大隅半島に於ける農産物の商品化と地域の形成
1954 年 6 巻 2 号 p. 103-116,166
詳細
1954 年 6 巻 2 号 p. 103-116,166
Osumi Peninsula, being located in the southern extremity of Kyushu in Japan, is far off from markets. Consequently, the agriculture in this Peninsula shows a remarkable aspect of self-sustaining. Most of the soil, however, being volcanic, there are few paddy-field, and characteristic crops are produced there. The kinds of the farming products depend upon different regions, and this regional difference clearly shows the specific feature of each region.
By comparing the sorts of the goods shipped off from several harbors of the Peninsula in 1886, was brought to light the economical character of each hinterland of these harbours.
Also the comparison of the agricultural products the farmers have been selling on a commercial scale during these several years enables us to understand the fact that there are several agricultural regions in the Peninsula each of which has its own specific character. Namely, Osumi Peninsula can be divided into the following five regions: (1) the region making the stock-raising the primary object, (2) the region aiming at the cultivation of the staple corn such as rice and rye, (3) the region where both the staple corn and other farming products (sweet-potato and colza-seed) are cultivated, (4-a) the region of which main object is other farming products than the staple corn (sweet-potato and colza-seed), (4-b) the region of which main object is other farming products than the staple corn (tobacco and sweet-potato), (5) the region where fruits and other arboreal production is aimed.
On the whole, what characterizes the agriculture in the Peninsula is the cultivation of farming products which are made the raw materials for industry, such as tobacco, colza-seed and sweet-potato. Though in Japan, sweet-potato is in general use as a food, it is mostly used as the material for starch in this Peninsula. It is a matter of course that the rate of farming products they sell on a commercial scale to the total harvest is high in farming houses on a large scale, and low in those on a small one. However, the cultivation of the crops used as the raw materials for industry is widely carried on in the Peninsula regardless of the administrative scales of farming.
