TOKYO, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Katsuya Okada, the No.2 executive in Japan's main opposition Democratic Party, said on Monday that boosting Japan's food self-sufficiency and pursuing free trade are not incompatible.
"It is not a choice of one or the other," Okada, the Democrats' secretary-general, said in an interview with Reuters.
"Other developed countries such as the EU (European Union) have achieved a self-sufficiency rate of 60-70 percent, but that doesn't mean they don't have free trade."
Surveys show the Democrats have their best ever chance of ousting the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in an Aug. 30 election, ending more than half a century of almost unbroken rule by the business-friendly party.
The Democratic Party has said in its campaign platform it aims for Japan to achieve complete self-sufficiency in major grains. In a preliminary policy outline, the party said it would seek to raise Japan's food self-sufficiency rate to 50 percent in 10 years and 60 percent in 20 years from 40 percent currently.
Okada said the party was not necessarily aiming for 100 percent food self-sufficiency but was aiming for 50-60 percent.
"That is necessary from the viewpoint of national security," he said.
Japan is the world's biggest net importer of food.
The Democrats appear to be caught between a desire to boost food self-sufficiency and help farmers and a desire to pursue free trade, and the party was forced to water down proposals for a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States because of complaints from farmers.
Japan has traditionally protected farmers by putting high tariffs on some agricultural products, especially rice.
The United States is Japan's second-largest trading partner after China and the biggest exporter of agricultural products to Japan. Nearly one-third of Japan's agricultural imports come from the United States. (Reporting by Chikako Mogi; Editing by Linda Sieg and Michael Watson)