Japan Press Weekly

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2013 August 28 - September 3 [AGRICULTURE]

More young people enter farming

Since a subsidy system for young new farmers was launched in April last year, more and more young people have been entering the agricultural industry.

According to a survey by the agriculture ministry, the number of people who were younger than 40 and became a farmer in 2012 increased by 810 (5.7%) to 15,030 from the previous year, though the total number of new farmers decreased by 1,640 (2.8%) to 56,480.

Under the subsidy system, agriculture trainees aged under 45 can receive 1.5 million yen a year during their training period (up to two years), and new farmers younger than 45 can get the same amount of subsidies for five years if their annual income is less than 2.5 million yen. Young people who started to engage exclusively in family farming can also apply for the subsidy if they meet several conditions.

The Japanese Communist Party calls for further improvement of the subsidy system.