limitations of conventional food self-sufficiency indicators. Unlike the traditional grain-centered approach, SSFSSR is characterized by its ability to assess the overall food supply—including meat, dairy products, oils and fats, sugar, and fish and seafood—which could not be adequately captured by earlier methods, by introducing a new coefficient called PPCR (Primary Product Conversion Rate) and applying a unified evaluation based on primary-product equivalents and caloric criteria. The paper demonstrates the validity of this method as an internationally comparable framework, something that conventional approaches applied to UN member states had not been able to achieve.