Details Needed

The goal was set. It is how to we would like to know, Mr. Prime Minister. PM Abe announced on Friday that he intended to double the income of farmers within next ten years. That was his second package of growth strategy, following the first one which focused on medical policies, as known as the most important in three arrows to implement Abenomics paralleled with monetary policies and budgetary policies. But farmers are still sober about his idea, because the policy of Abe administration is more worrisome than preferable.

“I will definitely make the strong agriculture on which young generation can rely,” said Abe at the speech in Tokyo. His “strategy” included expanding the market of production, processing and sales to the level of ten trillion yens in next ten years. He also promised that he would create “the bank for farmland integration” that encourages the liquidity of farmland by leasing the land to farmers operating a private firm. The government is setting an organization that is called “the headquarters of creating vitality of agriculture, forestry, fishery and local cities.” But encouraging private sectors and making new organizations in the government have been typical activity when bureaucrats were justifying themselves pretending to be doing something.

Farmers responded to the project with negative mind. According to the Hokkaido Shimbun, a newspaper in agricultural area, a lawmaker who are worried about the impact of Abe’s policy toward free trade, including joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership, said “Doubling the farmers income may be achieved by halving the number of farmers.” Doubling income was nothing new, because it was already introduced in the policy package of the Liberal Democratic Party for the election of the House of Councillors this summer. There is no budgetary endorsement for the policy, too. Considering those facts above, this agricultural strategy must be directed to attract voters in agriculture, who obtain crucial choice to win or lose in the election.

Abe also announced that he would raise the amount of capital investment to seventy trillion yens, the level before the Lehman Shock. To increase capital investment, he said he would make it easier for private lease firms to lend assets. But it was unclear that what kind of policy system would be created for that. Supposedly because of that opaqueness about future, Abe reiterated to encourage industries to invest positively, saying for example, “No action, no growth.”

Statistics showed that the gross domestic products increased in the first quarter of this year, while there was no sign of growth of capital investment. This was not only about the mind of managers of major industries, but about the guaranteeing enough budget and political stability. In terms of assuring them, the package was in half way.