Abstract
High economic growth in the 1960's in Japan brought about excessive concentration of population in large cities. It naturally caused higher land prices in urbanized areas and the urban encroachment on farmland. The New City Planning Law promulgated in 1968 classifies the suburban areas into two categories, the urbanization promotion area and the urbanization control area. In the area permitted to urbanize, the land prices soared quickly and farmland substantially survived instead of being urbanized, Rn the other hand, in the urbanization control area where land prices remained relatively low, the farmland was readily converted into housing lots or sites for public facilities. Thus the ironical law has promoted urbanization in the urbanization control area.
quit farming and to make the land a dumping ground, and agricultural conditions became aggravated (Fig. 7).
By interviewing 58 farm households in Kozukue, we found the followings (Table 5)
1. Only 15 farm households (25%) which cultivate more than 70 ares have a male in his forties engaged in farming or a successor in the f urure. Although these farm house-holds could possibly continue agriculture, there are factors degrading the farming environ-ment, such as waste soil dumping and land speculation.
2. Small farms, which account for 65% of the total farm households, are operated only by wives or old people, or have no one engaged in forming in the daytime.
3. Twenty four farm households (41.3%) do not manage apartments or houses to let, but have non-farming employment. The following conditions are needed to conserve farmland in metropolitan areas.
1. Within a suburban village, both an exclusive farming district and an urbanization promotion area need to exist, so that farmers can engage in farming activities as well as the management of apartments houses for rent.
2. Land prices and sales of farmland need to be stalilized, so that farmers are willing to continue farming even in an extensive manner, and to maintain their property.
3. There should exist a group of farmers who engage in highly productive agriculture in the farmland conservation area.
