Effects and Factors on a Merger of Land Improvement Districts

The case of Teshiogawa land improvement district in Hokkaido

Abstract

Under recent severe agricultural situations, land improvement districts (LIDs), which maintain and operate irrigation and drainage facilities, need to strengthen their management structure by a merger of LIDs. The purpose of this paper was to analyze effects of the merger of LIDs by the financial analysis and questionnaire data from the Teshiogawa LID in Hokkaido. The results indicate that economic merits in the merger of LIDs were realized i) by reduction of management costs after restructuring of directors and representatives, ii) by building a group of technocrats for operation and maintenance after integration of bureaus, and iii) by reduction in the non-monetary burden of members through a decline in the frequency of their obligation to serve in the managerial posts in turn. The primary factors causing above merits are changes in O & M activities, treatment of differences in financial affairs between old LIDs, and transmission capacity of information between LID and members.