Abstract
It is quite an unprecedented event in our country that our agricultural policy which had been focussing mainly on the increase of rice production during the past years changed to the adjustment of rice production in terms of decreasing rice growing acreage last year.
As regards the adjustment of rice production in 1970, the government effected a reduction of 10% in rice production. The adaptation thereof had resulted in a great variety in different regions. As of September 20, 1970, the attainment ratio of a decrease in rice growing acreage was 139% as average on a national scale. The range of variation thereof, however, varied very widely from 52% in Kyôto-fu as minimum value to 299% in Hokkaidô as maximum and similarly rather a great difference of the value thereof was observed, if examined critically, within each ‘fu’ or ‘ken’ (administrative units of local government of the country).
In connection with the Hokuriku region, a representative rice growing area of the country, the ratio of production in Fukui-ken, in Ishikawa-ken, and in Toyama-ken was about 130% each, which was very close to the mean ratio on a national scale, except the case in Niigata-ken in which the ratio was as low as 78% compared with other three ken mentioned above.
This paper deals with the ways of adaptability answered to the new policy and describes regional types shown by diagrams, by administrative districts (cities, towns, and villages) in these three ken in the Hokuriku region except Fukui-ken, based on the following items:
(1) Attainment ratio for the allotted target,
(2) Attainment ratio of the following measures to the adjusted acreage
i) ratio attained by lieing fallow
ii) ratio attained by rotation
iiii) ratio attained by land consolidation project
All things considered, it has been confirmed that adaptability attained by fallow was most predominant. There were, however, two exceptional cases to be worthy of mention: the case in the Tonami district (in Toyama-ken) where adaptability was execused by appli-cation of ‘tulipculture’ which is incompatible with rice growing in this district and the case in the Nyûzen district (in Toyama-ken) where adaptability was actualized by year-long execution of land consolidation project.
The reasons why the attainment ratio in the Kambara district (in Niigata-ken) was very low-it is only 15 to 40%, are partly due to a considerably large scale of farm management in this district, and partly due to the peculiar location where farmers have little chance of sidelines.
On the whole, it was observed that the ratio of attainment in mountainous villages had been very high. This fact may be interpreted from the reason why farmers living in such secluded mountainous districts preferred rather to work away from their homes in order to utilize the remainder of their manpower caused by application of fallow for rice growing, for which they got compensation money concerning fallow from the government.
As stated above, it has been fond that regional conditions regarding both ‘economic’ and ‘social’ affairs were strongly reflected, if minutely examined, for adjustment of rice production which seem to have been attained simply.
