Choe Okuno speaks to reporters on Thursday, July 2, at the JA group’s headquarters in Tokyo after being chosen as JA-Zenchu’s new president.
The Central Union of Agricultural Co-operatives (JA-Zenchu) decided on Thursday, June 2, to name Choe Okuno as its new president. Okuno, 68, chief of the prefectural union of agricultural co-ops in Mie Prefecture, was picked as a result of voting by 251 representatives across the country. He will officially be appointed as president at an extraordinary meeting on Aug. 11.
In the presidential election, which was held for the first time in 10 years after Akira Banzai, 69, announced resignation, Okuno defeated his sole contender, Toru Nakaya, 65, chief of the JA union in Wakayama Prefecture. The voting started on June 23 and the ballots were counted on Thursday.
Okuno, who began his career at JA Ise, an agricultural co-op in Mie, became the co-op’s head in 2007 and currently serves as its chairman. He became the head of the Mie prefectural union in 2011 and a member of JA-Zenchu’s board of directors in August 2014.
“I strongly want to make (JA-Zenchu) an organization which puts top priority on members and local residents,” Okuno told reporters as he commented on the result. “The most important thing for co-operatives is (to offer) services (to customers). JA-Zenchu’s role is to work behind the scenes to support them. We will work hard, focusing on services.”
He also said he will tackle other challenges, including declining rice prices, responding to the ongoing negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement and assisting restoration efforts in regions hit by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
Nakaya meanwhile held a press conference in Wakayama and apologized to those who supported him, but expressed his determination to work together as a united group to overcome the difficult situation faced by the JA group.
The presidential election was held for the first time since 2005, after Banzai announced his decision to resign following the government’s adoption of an agricultural cooperatives reform bill in April.
The new president “must deal with several issues regarding agricultural policies, including the agricultural co-operatives reform, and I hope (Okuno) will lead the JA group with a strong drive,” Banzai told reporters at a regular press conference the same day.
(July 3, 2015)