TOKYO -- About 3,000 farmers from across Japan staged a rally Tuesday in Tokyo, urging the government not to make any compromise unfavorable for the country's agriculture, if trade ministers decide to meet in Geneva later this month.
The farmers voiced concerns that prioritizing only an early conclusion of the Doha Round of free trade talks would lead to serious food and agricultural problems in many countries.
"We can't accept conditions that will put the future farm management into anxiety and confusion," said Mamoru Moteki, who heads the Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives, the organizer of the rally.
The rally happened to take place a day after the WTO on Monday postponed setting a date for a ministerial meeting due to remaining wide differences between developed and developing countries.
For Japanese farmers, the major concern in the negotiations is whether the government can secure enough measures to guard the country's politically sensitive farm products, including rice, sugar and wheat, from cheap imports.
ADVERTISEMENT
A set of revised WTO proposals on the farm negotiations, released Saturday, allow developed countries to designate up to 6 percent of all products as sensitive to protect them from sharp cuts in tariffs.
The government is expected to face tough negotiations with food exporting countries as it is trying to secure at least 8 percent of all farm products to be treated as such.
Japan, which has one of the world's lowest food self-sufficiency ratios, is the only WTO member aiming for the 8 percent target.
Japan has a total of 1,332 agricultural tariff lines, out of which duties of more than 200 percent have been imposed on 101 that are classified as highly important products to shield from cheap imports.
If a ceiling of 6 percent is placed, Japan will be able to secure only about 80 of those for exemption from sharp tariff cuts. An 8 percent exemption would cover all 101 tariff lines.
"We will never give up the 8 percent of sensitive products," said Moteki of the powerful farm union, which has strong ties with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
The WTO had hoped to invite about 30 trade ministers in Geneva from this weekend to make another attempt to reach an outline deal in the seven-year-old Doha Round. But the idea has been given up.
WTO Director General Pascal Lamy, instead, told ambassadors of key trading powers in Geneva on Monday that he may arrange a ministerial meeting for Dec. 17 to 19, if consultations in the coming days show signs of achieving progress in the trade talks.
