AGRICULTURE-JAPAN: Families Sow Seeds of Reform in Farms

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

FUKUSHIMA, Japan, Nov 7 2003 (IPS) - When the Saito family, farmers for generations, signed up two years ago to be part of the family management agreement – and receive a salary for farm work – its members never thought it could work this well.

”The system is fair and has improved our morale,” enthuses 65-year-old Tochiko Saito in this city north of Tokyo. After all, she recalls that even though she worked day and night in the farms when she first married, tradition meant that her mother-in-law kept a firm grip on household finances, leaving her with little personal income.

The change in settings like the Saitos’ home comes in the wake of the forced liberalisation of Japan’s agriculture sector. Although long reliant on huge government subsidies and stiff tariffs on imports to keep it afloat, the agriculture sector is finally embarking on sweeping changes.

Says Hidenori Ohtani, an official at the Fukushima Agricultural Cooperative: ” Japan’s agricultural industry is racing against the clock. Steps must be taken to revitalise and the new family management system is a big part of this.”

Experts point out that Japan’s traditional farm policy focused on increasing production, a vision that took precedence during a period when the country was poor and had to feed its population.

”Today the situation has changed drastically. Being a rich country, our goal is the development of a market-led agricultural industry and paying salaries to members of farming families is symbolic of this direction,” Kichinori Kon, president of the Agricultural Technology Association, a private research company, says in an interview.

Experts say the new thrust is imperative to ease the heavy burden of agricultural subsidies – more than 300 billion U.S. dollars annually for rice farmers alone – and a mounting problem for the cash-strapped government.

At the forefront of this attempt at change is Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who is pursuing structural reforms in order to pursue free trade agreements with other countries, agreements that may include Japan’s traditionally protected agricultural sector.

Experts contend that the new management system paves the way for making Japanese farmers more competitive. ”By being paid separately, every member of the family can sharpen their understanding of financial and management skills,” says Ohtani.

Indeed, the experience of Tochiko attests to this. She points out that stipulations in the family marketing agreement ensure that each family member is paid according to the income they make through production.

”This has encouraged individuality and a healthy competition in the family,” she says.

The Saitos comprise of a set of grandparents, the younger couple and their daughter, who is still in junior high school.

Tochiko has been allotted the job of producing and selling vegetables while her husband is responsible for rice production. Her and son and wife rely on income from fruits.

As required under the agreement, members are expected to contribute a set percentage of their income to support household expenses but are allowed to spend the rest on their individual pursuits.

”The best part of the agreement is paid vacations and the allotted free time to pursue our own interests,” says Tochiko.

Her daughter-in-law recently started a course in nursing and Tochiko spends time organising women’s activities in the village, a job she only dreamt about till now.

Statistics indicate that the family management agreement system is catching on. In Fukushima alone, 485 families are in it. The number is still small compared to the total of 14,000 full-time households that signed up under the new system, but reflects a steady climb from the 70 families registered six years ago.

Ohtani explains that the new management policy is also aimed at making agriculture more attractive to younger people, many of whom have left for jobs in the cities because they have no desire for back-breaking farming work.

Turning this trend around remains crucial for Japan’s agricultural future, because post-war industrialisation has left its farming population ageing rapidly. More than 90 percent of those in farming are over 60 years old.

Officials are also keen to meet the ultimate goal of the new management system, which is to make farming comparable to the work schedules of company employees- a limit of 2,000 hours work per year and annual incomes up to 70,000 dollars.

Positive results on this front are now being seen. The National Chamber of Agriculture reports that inquiries from people in their forties about starting agricultural projects have grown steadily over the past two years. It says that there were 14,164 more inquiries recorded in 2002 – the highest figure recorded so far.

Still, Ohtani says that convincing farmers that it is time to reform the old remains the biggest challenge.

”Weaning farmers to face international competition as the global agricultural market opens up is still an uphill task, given the long years of official protection from the government,” he explains. ”But there is no turning back if agriculture is to survive in Japan.”