Local farm co-ops are working to make their ideas reflected in local governments’ comprehensive regional revitalization strategies by participating in sessions held by their strategic planning committees. Such activities are likely to expand in the future, as agricultural co-ops plan to call for a bigger role in reviving regional areas in their annual national conference in October.
The central government has asked prefectures and municipalities to create their own revitalization strategies before the current fiscal year ends in March. To encourage them to develop the strategies swiftly, the government said it would offer additional grants to those which release the plans by the end of October.
The draft document for a comprehensive strategy compiled by the municipal government of Nankoku, Kochi Prefecture, mentions the term “JA” — standing for JA Nankokushi, a local farm co-op –- and “Nankoku Style” –- an agricultural production corporation financed by JA – many times. The draft includes JA’s goal of newly establishing a total of 3 hectares of greenhouses at 100 farms by 2019, as well as numerical targets for such factors as the area of farmland operated by Nankoku Style, JA’s efforts to spread new technology for vegetable growing, sales of JA-run farmers’ markets and the use of JA-supplied foods in school lunches.
“We managed to make our ideas fully reflected in the comprehensive strategy,” said JA Nankokushi Executive Director Masakatsu Jinzenji. “It is becoming difficult for a primary JA to finance projects or secure sufficient personnel to conduct business all by itself. We want to increase our presence through engaging in developing and implementing local strategies.”
Local authorities of Nankoku, who are expected to put together the strategy by the end of September, say they have been coordinating closely with JA on a daily basis and it was natural for them to let the farm co-op participate in compiling the strategy.
In Iki, Nagasaki Prefecture, senior executives of JA Iki have joined the local government’s strategic planning committee to discuss measures to tackle the declining birth rate and decreasing employment opportunities and include them in the draft for the revitalization strategy. Naofumi Nakamura, a JA official and a member of the committee, says the JA is actively making suggestions on which direction the municipality should take. Local authorities stress that they cannot discuss the municipality’s future without the engagement of JA.
However, only a small number of primary JAs currently participate in local strategic planning committees, according to the Central Union of Agricultural Co-operatives (JA-Zenchu). JA-Zenchu is stepping up efforts to make local governments clearly define JAs’ role in their revitalization strategies. The organization plans to do a survey on JAs nationwide to see how much they are engaged in building the strategies and release the results before the annual conference.
According to the Headquarters for Vitalizing Towns, People and Jobs under the Cabinet Office, 66 percent of prefectures and 22 percent of municipalities nationwide have set up strategic planning committees as of the end of June.
(Aug. 20, 2015)