Japan Diet OKs bill to unify farmland intermediary functions

May 17, 2019

Tokyo--Japan's Diet, or parliament, on Friday enacted a bill to make so-called farmland banks take charge of mediating between farmland owners and prospective borrowers.

The bill to revise the farmland bank law was approved at a plenary meeting of the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet, by a majority vote with support mainly from the Liberal Democratic Party-led ruling bloc, after clearing the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, in late April.

The bill, aimed at promoting the creation of large-scale plots of farmland and helping enhance productivity, is expected to be put into force within the next six months.

The farmland banks, set up in all 47 prefectures of Japan, borrow idled and other plots from their owners and lease them to farmers who want to expand their operations and to new entrants in the agriculture sector.

A system in which agricultural cooperatives and municipalities mediate between land owners and borrowers started in fiscal 2009. The intermediary functions will be handed over to the farmland banks under the revised law in order to expand the activities across wider areas.

The integration is expected to be carried out in fiscal 2020.

The revised law will also simplify procedures for using the farmland banks.

It will work to facilitate supply of plots from farmers. Each region will be urged to make detailed discussions, including through the creation of future visions for farmland, with key local personnel, such as members of municipal agriculture committees, playing a leading role. Jiji Press