Proffesor from Waseda University in IAFE-NRI

At the begining of January Professor Masahiko Gemma from Waseda University was in Institute of Agricultural and Food Economy - NRI. He wanted to know, how the trade liberalization and integration of economic systems can benefit the agricultural and food economy can be studied in the case of Poland. He said I was at the Institute to learn how the experts in a leading research institute in Europe have assessed the impact of the EU integration of 2004 on agricultural and food economy and the future challenges faced by these currently benefitting sectors of the economy. The agricultural policies in Japan have been following the path of the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) of the EU for the past 50 years. The shift to the policy means of direct payment from the price support and border control has been also observed in Japanese agriculture. The roles of agriculture for environmental conservation and rural development have been increasingly considered important. As Japan and other countries in Asia and the Pacific Region look into the possibility of forming a trade union or economic community, the lessons learned from the Polish agriculture and food industry are very valuable.