Japan Press Weekly

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2025 August 27 - September 2 TOP3 [POLITICS]

Family farmers call on gov’t to recognize extreme heat and drought as disaster

The average temperature in Japan in both June and July was the highest on record, inflicting damage on agricultural products. Farmers are calling for the strengthening of government support.

Accompanied by Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Councillors Iwabuchi Tomo, representatives of the Japan Family Farmers Movement (Nouminren) in late August conveyed information about the damage to crops in various regions to the Ministry of Agriculture. Farmers growing vegetables, rice, and fruit trees participated in this petition.

They described their respective plights, stating that the heatwave has been a disaster-level event. They demanded that the government expand agricultural mutual relief and income insurance systems.

Fujiwara Asako, secretary general of the Nouminren, said “Disasters were previously said to occur once every several decades, but they are now happening frequently. We need an updated version of the existing systems so that small-scale family farmers can continue farming with security.”

The United Nations General Assembly in 2017 adopted a resolution, “Decade of Family Farming,” which emphasizes the role of family farming in protecting the environment and biodiversity. The resolution states that providing support for family farming will strengthen their capacity to improve resilience to climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.