Ordinance on prefecture’s seeds enacted within this year: Governor Tamaki targets traditional vegetables and fruits in answers to the Prefectural Assembly. (23se21)

Concerning a prefectural ordinance to protect major produce and high quality seeds as unique to Okinawa, Governor Denny Tamaki made his thinking clear in answers to representatives’ questions at the regular session of the Prefectural Assembly on 22 September that his target is to have the ordinance enacted within this year.


The governor responded to a question from Tomoko Kiyuna of the Rikken Okinawa Party:


Until now, under the guidelines of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, the Prefecture protected seeds of major items such as sugar cane and other sweet products. However, by enacting an ordinance, which clarifies the obligation, not only can supplies of high quality seeds be stabilized, but we can further expect development of new brands of seed stock.


Our plan with this ordinance is to build up Okinawa’s unique product lines of traditional island vegetables and Asian tropical fruits. Just now we’re deliberating a draft of the ordinance and we’re targeting mid-October to offer it for public comment. After deliberation by the Prefectural Agricultural Policy Committee, we aim to submit the draft bill to the December ordinary session of the Prefectural Assembly.


Some of the purposes of the draft bill will be: (1) stabilizing a supply of high quality seeds, (2) management of the preservation of seed stocks and so on  of traditional vegetables, (3) development of high quality varieties. With the cooperation of each municipality and public research facility, we will take the necessary policy steps to carry out the conservation of seeds, their production, their dissemination and so on. We’re currently examining the targeted species and hereafter we’ll make the concrete determination.


Regarding the seed ordinance, the Major Agricultural Seed Law (Seed Act) was abolished in 2018. It had put the obligation on prefectural level governments for major agricultural seed production and supply stabilization for farm families. Since then, all over the country, prefectural level local governments have had to move along making their own ordinances.


As for the prefectures, as of the end of March 2021, 20 prefectures had enacted the same sort of ordinance. Inside Okinawa Prefecture also, voices have gathered, centered in the farming community, requesting the enactment of an ordinance to replace the Seed Act. 


Original Japanese article: Ryukyu Shimpo, published Thursday 23 September at 05:44

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/77f76344907e298c8f8097f7c2d0e7a9dae96b8d


Translator’s note:

Denny in the News: news about Okinawan Governor Denny Tamaki.

Denny Tamaki is the governor of Okinawa Prefecture in Japan. Although Okinawa is important as an international tourist destination and a key element in strategic US Military Forces, its governor receives very little coverage in the Japanese press and almost none in the English language media. 

  1. This blog hopes to  translate one news article a day on the governor.  It is unsponsored and unauthorized. The translator simply hopes to improve his skills and perhaps give the governor an English speaking audience. Any suggestion on improving the translation will be gratefully accepted. However, please leave political comments for another forum.

  2. Where they occur, words and phrases in Ryukyuan (the Okinawan language) are rendered in italics and translated in parentheses. Names  whose readings are uncertain are rendered as Name (=Kanji?) as in Nagayuki (=長行?). Any corrections in such instances would be of great help.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In the suit over exercise of proxy in the case of the weak seabed at the new Henoko base, judgment to be handed down on 20 December. (4de23)

Image
Splendor of Okinawa: Shrubby Bush Clover, roadside Uruma, 30no23 The seabed at the new base construction site at Henoko in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, is weak and needs reinforcement. So, the Okinawa Defense Bureau requested permission for the necessary design changes, but Governor Denny Tamaki refused. In response, the Government intends to exercise proxy to give itself permission in place of the governor. The Naha Branch of the Fukuoka High Court announced on 29 November that it will hand down its judgment in the lawsuit filed over the case at 2 pm on 20 December. At the trial on 30 October, Governor Denny Tamaki emphasized in the first oral arguments, “We can in no way accept this exercise of proxy, which violates the autonomy and independence of Okinawa.”  He further stressed the will of the prefecture’s people in opposition to the new base construction as the ‘Public will’. In addition, he requested to show that the  path to resolution lay in dialogue. The trial was conclud...
Read more

Governor Denny receives the report on JUNGLIA at the 4 month mark after its opening. (7de25)

Image
Splendor of Okinawa: Temple Tree, Mihama Beach, 1de25 CEO Takeshi Kato of Japan Entertainment (JE), which manages JUNGLIA Okinawa, visited Governor Denny Tamaki at the Prefectural Office on 28 November.  　 The CEO reported on the 4 months since the attraction’s opening. He repeatedly brought up dealing with operational improvements and such based on the voices of visitors to the park.  　 The CEO specifically mentioned the evening concerts in the park’s garden and, starting from December, the free entry of one child with each adult, targeting the prefecture’s people. CEO Kato stated, “We’d like to be contributing to Okinawa’s tourism as well.” Governor Tamaki, alluding to his speech the same day, entitled “Declaration on Sustainable Tourism”, stated, “For the people, employees, and tourists of our prefecture, this is an important win-win format. We’d like to have JE’s cooperation in many, many more initiatives.” Original Japanese article: Ryukyu Shimpo, published Sunday 30 Nov...
Read more

In Okinawa, Candidate Takara takes hold of the Henoko opposition parties as their new face, urging,”Let’s earnestly come to grips with these issues together.” (21jy25).

Image
Splendor of Okinawa: Mexican Petunia, Gushikawa RC Church, 13jy25. In the House of Councilors Election for the Okinawa Election District, independent candidate Sachika Takara (46), endorsed by All Okinawa, which opposes the relocation of the US Military Futenma Airfield in Ginowan to Henoko in Nago, both in Okinawa Prefecture, scored a victory. She defeated the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Party’s new candidate Ryo Okuma (38) in the election campaign.  Candidate Takara pledged before her supporters, “The Henoko problem is something our prefecture’s people have taken into our hearts. We’re going to earnestly come to grips with it together.”  With their eyes on a victory in next year’s gubernatorial election, her victory was a bitter blow to the LDP. Governor Denny Tamaki, who held the job of Candidate Takara’s campaign headquarters chief, stressed, “The will of the people in opposition to the relocation remains unshaken.” In recent mayoral elections, All Okinawa’s fortunes ha...
Read more