Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Japan)

Coordinates: 35°40′26″N 139°45′07″E / 35.674°N 139.752°E / 35.674; 139.752
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Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
農林水産省
Nōrin-suisan-shō

MAFF building
Agency overview
Preceding agencies
  • Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce (1881–1925, 1943–1945)
  • Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (1925–1943, 1945–1978)
JurisdictionGovernment of Japan
Headquarters1-2-1 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8950 Japan
35°40′26″N 139°45′07″E / 35.674°N 139.752°E / 35.674; 139.752
Employees18,744
Ministers responsible
Child agencies
  • Forestry Agency
  • Fisheries Agency
Websitemaff.go.jp

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (農林水産省, Nōrin-suisan-shō) is a cabinet level ministry in the government of Japan responsible for oversight of the agriculture, forestry and fishing industries. Its acronym is MAFF. The current Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is Taku Etō.[1]

History[edit]

The Constitution of the Empire of Japan provided for the creation of a Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce (農商務省, Nōshōmu-shō), which was established in 1881, with Tani Tateki as its first minister. As an additional note, the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce was a division that served as the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

In 1925, the commerce functions were separated out into a separate Ministry of Commerce (商工省, Shōkō-shō), and the ministry was renamed the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (農林省, Nōrin-shō). The ministry was also given responsibility for oversight of the Factory Act of 1903, which provided regulations for work hours and worker safety in both industrial and agricultural industries.

From 1943 to 1945, when the Ministry of Commerce was abolished due to the nationalization of Japanese industry for the war effort of World War II against Allies of World War II, parts of that ministry reverted to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, which was again briefly named Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce (農商省, Nōshō-shō).

In 1978, the name of Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry was expanded to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to better reflect the ministry's role in guaranteeing the Japanese public a safe food supply, and to protect producers and workers in the food production industries.[2]

Organization[edit]

Internal Bureaus[edit]

  • Minister's Secretariat (大臣官房)
  • Food Safety and Consumer Affairs Bureau (消費・安全局)
  • Export and International Affairs Bureau (輸出・国際局)
  • Crop Production Bureau (農産局)
  • Livestock Industry Bureau (畜産局)
  • Management Improvement Bureau (経営局)
  • Rural Development Bureau (農村振興局)

Affiliated Agencies[edit]

List of ministers[edit]

The following list below is a list of notable ministers appointed since 1976.

# Agency Minister Debut month Retire month Prime Minister
1 Zenkō Suzuki December 1976 November 1977 Takeo Fukuda
2 Michio Watanabe December 1978 November 1979 Masayoshi Ōhira
5 Kichirō Tazawa November 1981 November 1982 Zenkō Suzuki
9 Tsutomu Hata December 1985 July 1986 Yasuhiro Nakasone
12 Tsutomu Hata December 1988 June 1989 Noboru Takeshita
14 Michihiko Kano August 1989 February 1990 Toshiki Kaifu
17 Masami Tanabu November 1991 August 1993 Kiichi Miyazawa
22 Hosei Norota August 1995 January 1996 Tomiichi Murayama
27 Shōichi Nakagawa August 1998 October 1999 Keizō Obuchi
32 Tsutomu Takebe April 2001 September 2002 Junichiro Koizumi
33 Tadamori Ōshima October 2002 March 2003 Junichiro Koizumi
35 Yoshiyuki Kamei April 2003 September 2004 Junichiro Koizumi
41 Toshikatsu Matsuoka September 2006 May 2007 Shinzō Abe
45 Masatoshi Wakabayashi September 2007 July 2008 Yasuo Fukuda
47 Shigeru Ishiba September 2008 September 2009 Tarō Asō
53 Yoshimasa Hayashi December 2012 September 2014 Shinzō Abe
57 Hiroshi Moriyama October 2015 July 2016 Shinzō Abe
61 Takamori Yoshikawa October 2018 September 2019 Shinzō Abe
63 Taku Etō September 2019 September 2020 Shinzō Abe
64 Kōtarō Nogami September 2020 October 2021 Yoshihide Suga
65 Genjirō Kaneko October 2021 August 2022 Fumio Kishida
67 Tetsuro Nomura August 2022 September 2023 Fumio Kishida
68 Ichiro Miyashita September 2023 Fumio Kishida

Functional activities[edit]

The primary function of the ministry is to set quality standards for food products, supervise commodity markets and food sales, and to undertake land reclamation and land improvement projects.[2]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "List of Ministers (The Cabinet) | Prime Minister of Japan and His Cabinet". Cabinet Secretariat.
  2. ^ a b "THE ROLE OF MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES". Official Website of MAFF.

External links[edit]

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