DVD on what’s behind cheap import bananas published

TOKYO, Nov. 16 – “Bitter Truth of Sweet Bananas,” a DVD on the reality of the banana production in the Philippines, was released by Pacific Asia Resource Center (PARC). The 78-minutes documentary film about the bananas produced for the Japanese market features the predicaments of the local banana farmers with agrichemicals aerial spraying and unfair contracts with enterprises, for example, and the futures of the initiatives to support the local farmers. PARC calls the public to see the film and “think about the relationships between Japan and the Philippines and also about the food.” The theme of documentary is the problems on the production site relating to, for example, agricultural … Continue reading

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Kenya’s cooperative delegate visits Japan Cooperative Alliance

TOKYO, Nov. 6 ― A delegate of Kenya’s cooperative societies has visited the Japan Cooperative Alliance (JCA), an umbrella organization that seeks to promote inter-cooperative collaborations, to learn how cooperatives work together in Japan. The JCA was officially launched in April this year to lobby for pro-cooperative policies and provide better information and education about cooperatives to the general public. Japan has one of the world’s largest cooperative sectors. That includes the Japan Agriculture (JA) group, the agriculture co-op, the Japanese Consumer Cooperative Union (JCCU), the consumer co-op with more than 28 million-member owners, and Zenkyoren, the mutual insurance co-op. The Kenyan delegate also visited the JCCU, the Japanese Health … Continue reading

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Apple thefts grow in Aomori; may targets of organized gangs

AOMORI, Nov. 13 ― Apple thefts are on the rise in Aomori prefecture, Japan’s largest apple growing region. “Growers are feeling wretched after losing fruits of their labors,” said an official from the JA Tsugaru Hirosaki, a regional farmers cooperative in Aomori. According to the Aomori police, five theft cases have been reported since October, totaling 13,000 apples stolen as of Nov. 12, including 500,000 yen worth of Fuji apples in Hirosaki city and 400,000 yen worth of Fuji apples in Tsugaru city. “And reports to police may be the tip of the iceberg,” the official said. Incidents include a series of daylight thefts, and farmers sometimes can’t notify police … Continue reading

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Japan set to accept up to 7,300 foreign workers in farm sector

TOKYO, Nov. 15 ― Japan will likely bring up to 7,300 foreign workers into the country’s farm sector in a new approach to immigration in the first year, a simulation by the government has showed. The parliament at the current extraordinary session is set to deliberate the draft legislation to accept more foreign blue-collar workers from April next year, a controversial move for the country that is known for its strict immigration rules. The draft legislation is designed to tackle the labor shortage in 14 sectors, including agriculture, social care and construction, in the face of the country’s aging population. Under the new bill, foreign nationals with skills in the … Continue reading

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Japan, China, S.Korea to boost border control over swine fever

BEIJING, Nov. 11 ― Japan, China and South Korea have agreed to boost border control, as livestock infectious diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease and deadly African swine fever have been recorded across the globe in recent years. “We need to deepen mutual cooperation on many fronts,” Japanese Agriculture Minister Takamori Yoshikawa said at a joint press conference after the trilateral agriculture ministers’ meeting in Beijing that wrapped up on Nov. 10. A joint statement adopted by the three said: “Given the increasing threat of Transboundary Animal Diseases such as African swine fever, cooperation for effective border control among three countries needs to be strengthened.” The meeting came at a time … Continue reading

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