The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its coalition partner, the Komeito Party, finally decided an agricultural reform program at their joint committee for agriculture and forestry on November 25.
Discussions on the agricultural reform have been focusing on the business system of ZEN-NOH (National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations) or a national marketing and supply business organization of agricultural cooperatives (JAs).
In the agricultural reform program decided by the ruling parties, ZEN-NOH will be required not only to streamline an organizational structure for its farm inputs supply business, but also to increase transparency of its handling charges in order to maximize advantages of the cooperative system called as joint purchasing by member farmers.
ZEN-NOH is also urged to transform its marketing business from consignment and pool account-based operation to so-called “cash-in-advance” method which makes ZEN-NOH purchase agricultural products, possibly including rice, from farmers to sell them in the market at its own risk.
The ruling parties’ agricultural reform scheme requires ZEN-NOH to promote its business reforms with its annual plan and numerical targets being disclosed.
The ruling bloc and the administration plan to monitor how the ZEN-NOH’s reform plan progresses.
An agricultural working group of the Council for Promotion of Regulatory Reform, Government’s advisory panel, had announced a proposal on JAs’ financial business as well, which was not incorporated in the ruling parties’ program.
Koya Nishikawa, chairman of LDP’s Strategy Research Committee for Agriculture, Forestry and Food, who exercised leadership in putting forward a proposal on the reform scheme in the ruling camp, expressed his expectation for ZEN-NOH’s self-reform, saying, “ZEN-NOH should carry out its reform by itself. I hope ZEN-NOH will make every effort to successfully implement its reform plan for the purpose of increasing farmers’ incomes as a price leader in the market of agricultural inputs.”