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The Voice of Katsu Murayama, Japan |
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‘In the late sixties and early seventies, a small number of Japanese producers began practicing organic farming methods. These producers were tied to consumers in a type of relationship which eventually developed into the system called Teikei. It was in this social context that the Japan Organic Agriculture Association (JOAA) was founded in 1971. JOAA actively promoted the Teikei movement and produced the Ten Articles on Teikei. I, however, did not believe that Teikei was sufficient to realize an organic society. Therefore, I dedicated myself to creating a self-sufficient community with organic agriculture as its core.
‘As environmental destruction worsened and consumer interests in health food rose, several distribution systems that specialized in organic and natural food products were founded (i.e. home delivery, small retail, consumer cooperatives). They were a response to the rising demand for organic products and the correspondingly increasing level of production, which was by then expanding beyond the framework of Teikei. Everyone worked hard to make order out of chaos, for instance by setting up in-house production and processing standards and certification systems. During this period, since there was no public education or research agency for organic agriculture, producers such as ourselves received a large number of visitors and trainees, some of whom settled in our community.
‘Until the latter half of the 1990s, the Japanese government did not show any interest in organic agriculture but rather viewed it with hostility. However, when the WTO regime was established they rushed to set up rather low quality organic standards based on the Codex Guidelines and a very strict accreditation system (the revised JAS law). In doing so, they robbed the terminology ‘organic agriculture’ from the private sector, which had been taking into account the farming conditions in Japan. Furthermore, they revealed their undemocratic nature by prohibiting the use of the term ‘organic agricultural products’ unless the product was accompanied by an organic JAS mark. Since the implementation of the revised JAS law, the share of domestically produced ‘organic agricultural products’ distributed in Japan has lowered disastrously to the ratio of 1:10 compared to that of imported products. In the meantime, those participating in Teikei and self-sufficient methods continue to work outside the market distribution framework, choosing not to use the organic JAS label. Many of the supermarkets as well as the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations have also been seeking alternative venues by establishing their own criteria and labels for food safety and reliability.
‘In order to more properly promote the ‘organic’ concept, colleagues and I founded IFOAM Japan. I believe that one of the most important tasks of IFOAM Japan is to create mechanisms through which citizens can propose policy changes. In fact, the organization has succeeded in persuading some policy makers, who are generally known to be reluctant to take action, to form a federation to promote organic agriculture. This has led to the legislation of a new law on promotion of organic agriculture, which will be soon be passed by the Japanese parliament. IFOAM Japan serves as the secretariat to the national movement ‘Let’s Change the Way of Agriculture’, which aims to make organic a key element in domestic agriculture.
‘Our path to creating an organic society is not easy. More individuals must become committed to bring about changes at the societal level. This implies that each person must fight against the market economy while also compromising with it. We as activists in the organic movement, including IFOAM, organic producers and advocates, can and must play an important role in driving forth these social changes.’
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