“Misato Gibier Kobo” aims to raise awareness of gibier and create jobs in the region

December 11, 2019

Misato Town is located in the northern part of Miyazaki Prefecture. It is a town rich in nature with a population of about 4,800 and about 90% of which is covered by forest. Hunting culture has taken root since ancient times, and birds and beasts and humans have successfully coexisted. Today, however, the population is declining and aging, making it difficult to use and maintain satoyama, and it is also suffering from serious wildlife damage.

In April of this year, the Misato-cho Gibier Promotion Council was established in order to make new use of wild boars and deer captured with permission to capture birds and animals and to collect bird eggs (hereinafter referred to as permission to capture birds and animals) as meat. , using a subsidy from the prefecture, established the Misato Gibier Kobo in the Nango district.

This time, we interviewed Mr. Masaaki Kobayashi and Ms. Hayami Morimoto of the Agriculture and Forestry Promotion Section of the Misato Town Office about the actual situation of wildlife damage in Misato Town and how to use gibier.

Facility construction filled with the thoughts of many stakeholders

ーWhat kind of facility is “Misato Gibier Kobo”?

Mr. Morimoto This is a facility that processes wild boars and deer caught in Misato-cho. This facility does everything from butchering to meat processing. The facility is located in the Mizukiyoya district of Nango, Misato Town and has been in operation since April this year.

- Please tell us the reason and purpose of creating the facility.

Mr. Kobayashi: The concept has been around for quite some time. Until now, wild boar and deer meat have been enjoyed by some individuals. However, I thought that it would be difficult to let the world know about the existence of gibier, and that it would not spread.

In addition, most of the wild boars and deer captured with wildlife hunting permits were buried, so we were looking for ways to effectively utilize harmful wildlife as resources. Therefore, a plan to build a processing facility was launched with a view to providing gibier cuisine in school lunches and selling it at supermarkets. It took a long time to complete the construction of the facility, but thanks to the cooperation of those who agreed with us, we were finally able to start operation.

Actual state of serious wildlife damage

- Please tell us about the damage caused by birds and beasts.

Mr. Morimoto The amount of damage in Misato-cho last year was 11.92 million yen. 1126 wild boars and 1210 deer were caught with a wildlife capture permit. Of these, 421 wild boars and 850 deer were caught in the Nango area. Even within the town, the Nango district was particularly severely damaged.

Mr. Kobayashi: Even if the amount of damage is large, the amount of damage is not shown in the amount of damage for agricultural products that are not intended for shipping and are consumed at home. Also, in a town-owned forest in a certain area, new shoots are eaten by deer every time they are planted, and the trees have not grown for about 30 years.

- What is the flow of work at this facility?

Mr. MorimotoThis facility can only handle deer and wild boars that are brought in within two hours after being caught by hunters in the town and drained of their blood immediately. Clean, peel, and dismantle the individual in the receiving room and dismantling room.

After that, in the processing room, the carcass is divided into parts such as loin and thigh, vacuum-packed, and frozen. Deer are processed all year round, but wild boar are processed only from November 1st to March 15th during the extended hunting period, and are sold until around June. We sell to businesses.

Freshness, hygiene, and food safety are managed much more strictly than livestock such as cows and pigs, and we also make efforts to maintain good meat quality.

"I want to liven up the whole town with Gibier"

- Please tell us about your future strategy and goals.

Mr. Kobayashi Currently, we only process the meat, but I hope that in the future we will be able to do everything from primary processing to food processing, and serve game menus for school lunches.

Also, in other areas of the prefecture, there are game processed products such as deer curry and jerky, but I would like to focus on developing new processed products. We believe that doing so will lead to the creation of new employment in Misato.

Mr. Morimoto Currently, there is only such a facility in the Nango area, so it is difficult to accept animals from other areas due to the restriction that they must be captured and brought to the facility within two hours. If we can build a facility to handle dismantling work, bring it to a processing plant in the Nango area and process it, and if it becomes possible to stably supply a certain amount of meat, we are also considering developing sales channels such as major supermarkets.

Mr. Kobayashi Currently, the bounty paid for hunting wildlife is subsidized by the national government and by local governments, but we do not know how long the national subsidy will last. If we sell the gibier processed and processed at our facility, and increase the purchase amount in the future based on the funds obtained, the income of the people engaged in hunting will increase, and the use of gibier will spread further. I think I will.

after the interview

Wild boars and deer are nuisances that destroy fields and forests, but they used to be a valuable source of protein for people living in hilly and mountainous areas like Misato-cho, where I interviewed this time. Nowadays, there are some people who are not good at just the name gibier, but depending on the cooking method, you can eat it deliciously without any odor.

Like the initiative in Misato Town this time, it is important to let people know the deliciousness and cooking methods through creating a system to process game meat and distribute it to the world, and by providing game dishes at events. I felt it again. The day may not be too far off when we see wild game lined up next to chicken and pork in the butcher section of supermarkets.

Misato Town Website http://www.town.miyazaki-misato.lg.jp/

Misato Gibier Studio TEL: 0982-60-1993 Email: gibier@mb.wainet.ne.jp