Category Archives: Food & Agriculture

  Satoko Adachi – Brussels Mitsuo Murakami, vice president of the Central Union of Agricultural Co-operatives (JA-Zenchu), criticized a government panel’s agricultural reform proposal, saying that it is aimed at splitting up the Japanese agricultural co-operatives group. Speaking at the International Co-operative Alliance’s board meeting held in Brussels on Thursday, June 5 and Friday, June 6, Murakami stressed that the Regulatory Reform Council’s proposal, which includes stripping JA-Zenchu of its authority to supervise primary farm co-ops, is an attack towards the whole co-operative movement and asked for support by the ICA. Board members present at the meeting pledged to cooperate. Murakami noted co-operatives are autonomous organizations aimed at responding to the … Continue reading →

  Kazuhiro Shimamura, Chikuma Kume Worries are growing among farmers that if the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations (JA Zen-Noh) is transformed into a joint-stock corporation as a government panel has proposed, it will weaken the JA group’s pricing power, thus leading to a reduction in their incomes. The Regulatory Reform Council has proposed that JA Zen-Noh, which is engaged in collection and sales of farm products, should be converted to a joint-stock corporation to make it easier to procure funds, but farmers are concerned that if it becomes a corporation, it would come under the Antimonopoly Act, which means it would be banned from jointly purchasing and selling … Continue reading →

  Akira Banzai, president of the Central Union of Agricultural Co-operatives (JA-Zenchu), expressed determination on Monday, June 2, that the organization will restructure itself by its own will. Speaking to Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Shigeru Ishiba, Banzai called on the ruling party to respect the autonomy of JA-Zenchu, which is a private self-governing organization, in discussing agricultural reform.   Ishiba showed understanding for JA-Zenchu’s role of promoting agriculture and rural communities, and pointed to the need to conduct reform by taking into consideration the actual conditions of farmers. Concerns are growing among farmers and local residents who use JA’s services after the government’s Regulatory Reform Council announced proposals including transferring … Continue reading →

  The International Cooperative Alliance President Pauline Green criticized the Japanese government advisory panel’s proposals on agricultural reform, saying they pose a threat to the unity and welfare of farmer co-operatives and family farming. “The proposal totally disregards the values and principles of co-operatives,” Green noted in her remarks posted on the organization’s website on Sunday, June 1. “The whole global co-operative movement – owned by a billion of the world’s citizens – will stand with their Japanese fellow co-operators in opposition to the dismantling of the Japanese agricultural co-operative movement and the diminution of the members’ rights,” Green said. Titled “Japanese agricultural co-operatives and family farming threatened by reform … Continue reading →