Japan's National Diet (also known as the Diet) is currently debating revisions to the Basic Law of Agriculture. This will be the first full-scale revision of the Basic Agricultural Policy Act since its enactment in 1999.
These discussions come amid supply disruptions caused by the climate crisis and ongoing wars and conflicts, leading to what the United Nations calls the world's worst hunger crisis.
Japanese peasant movements, such as the family farmers' movement Farmers' Union (a member of La Via Campesina), argue that these amendments are counterproductive to the government's stated goal of increasing self-sufficiency.
Since the 1960s, Japan's food self-sufficiency rate has been steadily declining. The Federation of Farmers points out that years of gradual liberalization and market reforms have led to increased dependence on agricultural imports. For example, Japan's grain production has declined from 82% in the 1960s to just 29% in 2022. During the same period, national meat production decreased from 91% to 53%. Similar trends are observed for other agricultural products (see graph).
Source: Farmers Federation
Approximately 90% of the fertilizer, feed, vegetable seeds, and oil needed for agricultural production are imported. It points out that if these cannot be imported, the self-sufficiency rate will drop to 10%.
It also points out that the revision aims to lower the self-sufficiency rate target. The movement argues that the obligation to improve self-sufficiency is also being transferred from states to citizens. In the event of a food crisis, the revised bill would invoke the Emergency Food Supply Act (Food Supply Difficulty Response Act), impose penalties on farmers who switch crops (from flowers and grasses to potatoes), and provide for the “allocation and distribution” of food to the people. will be imposed. . In “particularly serious stages,” producers will be instructed to shift to calorie-focused production (potatoes, rice), and those who violate the law may be fined up to 200,000 yen.
The policies promoted by the Kishida administration are in line with “building a nation for war,'' which reflects the “Wartime Food Law,'' which forces farms to grow potatoes and makes it mandatory for citizens to endure hunger by eating potatoes. The Federation of Farmers has warned that this is a serious problem.
Despite the fact that the current Basic Law states that “domestic agricultural production should be expanded in an appropriate manner, combined with imports and stockpiling,'' Japan continues to ignore expansion of domestic agricultural production and promotes further imports and liberalization. Ta.
The revised bill includes a clause to “ensure stable imports” and even calls for increasing imports by promoting investment and support for supplying countries.
On the other hand, in Japan, which is facing a declining population, a strong commitment to exports has been announced, with the idea that promoting the export of agricultural products will open up prospects for agriculture. The Farmers Federation does not agree with this. The government boasts that “agricultural, forestry, and fishery product exports exceed 1 trillion yen,'' but the total amount of agricultural, forestry, and fishery product imports is significantly different at 13 trillion yen. Relying on exported agricultural products is completely unreliable in times of crisis, they say.
Urgent support needed for young smallholder farmers – robot farms and lab meat are not the solution:
The aging of the farming population is an urgent issue, with 240,000 farmers (20%) under the age of 59, and 420,000 over the age of 75. Furthermore, 70% of farmers do not have a successor. The government plans to reduce the number of agricultural workers from the current 1.2 million to 300,000 over the next 20 years, but measures to secure young successors are being ignored.
The government's proposed amendments include: 1. Promote “robot agriculture” using robots, drones, and AI (artificial intelligence) on behalf of farmers; 2. The plan includes encouraging people to eat insects and genetically modified/genome-edited foods. And artificial meat.
“Robot farming” without farmers, or forcing people to eat insects and artificial meat in addition to three meals a day of potatoes – such methods will not overcome the crisis.
It just turns food into a tool for big business profits.
Strengthening price support and direct income compensation: “Protecting family farming”
In order to overcome the agricultural crisis and labor shortage, it is important to realize prices commensurate with production costs. However, the average rice farmer's hourly wage is only 10 yen.
Facing rising prices and the increasing number of people who can only afford one or two meals a day, the Farmers' Federation proposed four items: “Price Support + Price Transfers + Direct Income Compensation + Public Procurement'' and called for income guarantees from the government. ing. It allows people to live in the countryside.
However, the revised bill firmly rejects the implementation of price support and income compensation that entails a financial burden, which is common in the United States and the EU, in order to make up for farmers' deficits, and the enactment of price transfer legislation, which was supposed to be considered, has been postponed. ing.
Ironically, the Farmers Federation points out, we are currently in the midst of the United Nations' Decade of Family Farming. In line with these times, there is a need for a change in politics to foster successors, prosper family farming, and improve self-sufficiency.
Some proponents are of the opinion that the plan can be put into practice after the Basic Law is revised, but the Farmers' Union warns that once the revision abandons the goal of increasing the self-sufficiency rate, it will be too late.
On April 23, leaders of the Farmers Federation held a standing demonstration in Miyazaki City to make the voices of the people and farmers heard in the lead-up to the G7 Agriculture Ministers' Meeting. They called for changes in national agricultural policy to support small-scale family farming and address the current state of Japanese agriculture.
In a detailed analytical blog and petition posted on its website, the Federation of Farmers calls for the repeal of the government's proposed amendments, calls for joint action by social movements, political parties and civil society organizations, and calls for the collective action of social movements, political parties and civil society organizations, and calls for the repeal of the government's amendments, calling for joint action by social movements, political parties and civil society organizations, and calling for the collective action of social movements, political parties and civil society organizations, and for the support of consumers and producers. It calls for strengthening solidarity between the two countries and pursuing fundamental policies. This is a law that truly contributes to the revitalization of food, agriculture, and rural areas. In order to boost food production, they are calling for an end to large-scale military expansion and a doubling of the country's agricultural budget, which is extremely low compared to other countries.