The 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.
History The Constitution of the Empire of Japan provided for the creation of a , 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 , and the ministry was renamed the . 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 .
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.
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
Forestry Agency (林野庁) Fisheries Agency (水産庁)
List of ministers The following list below is a list of notable ministers appointed since 1976.
# Agency Minister Debut month Retire month Prime Minister - Zenkō Suzuki December 1976 November 1977 Takeo Fukuda 1 Ichiro Nakagawa November 1977 December 1978 Takeo Fukuda 2 Michio Watanabe December 1978 November 1979 Masayoshi Ōhira 3 Kabun Mutō November 1979 July 1980 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 Abe63Taku EtōSeptember 2019September 2020Shinzō Abe64Kōtarō NogamiSeptember 2020October 2021Yoshihide Suga65Genjirō KanekoOctober 2021August 2022Fumio Kishida67Tetsuro NomuraAugust 2022September 2023Fumio Kishida68Ichiro MiyashitaSeptember 2023December 2023Fumio Kishida69Tetsushi SakamotoDecember 2023October 2024Fumio Kishida70Yasuhiro OzatoOctober 2024November 2024Shigeru Ishiba71Taku EtōNovember 2024May 2025Shigeru Ishiba72Shinjirō KoizumiMay 2025October 2025Shigeru Ishiba73Norikazu SuzukiOctober 2025Sanae 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.
See also Agriculture, forestry, and fishing in Japan Agricultural Protectionism in Japan Japan Agricultural Cooperatives Office of Korea Rural Development Korea Forest Service Shokuiku Japan Racing Association
References
External links