Nowadays, the irrigation is one of the most important regional resources, because it supplies “regional water”. However, it is very difficult to maintain irrigation canals, because a lot of farmers who are in charge of maintenance are either with side jobs or aged. The irrigation is utilized for living water by all the residents in the area. Therefore, all the residents (farmers and non-farmers alike) are responsible for taking part in the maintenance and management of the irrigation, especially in suburban areas.
In this paper, we analyze the non-farmers' willingness of participation in the maintenance and management. Firstly, we analyze the difference in the non-farmers' recognition on the attractions concerning irrigation between urban area and rural area. The difference in non-farmers' willingness of participation in the maintenance and management of the irrigation between those two areas are analysed as well. Secondly, the factors which affect the non-farmers' willingness of the participation in the maintenance and management of the irrigation are analysed.
The study area of analyses is the Central Area in Toyama Prefecture.
Main methods of analyses are Chi-Square Test and Logit model analysis.
The followings are most important findings through above-mentioned analyses. 1) The factors which affect non-farmers' willingness of participation in the maintenance and management of irrigation in urban area are whether they have children or not, whether the purpose of utilization or not, their evaluation on the ecological functions of irrigation , and whether they are willing to participate in the attractions concerning irrigation. 2) On the other hand, the factors affecting non-farmers' willingness in rural area are their sex, whether they have children or not, the frequency of their use of irrigation, the distance from their house to the irrigation canals, their evaluation on the water purification functions of irrigation, and whether they are willing to participate in the attractions concerning irrigation.
