Between Radiation And New Free-Trade Pact, Japan's Remaining Family Farmers In Serious Trouble

[hatrack]

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These are dark days for Japan's farmers as a perfect storm of politics, a slumping economy and natural calamity threatens a way of life here that dates back 2,500 years. Even as growers in the disaster-hit Tohoku region 200 miles north of Tokyo deal with the nuclear fallout, another threat looms: the government's possible participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a controversial free-trade pact that would scrap import tariffs that protect Japanese growers from cheaper imports.

Rice growers like Fukuda would be hit worst. Many are now protected by a whopping 800% duty on imported rice. Irate farmers recently drove their tractors down busy Tokyo streets to counter lobbyists who promote the free-trade pact as a boost for Japan's sagging economy.

Analysts say Japan must keep pace with developments such as South Korea's recent free-trade pact with the United States. Membership in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, these observers say, will strengthen ties with Japan's neighbors and the U.S. while reducing the damaging effects of a surging yen.

But caught in the middle are Japan's estimated 2.4 million farming households. The nation's agriculture sector suffered $30 billion in losses from the March earthquake and deadly tsunami, which deluged crops and damaged the cooling system at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, leading to reactor meltdowns and escaping radiation.

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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-japan-farm-20120105,0,2821554.story

[Nihil]

1. Wow ...

> Many are now protected by a whopping 800% duty on imported rice.

I bet that's making farming lobbies around the Western world drool ...