Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet on Friday approved a bill to help reform the agriculture sector by estranging a politically powerful farming lobby by revising agriculture laws.
The move is part of Abe's effort to ensure long-term economic growth through structural reforms. The government is hoping to get the bill passed before the Diet closes in late June.
The revision to the agriculture laws is aimed at depriving the lobby, the Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives, of its privileged status, which includes the right to supervise local cooperatives, by the end of September 2019.