Gov’t to mull collecting sales promotion funds from farmers
The Mainichi | 21 October 2015
Gov’t to mull collecting sales promotion funds from farmers
The government will look into collecting funds from farmers and other producers to be utilized in promotional activities for their products, the agricultural minister revealed on Oct. 18.
The move comes in the wake of the broad agreement reached on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade initiative, which is expected to intensify competition between imported and domestic products. The government aims to expand the consumption and export of rice, livestock products and other items by bolstering domestic agriculture through the new scheme.
While the government is rushing to design the new system, farmers and other producers are expected to oppose the initiative as it will pose a greater financial burden on them.
During a TV program aired by public broadcaster NHK on the morning of Oct. 18, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Hiroshi Moriyama said, "We will firmly promote the importance of eating rice to consumers and the great feature of Japanese beef to foreign countries."
Following the program, Moriyama told reporters, "It is important for producers to promote their products from their own perspectives."
The government is mulling introducing a system similar to the agricultural check-off programs adopted in the United States in the 1930s. Under the program, producers are obliged to pay small sums of money to be accumulated as funds, which will be used for boosting consumption, promoting exports and conducting research and development by each industry group. The program is currently in place for beef, soy beans, dairy products and other items produced in the U.S.
In Japan, there are precedents of dairy and other industry groups collecting membership fees and using the funds for promotional activities, but there was no such precedent as levying compulsory fees on all producers to that end. The government will need to introduce a law if it is to implement such a compulsory fee collection system.
In the United States, there are a certain number of opponents to the agricultural check-off programs. "If there is discontent among farmers, we can just skip the initiative. We would like to raise the issue in order to see if we can gain understanding from producers," Moriyama said.
