Japanese agricultural products, especially fruits, are highly popular abroad, and the importance of the export market to farmers has grown in leaps and bounds in recent years. However, seeds and saplings developed and registered in Japan have also found their way abroad, where they are grown and sold without permission.
In the extraordinary Diet session beginning Monday, the government wants to partially revise a law to protect new plant varieties and the intellectual property of Japanese growers. Earlier this week, Liberal Democratic Party Diet Affairs Chief Hiroshi Moriyama confirmed the aim was to pass the amendment in the upcoming Diet session, and that without it Japan’s national interests would suffer. But the opposition is wary, afraid the amendment will hurt smaller farmers and raise prices without stopping the outflow of seeds and saplings.
Why does the government want the amendment?