参議院さんぎいん選挙せんきょまで1週間しゅうかん 各党かくとう幹部かんぶ コメ 農業のうぎょう政策せいさくを議論ぎろん 日曜にちよう討論とうろん

With one week remaining until the July 20th House of Councillors election, senior officials from ten ruling and opposition parties exchanged views on agricultural policies, including the stable supply of rice, during NHKs Sunday Debate.

LDP Secretary-General Moriyama said, It is important to set prices that allow farmers to continue production and that the public can understand.

I want to work towards the stable production of rice.

The expansion of rice imports should be approached with caution.

Shift the budget to enable efficient rice production on flat land.

Even in disadvantaged areas like mountainous regions, growing rice is important for maintaining rural communities.

Our approach is to consider it in the form of income compensation, he said.

The Constitutional Democratic Partys Secretary-General Ogawa said, Producers want to sell rice for 3,000 or 4,000 yen.

Consumers want to buy it for around 2,000 yen.

The policy of income compensation for farmers is meant to fill this gap, and agricultural policy should be fundamentally transformed in this way.

While efforts are being made to scale up, farmers’ incomes are compensated, and from the consumers’ perspective, they can buy cheaper products.

We have to do both, not just zero or one hundred, he said.

The Japan Innovation Partys Secretary-General Iwaya said, The government has effectively been promoting a policy of reducing rice production.

We should immediately shift gears and start increasing rice production.

In the medium to long term, while promoting the growth of agriculture as an industry through regulatory reform, we must also provide protection—including individual farm subsidies—from the perspective of food security.

It is important to implement policies that strengthen agriculture by balancing its development as a growth industry with its protection.

Komeitos Secretary-General Nishida said, We want to push forward with bold agricultural policy reforms so that farmers can earn efficiently through mechanization and large-scale operations, and consumers can obtain rice at reasonable prices.

Mechanization is necessary for efficiency, but I’ve heard that the agricultural machinery required for smart farming costs about twice as much as regular machinery.

He said, Isnt financial support also necessary?

The Democratic Party for the People’s Secretary-General, Mr. Shinba, said, “We should fundamentally reconsider the situation where young people cannot make a living for their families by growing rice, and since rice is our staple food, we must not rely on foreign countries for it.”

We want to protect rural areas and communities, as well as firmly support farmers and rice, by immediately implementing direct payments to farmers, he said.

Communist Party Secretary-General Koike said, Japanese agricultural policy should fundamentally support both large-scale and small- to medium-sized farmers, and the most important thing is to increase the agricultural budget.

We will urgently increase the agricultural budget by 1 trillion yen to ensure a stable supply of rice, and shift to an agricultural policy in which the government takes responsibility for ensuring a stable supply, he said.

Reiwa Shinsengumi leader Yamamoto said, We need to steer things in a direction where young people can have stable lives if they go into agriculture.

If food imports were stopped in Japan today, it would be the end.

We will restart our agricultural policy by having the government purchase all the products made with government funding.

The leader of the Sanseito party, Mr. Kamiya, said, We should abolish the acreage reduction policy and rapidly increase production.

The government should also consider taking full responsibility and buying everything.

He said, We want the public and farmers to have the mindset that growing rice is profitable, and to increase the number of successors.

The Japan Conservative Party’s Secretary General Arimoto said, “The problem is that farmers are aging and small-scale farmers are unable to make a profit.”

It was stated that agricultural corporations should be fundamentally reviewed so that rice can become a viable industry and young people can enter the field.

SDP Vice Chair Otsubaki said, The budget should be allocated to agricultural policy.

We will revive the individual income compensation system for farmers and foster new successors.

He said, Shouldnt we allocate a large budget to that?