Koya Nishikawa, chairman of the Strategy Research Committee for Agriculture, Forestry and Food of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), revealed LDP’s own draft of agricultural cooperative reforms on November 21, while the Government and the ruling parties are still continuing to adjust the reform program. An agricultural working group of Government’s advisory panel named as the Council for Promotion of Regulatory Reform announced its proposal on agricultural reform on November 7, in which the working group recommended the administration to reduce a number of agricultural cooperatives (JAs) operating financial businesses by half in three years by transferring the businesses of small-sized JAs to Norinchukin Bank or JAs’ national financial … Continue reading →

JA ZENCHU (Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives), an apex organization of agricultural cooperatives in Japan, convened an urgent meeting with key lawmakers of ruling parties at Minato ward in Tokyo on November 21. More than 1500 participants, including presidents of agricultural cooperatives (JAs) and representatives of JAs’ prefectural unions and business federations throughout the country, joined the meeting to confirm the importance of reform to be pursued jointly by the Government, ruling parties and JA group. The participants harshly criticized that a proposal on agricultural reform, made by an agricultural working group of the Council for Promotion of Regulatory Reform, includes some contents that deny cooperatives, organizations of autonomy and … Continue reading →

The International Co-operative Alliance or ICA, an apex organization for co-operatives worldwide, representing 284 co-operative organizations across 95 countries, headquartered at Brussels, Belgium, expressed its concerns over the latest proposal on agricultural reform made by an agricultural working group of Japanese Government’s advisory panel named as the Council for Promotion of Regulatory Reform. ICA’s concerns were raised in its letter sent on November 19 to Choe Okuno, president of JA ZENCHU (Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives), an apex body of agricultural cooperative organizations in Japan, who concurrently holds the post of chairman of Japan Joint Committee of Cooperatives (JJC). In the letter addressed to the JA ZENCHU president, ICA’s representative … Continue reading →

People of an agricultural cooperative (JA) group are growing a strong interest in a hands-on farm, which, they recognize, is an important tool for facilitating development of agriculture in urban areas. JA-ZENCHU (Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives) or JAs’ apex body in Japan recently printed an additional 500 copies of a handbook for opening hands-on farms, since a flood of orders have poured on to deplete the stock of the books. One thousand copies of the handbook had been originally printed for staff members of JAs and their prefectural unions. The handbook is increasingly used not only at JAs located in urban areas, but also at JAs in rural regions. … Continue reading →