Ex-socialist to become Japan's next farm minister: report

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's next prime minister Yukio Hatoyama picked a former socialist lawmaker to be minister of agriculture, NHK public TV reported, as the incoming government aims to provide income support for farmers as a key policy plank.

Hirotaka Akamatsu, a 61-year-old veteran lawmaker, was campaign chief for Hatoyama's Democratic Party in the run-up to the August 30 election which saw the long-dominant Liberal Democrats ousted for just the second time in its history.

The Democrats said in their campaign platform that they aimed for Japan to achieve complete self-sufficiency in major grains, raising concern about protectionism.

But Katsuya Okada, the party's secretary-general at the time, told Reuters in an interview in August that boosting food self-sufficiency and pursuing free trade were not incompatible.

Akamatsu may also have to deal with U.S. pressure to remove restrictions on U.S. beef. Tokyo has only partially lifted a ban on U.S. beef imposed after bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) was found in the United States in December 2003.

Hatoyama will take office as prime minister and is expected to announce his cabinet line-up later on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Linda Sieg and Chikako Mogi; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)