The Japanese government and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party began considering revising the rice production adjustment program. Some government officials even indicated possible abolishment of the program, causing confusion among farmers. We urge the government to conduct cautious and cool-headed discussion, taking into account the current conditions of farmers. The top priority issue in agricultural policy is improvement of food self-sufficiency rate. The key to realizing the goal is full utilization of rice paddies, and it is necessary to improve the effectiveness of rice production adjustment measures. Abolishment of the program would lead to excessive planting of rice, plunge in rice prices and decline in production of agricultural products needed to raise the food self-sufficiency. It is out of the question.
Revision of the rice production adjustment program has become a fixed policy, since the LDP has promised in its campaign pledges that it will revise the individual-household income compensation system introduced when the Democratic Party of Japan was in power. The LDP aims to revise the system, because the system includes measures which require farmers to adjust their rice production according to production volume targets.
Meanwhile, Takeshi Niinami, president of Lawson Inc. who heads the agricultural subcommittee of the government’s Industrial Competitiveness Council suggested the abolishment of the production adjustment program, including stopping allocation of target production volumes by prefecture. Since LDP Secretary General Shigeru Ishiba has clearly stated his intention to revise the program without showing specific policies, many believe that the LDP is for abolishment.
The current measures under the production adjustment program are more or less in line with the idea suggested by Ishiba when he was agriculture minister in 2009. At that time, Ishiba put forth the idea of a selective system for rice production adjustment. Based on the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries’ simulation of how rice production volume would be affected by applying different combination of measures, Ishiba suggested in September 2009 the following policies: ① Abolish penalties for farmers who failed to meet the production volume targets. ② stop requiring farmers to meet the targets to receive subsidies for crop changes. ③ stop requiring large-scale farm operators to meet the targets to receive subsidies offered when their income fell below their average income level, the measure commonly called “narashi.” ④ establish a new system for merchandising farmers who meet the targets to compensate them when rice prices dropped. Most of the measures were realized when the DPJ took power immediately afterwards.
The differences between the measures introduced by the DPJ and Ishiba’s ideas were that the DPJ maintained the requirement for large-scale farmers to meet the targets in order to receive subsidies when their income dropped below their average income level, and newly established an income compensation grant as a part of the individual-household income compensation system to support farmers according to the acreage of table rice, requiring them to meet the production volume targets. The effects of the DPJ’s measures to reduce the overall rice production were larger than the measures suggested by Ishiba, and they led to reduction of excessive planting of table rice.
The LDP plans to: ① change the income compensation grant for rice farmers to grants to support multifunctional agriculture and stop requiring them to meet production volume targets. ② consolidate measures to cope with drops in rice prices with “narashi” subsidies. ③ increase subsidies offered to rice farmers who switched to other crops. Agriculture minister Yoshimasa Hayashi stresses that the changes are intended to realize full utilization of rice fields, aimed at producing rice in line with the demand and encouraging production of agricultural products that leads to higher food self-sufficiency rate.
The agriculture ministry estimated that if the production adjustment program is abolished, along with the abolishment of allocating volume targets by prefecture, subsidies for switching crops and “narashi,” and if a compensation system for drops in rice prices is introduced for large-scale farms, it would lead to overly excessive rice production, lack of changes of crops to wheat and soybeans and increase in uncultivated rice paddies. These estimates go against the goal of full utilization of rice paddies. Meanwhile, it is also necessary to cautiously monitor the effects of the LDP’s suggested measures which limit the benefits of meeting the production targets and limit those subject to subsidies to large-scale farmers. Now is the time for the LDP to prove its ability as a party which claims to be supportive of those out in the field.
(Oct. 29, 2013)