Japan Press Weekly

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2013 September 4 - 10 [ECONOMY]

Farmers call for gov’t measures to deal with slump in rice price

Representatives of the Farmers Movement (Nouminren) on September 3 visited the Agriculture Ministry to demand that the state immediately take measures to deal with a slump in the price of rice.

The Nouminren members pointed out that the producer price of rice this year dropped by 20-25%, which is below the production cost. They claimed that although Prime Minister Abe Shinzo says he seeks to double farmers’ income, farmers’ losses will double if nothing is done.

The farmers’ representatives said that by law, the government is required to store one million tons of rice for emergency reserves, but it now has only 750,000 tons for that purpose. “The government should purchase another 250,000 tons of rice in accordance with the rules on the emergency reserves without delay,” they urged.

After a ministry official replied that the ministry will decide what to do according to changes in the rice market, the representatives said, “With such a passive attitude, it is impossible to stop the drop in the rice price. The central government should be held responsible for the stability of the price of rice.”

Nouminren also demanded that the government disclose details of the talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement and get out of the negotiation if protection of five important agricultural products are not secured.