MAFF was a British government office. The letters stand for Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: the people who made rules for farms, fishing boats, and the food in British shops. Speakers said it as one word, like “maf”. You will mostly meet it in older news, forms, and farm papers, because that office closed in 2002 and a new one, DEFRA, took over the work. Everyday people often just said “the ministry”; MAFF was more a name for officials, farmers, and journalists. Though actually, Japan still has a ministry whose English short name is also MAFF — but those letters stand for Forestry, not Food, and it is a different office. When this dictionary says MAFF, it means the old British one.