The main theaters for agricultural and forestry activities are in
agricultural and forestry
communities. In Japan today, we still have approximately 140,000 these
communities.
However, they are typical aging societies. Members of the younger
generation are moving to
urban communities, leaving behind aged parents who still have an
attachment to their
traditional ways, although the life is hard and routine work severe. The
national government
should develop a viable policy to sustain such efforts. Promotion of
agricultural communities is
vital, but people can not be forced to remain there unless the life is
attractive. One crucial factor
is economic stability, especially for senior citizens. Therefore,
implementation of an adequate
social security system is indispensable.
The agricultural population is definitely aging and successors are
scarce. And if any
successors are found, they should be able to find marriage partners. I have
proposed three
policies to counter depopulation in agricultural communities: 1) remove
economic and
retirement worries; 2) assist in locating marriage partners; and 3) build
communities attractive
enough for those who are willing to come and marry farmers. I have a
proposal for what I call
the "third sector," consisting of the national government, local
municipalities and agricultural
organizations. We may have to allocate certain tax money to this "third
sector," in order to
assure the economic life of agricultural wage earners with not only a fixed
annual income but
also with retirement benefits and pensions. This scheme however requires a
large-scale
agricultural promotion policy which can be only approved when the value of
agricultural and
forestry activities in mountainous regions is recognized as a matter of
national interest.
There is "de-coupling" policy in place in Europe, which means
governmental assurance
of a fixed income for those who practice agriculture in severely depressed
areas. However, in
certain areas, the environment dictates the maximum benefit possible
obtainable from
agricultural activities, irrespective of effort, and so this policy would
assure that the people in
these areas still enjoy an equal opportunity to achieve a comparable
standard of living. The
policy is based on the assumption that agricultural activities in these
areas are indispensable to
the national interest. Japanese agricultural policy has been lacking such
approach to date, but
the new "Fundamental Law " of agriculture has incorporated this concept for
the first time.
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