【News】 Ruling coalition officially decides to postpone TPP ratification until post-election Diet session (April 26, 2016)

Representatives of the ruling parties, Sadakazu Tanigaki, Secretary-General of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), and his Komeito counterpart Yoshihisa Inoue, met in Tokyo on April 25 and officially decided to put off attempting to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade pact and enact relevant bills at the current Diet session. They agreed that the TPP pact ratification and related bills approval should be advanced for further deliberations at the Lower House session, aiming at final approval and enactment at an extraordinary Diet session to be convened after the Upper House election this summer. LDP’s Secretary-General Sadakazu Tanigaki said at the press conference on the same day “The TPP ratification … Continue reading

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【News】 Tomato producers jointly tackling shortage of part-time workers at grading house in quake-hit area of Yatsushiro Agricultural Cooperative, Kumamoto prefecture (April 26, 2016)

Farmers in the territory of Yatsushiro Agricultural Cooperative (JA), one of major tomato producing areas in Japan, have entered their busiest season of harvest in the year. A tomato grading facility of the JA Yatsushiro, however, is now suffering from a lack of part-time workers. A number of those workers have been evacuated at public shelters taking off at the grading house since the Kumamoto earthquake hardly struck the area on April 14. With a view to coping with the shortage of part-time workers, member farmers of the tomato producers’ group of JA Yatsushiro decided to fill the vacancy of grading and packing workers at the facility by themselves. In … Continue reading

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[News] G-7 Agriculture Ministers adopt “Niigata Declaration” focusing on global food security (April 25, 2016)

The Group of Seven (G-7) Agriculture Ministers’ Meeting, opened at Niigata-shi, Niigata prefecture on April 23, adopted the “Niigata Declaration” towards ensuring food security in the world on April 24. In the Declaration, G-7’s farm ministers and the representative of the European Union agreed to aim at the shared goals of policy implementation including measures to enhance female and young farmers’ involvements in the agricultural sector. Shinzo Abe’s Administration plans to reflect the outcome of the G-7 agriculture ministers’ meeting, including the shared goals to be pursued by the seven nations, in discussions at the G-7 Summit to be held in Ise-Shima, Mie prefecture on May 26-27. Farm ministers of … Continue reading

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[News] Feeding systems at many livestock barns damaged in quake-hit Kikuchi-shi, Kumamoto prefecture (April 22, 2016)

It has turned out that a number of bulk feed tanks owned by farmers feeding beef cattle or pigs were bitterly damaged or destroyed by a powerful earthquake and its numerous aftershocks since April 14 in Kumamoto prefecture. At some livestock barns, rooves of the feed storage tanks were separated off by the earthquake and stored feed was spoiled by rainwater. At other barns, automatic feeding systems connecting feed tanks with livestock animals in the barns were broken down. Quake-hit damages have been spreading at livestock facilities over many areas in the Kumamoto prefecture. Farmers, however, now find it difficult to promptly find out necessary repairmen. They are concerned rehabilitation … Continue reading

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【News】 Dairy cows rescued from earthquake-collapsed barns suffering from mastitis in Kumamoto prefecture (April 21, 2016)

Dairy farming has been heavily damaged in Kumamoto prefecture continuously rocked by a powerful earthquake and aftershocks since April 14. In Nishihara-mura some farmers had a hard time rescuing their dairy cows from under the quake-collapsed barns. Dairy farmers could not milk their cows with milking machines in several days after the earthquake because of a power failure in their village. Their cows have got infected with mastitis one after the other. And farmers are now forced to dispose fresh milk even though they manage to resume milking their cows. “I could not milk my cows three days. Around eighty percent of cows have been infected with mastitis. Under such … Continue reading

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