The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (農林水産省, Nōrin-suisan-shō; MAFF) 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 Norikazu Suzuki.[1]

History

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 and Industry (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 most of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry was merged into the Ministry of Munitions (軍需省, Gunjushō) due to the mobilisation of industry for the war effort in 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

Internal bureaus

  • 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

List of ministers

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

#Agency MinisterDebut monthRetire monthPrime Minister
-Zenkō SuzukiDecember 1976November 1977Takeo Fukuda
1Ichiro NakagawaNovember 1977December 1978Takeo Fukuda
2Michio WatanabeDecember 1978November 1979Masayoshi Ōhira
3Kabun MutōNovember 1979July 1980Masayoshi Ōhira
5Kichirō TazawaNovember 1981November 1982Zenkō Suzuki
9Tsutomu HataDecember 1985July 1986Yasuhiro Nakasone
12Tsutomu HataDecember 1988June 1989Noboru Takeshita
14Michihiko KanoAugust 1989February 1990Toshiki Kaifu
17Masami TanabuNovember 1991August 1993Kiichi Miyazawa
22Hosei NorotaAugust 1995January 1996Tomiichi Murayama
27Shōichi NakagawaAugust 1998October 1999Keizō Obuchi
32Tsutomu TakebeApril 2001September 2002Junichiro Koizumi
33Tadamori ŌshimaOctober 2002March 2003Junichiro Koizumi
35Yoshiyuki KameiApril 2003September 2004Junichiro Koizumi
41Toshikatsu MatsuokaSeptember 2006May 2007Shinzō Abe
45Masatoshi WakabayashiSeptember 2007July 2008Yasuo Fukuda
47Shigeru IshibaSeptember 2008September 2009Tarō Asō
53Yoshimasa HayashiDecember 2012September 2014Shinzō Abe
57Hiroshi MoriyamaOctober 2015July 2016Shinzō Abe
61Takamori YoshikawaOctober 2018September 2019Shinzō 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 December 2023 Fumio Kishida
69 Tetsushi Sakamoto December 2023 October 2024 Fumio Kishida
70 Yasuhiro Ozato October 2024 November 2024 Shigeru Ishiba
71 Taku Etō November 2024 May 2025 Shigeru Ishiba
72 Shinjirō Koizumi May 2025 October 2025 Shigeru Ishiba
73 Norikazu Suzuki October 2025 Sanae Takaichi

Functional activities

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

References

allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministry_of_Agriculture,_Forestry_and_Fisheries_(Japan)