ｃｖ
The fiscal 2017 budget draft was approved by the Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on December 22.
Agriculture, forestry and fisheries-related budgets for fiscal 2017 totaled 2.3071 trillion yen, 2.0 billion yen less than those allocated for fiscal 2016.
The budget allocation for the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) was given a top priority to measures for enhancing agriculture’s international competitiveness.
MAFF will increase its budget spending in fiscal 2017 on agricultural and rural consolidation projects aiming at farm land improvement particularly by expanding paddy field plots in the country.
An amount of appropriation for the farm land improvement projects has increased to 402 billion yen by 20 billion yen over fiscal 2016.
A wide range of projects will be implemented in fiscal 2017 for expansion of paddy field plots, rice field consolidation for multipurpose uses, pipelining of irrigation canals, replacements of aging irrigation facilities with long-life ones, and introduction of earthquake-resistant irrigation systems.
MAFF also plans to spend 1.2 billion yen for aiding development of commodity-wise export promotion organizations, 0.1 billion yen less than the amount allocated in fiscal 2016, as well as 1.6 billion yen, o.1 billion yen more, for setting up a new institute for boosting exports of farm products.