2021 Volume 2021 Issue 1 Pages 72-83
The comparative disadvantage of agriculture in Japan, combined with the shortage of agricultural laborers due to socioeconomic factors such as a declining and aging population, is accelerating farmland abandonment. This increase in abandoned farmland puts food security in times of emergency at risk and causes additional problems, such as the loss of agricultural multifunctionality. Although many studies have been conducted on the causes of farmland abandonment in Japan, only a few have examined this mechanism using community-based data and spatial econometric models. In this study, we aim to precisely measure the impact of socioeconomic and policy factors on farmland abandonment while considering the spatial dependency of this phenomenon. The results of the analysis showed that the spatial econometric model improved the accuracy of the estimation. It was also found that the policy effects of the direct payment for hilly and mountainous areas are identified, and the current structural reform policies for creating large-scale farmers promoted by the Japanese government contribute to the reduction of abandoned farmland.
