Local cooperatives in as many as 10 prefectures have established or plan to create an organization to continue exchange activities between different cooperatives, which became active during the International Year of Cooperatives (IYC) last year, The Japan Agricultural News learned.
The IYC was launched by the United Nations to raise public awareness of the contributions of cooperative enterprises. Inspired by the move, many Japanese cooperatives, such as Japan Agricultural Cooperative (JA), Japan Fisheries Cooperative and consumers’ cooperative, jointly implemented various programs including working to set up lecture courses on cooperative studies at local universities and conducting mutual visitation among cooperatives of different industries.
Cooperatives in Mie Prefecture were the first to create an organization in December last year with 13 groups as members to take over and continue the activities within the prefecture. 2 groups, including the forest owners’ cooperative, newly joined the organization this month.
Cooperatives in Kanagawa Prefecture set up a liaison council in January to hold events and exchange activities to promote the cooperatives business as a whole.
Similar organizations were set up in Yamagata, Ibaraki, Shiga, Wakayama, Kagawa, Fukuoka, Nagasaki and Miyazaki prefectures. All of the organizations have a secretariat in JA in each prefecture.
Even in prefectures where such organizations have not been set up, cooperatives are jointly engaging in broader activities such as tree-planting in the case of Shizuoka Prefecture, setting up a special lecture course in a university in Nagano Prefecture and holding a volunteer clean-up campaign in Kagoshima Prefecture.
(July 24, 2013)