Toru Wakui, 65, is a rice farmer who has defied the government¡¯s blanket control of rice production since the 1970s. But many other farmers who seek the right to freely grow rice based on their own business decisions regard him as a hero.
Wakui has continued his campaign to defy the mandatory quota-based program of controlling prices through production over the past four decades.
The program, called ¡°gentan¡± (paddy reduction), is designed to keep rice prices artificially high. Gentan has long been recognized as a symbol of the government¡¯s policy of benefitting vested interest groups, namely rice farmers and politicians living in rural areas.
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