Tag Archives: Editorial

  The focus of the government’s agricultural co-operative reform has been on revising the auditing system of primary agricultural co-ops by the Central Union of Agricultural Co-operatives (JA-Zenchu). If the goal of revising the system is to strengthen management of primary JAs, the JA group has already come up with a solution. In its self-reform plan compiled in November last year, the group listed measures to enhance governance and management under JA-Zenchu’s auditing. The government and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party must discuss reform carefully, taking into consideration the JA group’s self-reform plan and farmers’ voices. Regarding primary JAs’ board of directors, the government’s action plan on deregulation released in … Continue reading →

  Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration has entered its second year of agricultural policy reform. Its focus will be reviewing policies on rice farming and reforming agricultural co-operatives. Farming is a business which takes a long time to collect revenues after making investments, and the government’s misruling could lead to business failures. It is necessary to go back to the regular course of agricultural policy reform, which is to verify policy measures and the actual situation of farmers and move step by step by obtaining their consensus. In making its policies, the Abe administration has continuously been rushing to conclusion, based on proposals from policy advisory panels made up mainly … Continue reading →