Headquarters on Creating Dynamism in Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery Industries and Local Communities

On December 24, 2021, the Prime Minister held the 32nd meeting of the Headquarters on Creating Dynamism in Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery Industries and Local Communities at the Prime Minister’s Office.

At the meeting, the participants engaged in discussions on concrete reform measures in the fields of agriculture, forestry, and fisheries and other matters.

Following the discussion, the Prime Minister said,

“Today we revised the Plan for Creating Dynamism in Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery Industries and Local Communities and will utilize the supplementary budget that passed the Diet this week to strongly push ahead with the shift to smart production sites with the implementation of digital technologies, enhance our export capacity, and realize greener agriculture, forestry, and fishery industries, with a sense of speed.

Moreover, we will further make investments and carry out reforms for the growth of these industries that underpin the local economy in a bold manner.

The first is the promotion of smart agriculture, forestry, and fishery industries.

We will implement regulatory reforms to bring into reality the use of small agricultural robots on public roads and speed up the shift to smart production sites, along with the expansion of machine sharing via agricultural support services and human resource development.

We will create a new scheme under which the Farmland Bank will aggregate scattered agricultural land in an intensive manner, thereby strongly backing the development of smart agriculture and other initiatives.

The second is the enhancement of the capacity to export agricultural, forestry, and fisheries products and processed foods.

The export value has exceeded the long-standing annual target of 1 trillion yen as of November. Toward achieving the target of 5 trillion yen in 2030, we will first aim to reach 2 trillion yen in 2025. To this end, we will establish an accreditation system for export promotion bodies by product line and encourage investments by business operators that take on the challenge of exports by preferential tax and financial measures for the construction of export facilities and other activities. In addition, we will add organic Japanese sake, for which there is demand overseas, to the JAS certification system.

The third is the realization of greener agriculture, forestry, and fishery industries.

We will build a system toward a nationwide shift to pest control without reliance on agricultural chemicals.

Furthermore, we will establish a scheme to further support initiatives that will alleviate environmental burden, including reduced use of agrochemicals and chemical fertilizers by producers and communities, as well as development of new technologies toward this end, on which we embarked under the supplementary budget.

With regard to these matters, we will make use of approximately 100 billion yen from the supplementary budget and the initial budget for the next fiscal year, steadily implement each and every program while staying close to and give a supportive push to those on the frontline. At the same time, as for matters that require legal revisions, we will submit relevant bills to the next ordinary Diet session, so that we will make sure to give shape to policy reforms. I ask for further efforts by those involved.”