2012 Volume 42 Issue 4 Pages 1045-1057
The aim of this paper is to examine industrial linkage effects in depopulated areas by focusing on the relationships between food processing and agricultural industries. Employment and income for people in depopulated areas are important to activate depopulated areas. Even if the food processing industry becomes active, the agriculture industry does not always grow because many factors must be considered for agricultural management.
To quantify the industrial linkage effects, three case projects were selected in depopulated areas of the Chugoku-Shikoku Region. In the first case project, there was a lack of farmland in the mountainous area, and a low level of agriculture income (average annual earnings of 500,000 yen∼1,000,000 yen) . In the second case project, there was a shortage of farmland and agriculture corporations employed young farm workers. In the third case project, there was a shortage of farmland and a low agriculture income level (average annual earnings of 486,000 yen) .
Various kinds of data were collected and analyzed for each case project. The most important finding was that agriculture earnings and development of agricultural farmland are requisite growth factors for developing agricultural economies in depopulated areas.
JEL Classification: P40, H00
