Japan Press Weekly

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2015 January 14 - 20 [POLITICS]

Progressive farmers work to stop Abe’s policy of bullying family farmers

The National Federation of Farmers’ Movement (Nouminren) on January 15 ended its 3-day annual convention in Tokyo after unanimously confirming a new action plan and electing a new leadership.

Shiraishi Jun’ichi was reelected as the Nouminren chairperson.

Based on the adopted plan for this year, Nouminren will continue opposing Japan’s participation in multilateral talks for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free-trade pact and reinforce activities to make Nouminren even stronger in order to support sustainable agriculture development and struggling farming villages. The organization will also put pressure on lawmakers to create a price-guarantee system covering production costs and will strive to change the Abe government’s agricultural policy discarding the demands of family farmers to one improving the country’s food self-sufficiency rate.

Nouminren regional activities presented during the convention included jointly launching an anti-TPP campaign with agricultural cooperatives, submitting a request to local assemblies for countermeasures against the sharp drop in the price of rice, and supporting young farmers and new farmers.

After the convention, new Nouminren leaders made a courtesy visit to the Japanese Communist Party Central Committee. Welcoming their visit, JCP Secretariat Head Yamashita Yoshiki said, “Nouminren always cooperates with consumers in their interest. You are a great assurance to us. Let’s work together to stop the Abe runaway policies!”