The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries will seek JPY2.65 trillion in its budget request for fiscal 2016, up 15 percent from its initial budget for the previous year, according to informed sources. The ministry plans to ask for a JPY100 billion increase for projects to improve infrastructure for agriculture and rural villages, which is suffering from serious lack of funds.
It will request a major expansion in funds to support rice farmers shifting to other crops such as rice for animal feed. By strengthening farm infrastructure and promoting full use of rice paddies, the ministry aims to push toward the goal of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration — developing a strong agricultural industry.
The ministry will submit its budget request to the Finance Ministry by the end of this month and start the annual budget negotiations to compile the national budget for fiscal 2016 by the year-end.
The major focus will be the request for measures to improve infrastructure for farms and rural areas, which will total some JPY460 billion, up 27.9 percent from the initial budget for the current fiscal year.
The budget for the measures for fiscal 2010, compiled after the Democratic Party of Japan took power, dropped as much as 60 percent from the initial budget for fiscal 2009. Even after the Liberal Democratic Party returned to power in 2012, the budget has not recovered to the level before fiscal 2010, leading to increased dissatisfaction among farmers who were forced to postpone their projects due to lack of funds.
Another focus will be on budget requests to encourage production of crops other than table rice, such as rice for feed, wheat and soybeans. The ministry will be requesting JPY320 billion for the grants, up 14.7 percent from the previous year. Production of crops other than table rice showed a large increase in fiscal 2015 backed by strong financial incentives by the government, and no excessive acreage of table rice is expected this year. The ministry hopes to continue the trend by providing further support next year.
The ministry will also request a large increase in funds to support establishment of new agricultural facilities in response to strong demand from farmers, and funds for new projects to promote foreign tourists’ consumption of locally-grown farm products.
The ministry explained the budgetary requests to the LDP’s agricultural committee on Friday, Aug. 21. “(The Finance Ministry) will try to squeeze the budget by the end of this year, but we won’t let them do so,” said Koya Nishikawa, chairman of the party’s Research Commission on Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Strategy. “We will aim at obtaining the total budget above the 2.6 trillion yen mark.”
(Aug. 22, 2015)