The government headquarters for resuscitation of food, agriculture, forestry and fisheries headed by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and including all Cabinet members on Oct. 25 adopted a basic action plan to strengthen Japan's primary industries. It worked out the action plan with a view to the possibility that Japan may join the negotiations for the Transpacific Strategic Economic Partnership (TPP) agreement.

Irrespective of whether Japan joins the comprehensive free-trade arrangement, Japan's primary sector will be exposed to pressure for liberalization since Japan will seek free-trade agreements with other countries. The government needs to take necessary budgetary measures to quickly implement the action plan. As expected, the government plans to pay a large amount of income compensation to farmers who suffer when the prices of their products fall below production costs. One problem is where to find the necessary funds, which are expected to amount to several hundred billion yen a year. Another problem is how to design the income compensation scheme — which is already in force for farmers growing rice, wheat and soy beans — to produce the best result in raising the efficiency of Japan's agricultural production.

In pushing the action plan, the government also should take utmost care so that various roles played by the agriculture sector such as preventing floods and landslides, maintaining ecosystems and providing beautiful scenery will not be lost.