일본농협의 위기와 비판에 관한 논쟁

Abstract

Disputes over Japanese Agricultural Cooperatives(‘JA’ hereafter) seem to be focused on three issues. One is about the principle of equity based on one-to-one vote right for each and every membership. Another is on the multipurpose operation in which are included not only marketing and purchasing businesses but also, especially, financial area such as savings and loan as well as insurance services. The other is on the conspiracy with government. First two critics are related on low profitability and efficiency of JA’s agricultural businesses. The critics on these issues urge JA to split financial services sector out of itself and to focus on the businesses related only to agriculture, especially, for full-time farmers. These two critics either contradict to the basic idea of cooperatives for small-size and/or less-competitive entities, which deserve to be maintained to compete against large urban capital, or show ignorance of the difficulties with which Japanese agriculture is suffering. JA agrees with the third critic and that it needs to be independent from the government intervention and conspiracy. JA should examine these critics completely and find solutions for both small part-time farmers and large full-time farmers. JA should also try to find ways to become cooperatives complex contributing to many and various problems in the local communities.