The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) started its full-scale discussions on agricultural reform on November 14 so that LDP could put forward its own proposal by the end of November.
On November 11, an agricultural working group of the Council for Promotion of Regulatory Reform, Government’s advisory panel, announced its proposal on the agricultural reform, including a radical idea of abolishing a so-called consignment marketing system of ZEN-NOH (National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Association) or a national business organization of agricultural cooperatives (JAs).
The focus of LDP’s discussions will be how to finally seek for their own conclusion of an agricultural reform scheme on the basis of real conditions of farmers at the grass-root level.
Shinzo Abe’s administration hopes that the agricultural reform policy will be finally decided at a meeting of the Council for Promotion of Regulatory Reform to be held on November 24. LDP has hardly any time left to make adjustments with the Government.
Some of LDP’s leaders emphasize their own position different from the Government’s advisory panel, saying, “Our party will put our members’ arguments together.”
Leaders of LDP’s agricultural caucus had an unofficial meeting on November 14 to discuss how to cope with the proposal made by the regulatory reform panel.
Choe Okuno, president of JA-ZENCHU (Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives) or an apex body of agricultural cooperatives (JAs) in Japan, Yoshimi Nakano, president of ZEN-NOH, and other top leaders of JA’s national organizations participated in the meeting of LDP’s agricultural caucus members.
They reportedly told the leaders of the caucus that it would be impossible for them to accept most of the proposals made by the Government’s advisory panel which are not consistent with the basic scheme of agricultural reform already agreed between the ruling parties and the Government in 2014.