Status and prospects of agriculture damaged by wild boar in Minami'izu-cho: Farmer interview study

Abstract

The authors studied the status and attitudes toward agricultural damage caused mainly by wild boar (Sus scrofa), through interviews in 2001, with 134 farmers and local hunters of wild boar in Minami-Izu, Shizuoka Prefecture. This mountainous and forested area has complex topography, covering 11,058 ha at the southern tip of the Izu Peninsula, and is inhabited by 10,500 residents. Ten percent of the area is used for agriculture, which was the third largest employer in the area. Since the 1970s, agriculture in this town rapidly declined in both cropland area and the number of farming families, while the proportion of older farmers increased. Fifty percent of farmers had no income from agriculture at the time of the study, while only 5% obtained an annual farm income over five million yen. Sixty-seven percent of farmers had no planned successors, while 56% intended to reduce their scale of farming in the future because of their advancing age. Crop damage caused by the animals occurred in most parts of the study area. Farmers tended to take costless and labor-saving countermeasures for this problem. Most local hunters were over 50 years of age and their planned successors were few in number. Although the numbers of animals taken had increased rapidly in recent years, crop damage had not decreased. The authors concluded that farmers may disappear from this area in near future and most of the cropland may return to natural conditions favorable to wild boar and other wildlife habitat.