TOKYO, April 23.  ― JA Group and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) are signing a new partnership agreement on the initiatives to provide agricultural support to developing countries in Asia. The Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives (JA-ZENCHU) is going to act as a liaison office for agricultural cooperatives (JAs) all over Japan, while JICA is going to be a liaison office for developing countries. The two will then dispatch JA workers and young farmers to the countries needing agricultural aid. They plan to support the farmers with the creation of local agricultural cooperatives using JA’s expertise. This way, they can help small family-run farmers make more profit and their villages … Continue reading →

TOKYO, March. 17 ― Jean-Louis Bancel, vice-president of the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA), the apex global cooperatives’ body, has visited a cooperative welfare facility in Tokyo. On March 16, Bancel visited a facility, “Workers Net Rings,” a cooperative of workers with disabilities that provide cleaning services in the local community. Some of workers are former drug addicts, homeless people, or diagnosed with schizophrenia, and they have found themselves very difficult to get a decent job in the Japanese straitjacket society, explained Shiro Kinoshita, head of Workers Net Rings. “This cooperative facility manifests that the business is about collaboration and helping one another,” Bancel said. Bancel was visiting Tokyo as one … Continue reading →