The role of land improvement in changing Japan's agriculture and creating rural environments
2018
Nakamura, Y. (Tokyo University of Agriculture (Japan))
Next year marks 70 years since the enactment of Japan's Land Improvement Act. Reviewing the roles land improvement has played in developing agriculture, promoting rural development, and creating today's rural environment as well as reexamining current challenges faced by agriculture and rural environments is necessary to re-envision the future of Japanese agriculture. First, this paper explains how, after World War II, improvement of irrigation facilities and agricultural land helped advance agricultural production, income, and labor productivity. At the time, Land Improvement Districts played a central role in encouraging regional cooperation so that rural resources continued to be locally managed, a system that has weakened due to urbanization, modernization, and changing lifestyles. The paper then examines 'Japan revitalization strategy 2016' and the new Long-term Land Improvement Plan, which were formulated with the vision of revitalizing and redeveloping Japan's agriculture, forestry and fisheries industries and thus strengthening Japan's international competitiveness in these sectors. The long-term plan delineates priority goals, and this paper selects several of those to evaluate the potentially important role land improvement could play in meeting each goal. Selected goals are : 1) consolidate agricultural land and improve infrastructure to reduce production cost ; 2) pursue environmentally friendly land improvement ; 3) strengthen the financial soundness of Land Improvement Districts ; and 4) enhance multifaceted uses of agricultural water, specifically for disaster prevention and rural environment creation.
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