An agricultural working group of the Council for Promotion of Regulatory Reform, Government’s advisory panel, which is chaired by Yasufumi Kanamaru, president of Future Architect, Inc., announced a proposal on agricultural reform on November 11.
The working group first recommends that ZEN-NOH (National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Association) or a national business organization of agricultural cooperatives (JAs) should abolish its existing business system of marketing farm products which is based on consignment practice, and launch a new system of purchasing products from farmers to sell them in the market at its own risk.
The Shinzo Abe’s administration advisory panel also urges that a half of some 660 agricultural cooperatives (JAs) in the country should transfer their financial businesses to the Norinchukin Bank (Central Cooperative Bank for Agriculture and Forestry) in three years.
The advisory panel asked the administration to take every measure to put its proposal into practice as well as make the panel itself manage the progress concerning the reform of JAs’ organizations.
The proposal made by the panel, however, contains a number of ideas that could be interpreted as “interventions” in management judgements and organizational decisions of ZEN-NOH and JAs.
The panel’s recommendation could be surely questioned whether it is consistent in philosophy of the Agricultural Cooperatives Act which respects self-discipline and autonomy of the cooperative organizations.
An argument will also be raised to ask if the proposal violates the supplementary resolution made at the Diet when the Agricultural Cooperatives Act was revised in 2016.
The panel calls on ZEN-NOH to step out of its consignment marketing practice “in one year.” If ZEN-NOH does not proceed its reform, the panel urges that the Government should take leadership in setting up an “another ZEN-NOH.”