Making the farm sector competitive

日本農業の競争力強化

One problem with Japan's economic recovery is that the regions remain in the doldrums. Another is that internationally non-competitive sectors, such as agriculture, are exposed to the unrelenting forces of globalization. Unless these weaknesses are effectively addressed, it will be difficult to set the Japanese economy on a trajectory of sustainable expansion.

The white paper puts a positive spin on the current recovery. Private-sector demand, it says, continues to provide the main thrust of growth, as shown by commercial banks' stepped-up bad-debt writeoffs, marked declines in the overall unemployment rate and the surge in corporate capital spending.

Yet, economic growth in local regions, home to agriculture and small business, is lagging behind that in the three largest urban regions: Tokyo, Nagoya and the Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe area. To close the gap, the report says, structural reform needs to be promoted nationwide.

That is easier said than done, given regional differences in industrial layout, natural environment and human capital. For this reason, the white paper calls for "regional initiatives" for development rather than "across-the-board policies."

The central authority should do its utmost to help promote regional development. In this regard, an economic white paper has its task cut out for it: making an in-depth analysis of the hows and whys of regional stagnation. By so doing it can make effective and specific proposals for reviving the regional economies.

The report's second feature -- the focus on globalization -- is worth noting, especially at a time when Japanese agriculture faces mounting pressure for import liberalization. Protection is a traditional way to meet import competition. The report suggests the opposite: exporting farm products.

Although export possibilities are extremely limited at present, a number of products are making a splash. Sales of apples and strawberries, for example, have jumped three to eight times in the past three years, in spite of their relatively high prices. Why? Because they are more attractive to consumers in other aspects, such as safety, taste and appearance. All of this is the result of superior quality control, as the report points out.

In fact, consumers around the world put a higher premium on health and safety factors. For producers, this means using less chemical fertilizers and more organic ones. In other words, the competitiveness of agricultural products depends increasingly on non-price factors.

The question is whether Japanese farm products have the potential to win the confidence of overseas consumers and, more generally, how much the safety factor contributes to export competitiveness.

Admittedly, Japanese farmers generally are so inefficient that they cannot compete in world markets. This would change, though, if they succeeded in adding higher value -- non-price value -- to their products. The key is innovation -- which requires deregulation (such as allowing the entry of corporate entities) as much as it does bold rethinking.

Japan lags behind in the international drive for free trade agreements. Global trade-liberalization talks under the World Trade Organization have not made much headway, either. In both cases, agriculture is the main obstacle.

The challenge for Japan is to devise a proactive policy designed to improve the international competitiveness of its agriculture. That may be a tall order for the heavily protected sector, but the reactive policy of fending off import competition through an array of protective measures cannot be a viable long-term alternative. Paradoxical as it may sound, a globally oriented agriculture would provide a major catalyst for regional development.

The Japan Times Weekly
Aug. 7, 2004
(C) All rights reserved

      景気回復の問題点として、地方経済の停滞、農業のように国際競争力の弱い部門に対するグローバル化の影響がある。

      報告は、銀行の不良債権処理の加速化、失業率の改善、企業投資の増加などを例示して、景気は順調に回復しているという。

      しかし地方経済は、東京、名古屋、京阪神の3大都市圏より回復が遅れている。構造改革を全国的に推進する必要があるというが、地域格差を埋めるのは容易ではない。

      一方、農業部門が輸入自由化の強い圧力を受けている折から、経済のグローバル化対策は重要課題である。

      農産物輸出の可能性ははまだ限られているが、リンゴ、イチゴなどの輸出量は過去3年間に3〜8倍に伸びている。高価でも、安全性、味、見かけなどが評価されているのは、厳しい品質管理のおかげである。

      世界の消費者は健康、安全問題に関心を持っている。問題は、日本農産物の安全性が輸出競争力に寄与するか否かである。

      日本の農業は非能率で、国際競争力に乏しいといわれてきたが、技術革新による価格以外の付加価値により状況は変わる。そのために、株式会社の農業参入を認めるなどの規制緩和、大胆な発想が必要になる。

      日本は自由貿易協定締結で他国に遅れており、世界貿易機関の自由化交渉もあまり進んでいない。問題は農業にある。

      日本は、農業部門の競争力を強化する前向きの政策を推進せねばならない。後ろ向きの農業保護政策は長期的政策としては維持できない。逆説的だが、世界志向の農業が地域活性化の起爆剤になるだろう。