The Liberal Democratic Party on Tuesday proposed that the government raise farmers' incomes by channeling agricultural subsidies directly to them instead of by buying produce at government-set prices.
The new policy is aimed at revitalizing Japanese agriculture by encouraging full-time farming as aging farmers and their children are abandoning the lifestyle, LDP officials said.
According to the paper, the new policy will be applied to 400,000 farmers who earn their living solely through agriculture or who have made farming their main source of income.
The envisioned policy is modeled after those in the United States and European Union. The U.S. handed out a record 3.04 trillion yen in direct subsidies to farming households in the year to Sept. 30.
EU countries have been subsidizing farming households in mountainous areas since 1992.
The new policy proposals were drafted by a study group within the LDP's subcommittee on agricultural policy, headed by legislator Toshikatsu Matsuoka.
The direct subsidies would allow farmers to earn incomes similar to those of workers in other industries in their districts.
The policy proposals also call for encouraging farmers to expand their land and boost per capita productivity.