Category Archives: Cooperatives

【Editorial】 Future strategy of agriculture – reforming agricultural policies step by step (Jan. 7, 2015)

  Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration has entered its second year of agricultural policy reform. Its focus will be reviewing policies on rice farming and reforming agricultural co-operatives. Farming is a business which takes a long time to collect revenues after making investments, and the government’s misruling could lead to business failures. It is necessary to go back to the regular course of agricultural policy reform, which is to verify policy measures and the actual situation of farmers and move step by step by obtaining their consensus. In making its policies, the Abe administration has continuously been rushing to conclusion, based on proposals from policy advisory panels made up mainly … Continue reading

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【News】 Let them glow and paint whole town in orange (Dec. 28, 2014)

  Tetsuya Onda – Mandarin Orange Peel Ornaments (Ehime Prefecture) – Displaying fir trees decorated with orange round ornaments made of mandarin peels. This is becoming a new winter attraction in Ehime Prefecture, a famous producer of mandarin oranges. It was started nine years ago by a private non-profitable organization set up by a group of young guys living in the prefecture. The NGO, Matsuyama Matsuri Ikemen-ren (Team Hot Guys for Matsuyama Festival), which helps organizing the Matsuyama Festival, thought that this will help expanding sales of Matsuyama mandarin oranges. The movement has grown gradually to involve local mandarin farmers and children. The recipe for creating the gorgeous round ornaments is … Continue reading

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【News】 “Focus on Agricultural Co-ops Reform,” Prime Minister told the reappointed Agriculture Minister (Dec.27, 2014)

  Agriculture Minister Koya Nishikawa said Friday, December 26, at the press conference after the Cabinet meeting, that when reappointed as Agriculture Minister, he was instructed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to proceed mainly with the agricultural co-ops reform. His statement made it clear again that Prime Minister Abe has a strong will to promote the agricultural co-operatives reform. Based on Prime Minister’s intention, Agriculture Minister Nishikawa stressed his idea to seek a solution in accordance with the opinion offered by the government and the ruling parties in June. Agriculture Minister Nishikawa was reappointed in the Third Abe Cabinet inaugurated Wednesday, December 24. In the first press conference after the … Continue reading

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【News】 Bill to revise agricultural co-op law may be submitted in February (Dec. 17, 2014)

  Agriculture minister Koya Nishikawa said Tuesday, Dec. 16, that the government hopes to submit a bill to revise the Agricultural Co-operative Society Law to the Diet in February at the earliest, although indicating that it may be delayed due to opposing views among the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the agricultural co-op group. Government officials had indicated their will to submit the bill to the ordinary Diet session which will start next January, but had not given a specific timing. Nishikawa explained that he expects the budget bill for fiscal 2015 to be discussed and passed in the Lower House in February and in the Upper House in March … Continue reading

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【Editorial】 Ruling coalition’s landslide victory is by no means carte blanche for agricultural policy (Dec. 16, 2014)

  The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito together maintained a two-thirds majority in the 47th general election of the House of Representatives held on Sunday, Dec. 14. However, at the same time, the dark side of Abenomics, such as the widening wealth gap and declining regional economies, reared its head through the election campaigns. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe must sincerely listen to the voices of farmers and rural communities. Worries and distrust are surging over the government’s headlong liberalistic trade policies and reform of agricultural co-operatives. He should seriously take to heart that this vote of confidence in the Abe administration is by no means a carte blanche. There … Continue reading

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