Japan Press Weekly

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2014 September 24 - 30 [ECONOMY]

JCP demands gov’t to tackle rice price slump

The Japanese Communist Party parliamentarians’ group on September 24 made a representation to the Agriculture Minister demanding that the government take countermeasures against the collapse of the rice price without delay.

Farmer’s prices for rice harvested this year stand below 10,000 yen per 60kg on average, down by 3,000 yen from the previous year, and cover only a half of the production cost.

The written request quotes desperate farmers as saying that they have no hope for the next crop year. It points out that many rice farmers left the land as the Abe government decided to abolish subsidies for them. “If no support measures are taken, most farmers, including large-scale ones, will give up farming. It will further push down Japan’s food self-sufficiency rate,” the JCP document stresses.

The JCP representatives criticized the successive governments for gradually withdrawing from the price stabilization of agricultural products and pointed out that this will undermine the basis of agriculture and the survival of rural communities. They again demanded the state to take measures to support the rice price and to cancel the abolition of the subsidy to farmers.

JCP House of Councilors member Kami Tomoko, who is responsible for agricultural and rural community policies in the party took part in the representation along with five other parliamentarians.

Past related articles
> Farmers call for countermeasures to deal with rice price collapse [September 19, 2014]