Japan Press Weekly

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2014 March 19 - 25 [ECONOMY]

Agriculture should be treated as key pillar of economy: JCP Kami

Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Kami Tomoko on March 19 at an Upper House Budget Committee meeting said that the Abe government’s agricultural policy will not increase farmers’ incomes and urged that agriculture should be regarded as one of the key pillars of the Japanese economy.

Kami pointed out that under past agricultural policies by successive Liberal Democratic Party governments, the prices of farm products, including rice, decreased drastically and farmers’ income dropped significantly as well. During the period between 1990 and 2010, the total of agricultural income in Japan decreased to 58.9% of the 1990 level, while the amounts of farmers’ income in the U.S. and EU have not changed much, 109% and 99.5% compared to the 1990 level respectively.

The JCP lawmaker pointed out that Abe’s plan for agricultural policy reforms includes a huge cut in subsidies to rice farmers. Citing a farmer’s remark, “If the rice subsidy decreases drastically, we will never be able to make ends meet,” Kami criticized the government plan as driving farmers into poverty.

Kami also stressed that agriculture is basically run by family farmers throughout the world. Saying that the United Nations designated this year as the International Year of Family Farming, she demanded that the government spend more money on support measures for family farmers.