Japan Press Weekly

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2016 November 30 - December 6 [POLITICS]

Pro-business Abe gov’t seeks to weaken agricultural cooperatives

The pro-business Abe government is stepping up its attack on agricultural cooperatives, facing mounting criticism from both home and abroad. The International Co-operative Alliance Asia and Pacific in early November adopted a resolution criticizing Prime Minister Abe Shinzo’s move as undue interference on the autonomy and independence of cooperatives.

The Abe government on November 29 decided on a proposal to force agricultural cooperatives, which are essentially farmers’ mutual-aid organizations, to give higher priority to making profits. The government claims that this plan will boost farmers’ income.

PM Abe is unfairly blaming cooperatives for causing a shrinking of the gross agricultural product and decreasing farmers’ income. These outcomes are, however, attributable to policies of successive governments. The government promised an agricultural policy reform but what it proposed was an agricultural cooperative reform, as Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives President Okuno Choe rightly pointed out.

PM Abe is seeking to make Japan the most business-friendly country in the world and is trying to remove regulations which he regards as obstacles to achieve this goal. He believes that the presence of agricultural cooperatives is the biggest barrier hampering private companies from entering agriculture-related markets. This is why the government is trying to weaken farmers’ organizations which are deeply rooted in rural communities.

The Abe government in 2015 enacted a bill to amend the Agricultural Cooperative Law in order to turn the mutual-help organization into more like a commercial company. In addition, a 2015 revision to the Agricultural Land Law paved the way for private corporations to own large tracts of farmland.

The latest proposal is aimed at undermining agricultural cooperatives so that private companies will be able to expand their businesses in rural areas. Abe’s move is not just an attack on agricultural cooperatives but part of a larger attack on the entire cooperative movement. This recognition led to the International Co-operative Alliance resolution.