Direct Payment Policy for Farmers in Hilly and Mountainous Areas and Public Agricultural Corporation

— A Case Study of Former Shirakawa Village in Gifu prefecture —

Abstract

The former Higashi-Shirakawa village formed a public agricultural corporation, 'Shinseiki Kobou', based on the fund from direct payments support policy for hilly and mountainous areas in order to prevent farmland abandonment due to ageing farm households. As the result, it plays an important role to maintain terraced paddy fields in mountainous areas. However, the corporation remains some significant tasks; such as improving profitability from farming support service and retaining the number of operators.