Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Japan)


The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries 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.
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History

The Constitution of the Empire of Japan provided for the creation of a Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, 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, and the ministry was renamed the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. 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 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'''.
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

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
63Taku EtōSeptember 2019September 2020Shinzō Abe
64Kōtarō NogamiSeptember 2020October 2021Yoshihide Suga
65Genjirō KanekoOctober 2021August 2022Fumio Kishida
67Tetsuro NomuraAugust 2022September 2023Fumio Kishida
68Ichiro MiyashitaSeptember 2023December 2023Fumio Kishida
69Tetsushi SakamotoDecember 2023October 2024Fumio Kishida
70Yasuhiro OzatoOctober 2024November 2024Shigeru Ishiba
71Taku EtōNovember 2024May 2025Shigeru Ishiba
72Shinjirō KoizumiMay 2025October 2025Shigeru Ishiba
73Norikazu 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.