Japan Press Weekly

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2008 May 28 - June 3 [AGRICULTURE]

Increasing rice production must include price support: Ichida

Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi at a news conference on June 2 criticized Chief Cabinet Secretary Machimura Nobutaka for indicating the government’s intention to reverse its policy of reducing rice production without offering price support measures.

“It is a matter of course to increase domestic rice production under the current worldwide food shortage. However, the government will inevitably face public criticism if it takes such a measure without reflecting on its long-standing policy of reducing rice production,” said Ichida.

Stressing that the government has forced farmers to reduce rice paddy acreage insisting that overproduction would lead to declines in rice prices, Ichida criticized the government for indicating revision of its current rice-production policy without promising farmers to stabilize the rice price.