Dairy farmers from all over the country rally against the TPP talks in Tokyo on Wednesday, July 31, calling for protection of domestic production
Nearly 1,000 dairy farmers held a protest rally in Tokyo on Wednesday, July 31, calling on the Japanese government to protect key agricultural products, including dairy products, from tariff elimination in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade negotiations.
Members of the Dairy Farmers Political Federation of Japan also urged the government to help stabilize their business which is hit hard by the rising prices of imported feed, brought about by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s “Abenomics” economic policies leading to a weaker yen.
The protesters marched through the streets of Kasumigaseki along the buildings of the Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, holding banners and flags expressing opposition to the TPP agreement and the need to protect the dairy industry.
Mayumi Yamashita, a 57-year-old dairy farmer who heads the women’s group of dairy farmers in Oita Prefecture, stressed that the government should definitely keep the pledge to protect five key agricultural items, made by the Liberal Democratic Party in the Upper House election. “Even as it is, more dairy farmers are giving up farming because of the harsh business environment,” Yamashita said. “We want the government to assure a better future for dairy farming.”
The federation held a meeting the same day at LDP headquarters in Tokyo and adopted a resolution asking the government to take measures to support dairy farmers, such as by establishing an income compensation system for dairy farmers, strengthening measures to compensate them when feed prices rise and expanding the scope of direct payment system for use of farm fields to encourage self-production of feeds.
In the meeting, Isao Sasaki who heads the federation said the weakening yen is giving a
Dairy farmers gather at LDP headquarters in Tokyo on Wednesday, July 31, to urge the government to help stabilize their business.
heavy blow to dairy farmers, and that the dairy industry is facing several difficult problems, including the TPP pact, which makes it hard for them to hand the dairy farming business over to the next generation.
Diet members of the LDP who participated in the meeting said they will work on stabilizing the farmers’ business. Yasuhiro Ozato, director of the LDP’s agriculture and forestry division, said that their biggest mission is to protect the national interests in line with the resolutions adopted by the LDP and the agricultural committees of both houses of the Diet.
Referring to the compensation system to mitigate steep rises in imported formula feed prices, which is facing constant fund shortage, Tetsuro Nomura who heads the LDP’s subcommittee on livestock and dairy farming said the government and the LDP are now discussing on fundamentally reforming the system so that they can operate under a new system starting in October.
Some farmers criticized the government for failing to take any measures to cope with rising prices of other feeds such as hay and roughage, adding that rising costs of fuel oil is also imposing a heavy burden on them, putting their business in an unprecedented crisis.
(Aug. 1, 2013)