The Current Status and Limiting Factors of Farmland Consolidation in Citrus Fruit Cultivation

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to clarify the current status and limiting factors of citrus farmland consolidation in Japan. Possibilities for overcoming agricultural land fragmentation were examined from the viewpoint of farmland liquidity. To achieve this goal, interview surveys were conducted with 19 ukete farmers who had received citrus farmland in the research area of Kawakami area, Yawatahama City, Ehime Prefecture.

Through the intermediary service of the “farmland liquidity committee” established in the agricultural cooperative association, farmland liquidity progressed for recipient farmers in the Kawakami area. Farmland consolidation, however, had not been enhanced. According to the analysis of the target of this study—citrus farmland acquisition from 2000 to 2014—, bunsanteki shutoku (dispersive acquisition ; acquired land that was not adjacent to land previously owned) increased and menteki shutoku (adjacent acquisition ; acquired land that was adjacent to land previously owned) accounted for approximately 30%. In this study, the criteria for achievement in terms of farmland consolidation were “the number of farmland plots was less than 10 and the size of most farmland plots was more than 50 ares.” The analysis indicated that farmers who satisfied these requirements did not exist. Thus, the problem of land fragmentation has not been solved.

Regarding limiting factors, first, the balance between demand and supply in citrus farmland had been lost. When dashite farmers, as suppliers, relinquished land, there was an increasing number of cases in which a famer who owned adjacent land was not able to obtain land. Second, farmers as recipients tended to be labor-intensive and not motivated to accumulate citrus farmland. Third, recipients preferred to obtain excellent land in order to establish consolidation, while suppliers did not easily release excellent land.