Gov’t must adjust rice supply and demand: JCP Kami

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Gov’t must adjust rice supply and demand: JCP Kami

Japanese Communist Party representative Kami Tomoko on October 18 at an Upper House committee meeting demanded that the government take steps to appropriately adjust rice supply and demand in order to stabilize the price of rice.

The ongoing steep drop in the price of rice is dealing a heavy blow to many rice farmers.

Kami pointed out that famers spend an average of about 16,000 yen to produce 60 kilograms of rice but they sometime receive only 7,000 yen per 60 kilos, amounting to an hourly wage of 325 yen.

She stated that more than 170 local assemblies across Japan and the Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives (JA-Zenchu) are requesting the government to buy up the surplus rice as it is causing the excessively low price of rice.

The purchase of the surplus rice will be effective in putting brakes on a further decline in the rice price, Kami argued.

However, Agriculture Minister Kano Michihiko only repeated his refusal to consider the proposal, saying “That’s not possible.”

- Akahata, October 19, 2010