The special committee of the House of Representatives held two local public hearings at Sapporo city in Hokkaido prefecture and Takachiho town in Miyazaki prefecture on October 26 to ask local farmers and other stakeholders for their opinions regarding the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade pact and its related bills.
The farmers and experts testified at the hearings to raise their concern one after another mostly by saying “People’s understanding on TPP issues has not yet been facilitated.” And most of them commonly urged the policy makers should fully deepen their deliberation on the issues at the Diet.
At the hearing held in Sapporo city, Tadaaki Yamai, secretary general of Hokkaido Prefectural Farmers Union, demanded members of the special committee of the House of Representatives to have an in-depth deliberation on the TPP issues.
“The administration’s investigation on shady transactions of so-called SBS imported rice concluded that the transactions had not made any impact on lowered price of domestic rice. From farmers’ view point, however, it is a totally insufficient and insincere investigation,” Tadaaki Yamai added.
He also pointed out that the insincere investigation of the administration has fundamentally undermined the credibility of TPP’s impact estimated by the government on the Japanese agricultural sector.
Hiroshi Fujiwara, emeritus professor of Miyazaki University, asked governmental officials “Is it really possible for you to adequately hear views and concerns of the people by holding only two public hearings in the country today?” He said the administration is responsible to take much more time in providing the people with detailed explanations on TPP issues.