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 proposals”, the posted document explains the Regulatory Reform Council’s proposals which include dissolving existing multi-purpose agricultural cooperatives and reducing the role and strength of the Central Union of Agricultural Co-operatives (JA-Zenchu), followed by Green’s comments.
“These proposals clearly attack the very fundamental principles of the co-operative movement – member ownership and control in particular,” Green stressed. While the United Nations has designated the year 2014 as the International Year of Family Farming, the proposal “denies the value of family farming and tries to promote agriculture by corporations,” she said.
JA-Zenchu President Akira Banzai expressed gratitude towards the ICA’s support, saying that he is extremely encouraged by the ICA’s move to convey the situation in Japan to fellow cooperatives worldwide. Banzai said he is determined to continue contributing to the development of agriculture and rural communities.
(June 2, 2014)