Management and Conservation of Paddy Fields in Hilly and Mountainous Area in Case of the Community Farming System with a Full-time Farm Worker

Abstract

Recently in Japan, cultivation abandonment paddy fields in hilly and mountainous area has been increasing because of less favored conditions for cultivating and lack of core farmers due to decrease and aging of farmers there. In this paper, a land consolidation project area in hilly and mountainous area was investigated, where a community farming group whose farm size was 25 ha and cultivated mainly only one full time worker was established and thus whole the paddy fields are cultivated and conserved in spite of the inferior cultivating conditions. As a result, it was made clear that the farming group secured the full time worker by assure sufficient salary to him, zoning-system was adopted and the farming group was cultivating mainly the area of large rice paddy plots for efficient farming work, and moreover, the farming group has been making effort to employ supporters of farming work from not only farmers in the village but also non-farmers in and/or out of the village. However, as it remains less favored conditions for cultivating even after the land consolidation project, increase in farm size of the farming group is difficult; thus it is considered public support will be needed for the group to assure sufficient salary for full-time worker in case rice price decreases.