JAPAN STUDY URGES FOREIGN ACCESS TO FARM MARKETS

  Japan should increase foreign access to
  its farm products market, while encouraging further development
  of domestic agriculture, a government report said.
      The white paper on agriculture for the year ended March 31
  said active participation in writing world farm trade rules at
  the next round of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)
  talks will help prepare Japan to improve access.
      Agriculture Ministry sources said the paper marked an
  easing in Japan's tough position on agricultural imports which
  stressed the need for strict controls on some products to
  maintain self-sufficiency in food.
      Japan now produces only 30 pct of its annual grain needs,
  down from 61 pct some 20 years ago, official figures show.
      The paper said Japanese agriculture has been slow to
  improve productivity and demand/supply imbalances.
      The relative shortage of farmland in Japan is mainly
  responsible for higher domestic prices, it said.
      The strong yen has meant lower input material prices but
  has also resulted in higher agricultural imports which has
  worsened working conditions among part-time farmers, the paper
  said.
      This could make it difficult to improve the industry's
  structure, the paper said.
      To solve these problems and to reduce farm product prices
  to more reasonable levels, Japan should try to restructure the
  the agricultural sector to improve productivity and make it
  self-supporting, it said.
  

