The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries will offer subsidies to farmers whose greenhouses were destroyed from the weight of snow, if they are to continue farming, a senior ministry official revealed Friday, Feb. 28.
The ministry offers subsidies to those who restore their greenhouses, but it has decided to extend the subsidies to farmers who plan to continue farming in other forms, said vice agriculture minister Yasuhiro Ozato at a joint meeting of the Liberal Democratic Party’s agriculture and forestry division and research commission on agriculture, forestry and fisheries strategy.
Earlier this week, the ministry compiled a set of assistance measures to farmers who suffered damage from the heavy snow which hit the Kanto and Tohoku regions in mid-February. As part of the measures, the ministry will offer financial support to the removal of destroyed greenhouses for the first time, in addition to restoration or repairing of greenhouses.
In an effort to encourage farmers to continue agricultural business, the ministry will extend subsidies not only to farmers who reconstruct their greenhouses in their original forms, but also to those who plans to build smaller greenhouses or construct greenhouses in different locations, and to those who shift to outdoor farming,
In order to receive the subsidies, farmers are required to show a memo or a photograph which indicates the damage of the facilities and the amount needed to restore them. If they outsourced the reconstruction work, they should submit a statement of delivery.
According to the ministry, damages caused by snow during the current winter season totaled JPY68.6 billion in 33 prefectures. Greenhouses suffered the hardest damage, with destroyed facilities totaling 16,635, largely exceeding the number marked in 2012 which also had heavy snow.
(March 1, 2014)