Abstract
Okinawa, the southernmost part of Japan, reverted to Japanese administration in 1972 after the US military administration. With this as a turning point intensified was government intervention to agriculture in Okinawa. Along with an enhanced protection policy for the sugar industry, land improvement projects were promoted as the basis of modernization of agriculture in Okinawa, the main crop of which was sugar cane. The pioneering land improvement project on Ishigaki Island started in the late 1970s, including the construction of a full-scale irrigation schme and farmland consolidation. It has, however, faced fierce objections by farmers since the late 1980s, which makes it hard to complete. The objective of this study was to secure a better understanding of these confusing phenomena and to derive policy implications from analyzing how the project has changed farm management on Ishigaki Island, paying attention to the farmers' experiences, learning, and evaluations as the project continues. While the “short-term effects” of increasing productivity resulting from the land improvement project are unquestionable in the wet-paddy agriculture in mainland Japan, our analysis showed that this is not the case in Okinawa where the project mainly targets sugar cane farming. Farmers do not appreciate the short-term effects of the projects for the following reasons. 1) Irrigation is not the main critical factor affecting the yield of sugar cane. 2) Although farmland consolidation improved working conditions and accessibility to fields, in the consolidated farmland a negative effect on the yield of crops is observed, which is especially crucial to the cultivation of tropical fruit such as pineapple and mango, a promising sector of agriculture in Okinawa. The results of this study suggest that continuing the same concept and practices in the land improvement project will not lead to the promotion of promising agricultural sectors in the specific physical and social conditions of Okinawa.
