Dismantling Agricultural Pressure Group

The administration led by Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, embarked on dismantling the biggest agricultural pressure group in Japan. Deregulation Conference of Cabinet Office delivered proposals for reforming Japan Agricultural Cooperatives. It argued that the organization should be reformed into a companies to revitalize its productivity. While JA has been the main protester against high-level free trade framework called Trans-Pacific Partnership, the administration looked like beginning to remove an obstruction for the deal.

Established with Agricultural Cooperatives Act in 1947, JA has been representing post-war regime of production system of agriculture, which replaced old-type tenant agriculture. For independent farmers, JA has been organizing them for improving productivity, collective sales of their products and better quality of life. With growth of agricultural production, JA expanded its job not only to agricultural instruction, but to financing paralleled with private banks or to running supermarkets. In many rural towns and villages in Japan, JA has been a center of community for the residents.

With growing needs of free trade, the government of Japan can no longer maintain firm protection for the organization. Farmers are getting ambitious to sell their products out of JA distribution system to meet various demands of consumers. A rice farmer for sake brewery, for instance, can produce more being free from JA policy concentrating to rice for eating.

The conference proposed abolishment of Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives, which organized all cooperatives in Japan. It recommended to make central organization for collection and distribution of products reformed into a corporation. JA Bank became an objection for merging with a government related bank for agriculture and forestry. Through that complete privatization, the government looks to revitalize each private producer including major agricultural companies.

Against this deregulation plan, JA strongly opposed telling it as highly problematic. The biggest problem for the administration is that farmers are one of the biggest supporters for Liberal Democratic Party. In the circumstances of cutting resources for agricultural policy, the farmers are getting skeptic for the party. Related legislators are furious on its unilateral effort to breaking agricultural system down.

On the other hand, there actually are a number of farmers who want to be free from JA system. If the organization seeks its survivability, it needs to find a way to release ambitious farmers from their restriction and make more efforts to cut excessive cost.