Proceedings of the General Meeting of the Association of Japanese Geographers

At the area around airport, the noise problems with the plane occur. In Japan, the airport noise problem around Osaka International Airport and the US base has been submitted by neighboring inhabitants. As for a lot of studies for such areas, the area where has not been paid attention to too much exists until now.In this study, it will clarify consciousness for the plane noise by around Nagoya airport inhabitants and clarify the problem in around airport policy. Significance of this study is the contribution for the around airport local governments and the solution to airport noise problems.

View full abstract

This study aims to clarify to assess the health risk of indirect exposure in Hiroshima atomic bomb.So we need to understand a moving route and distance of the indirect casualties.We analyzed these by GIS.The results are as follows.1)We can see many people moved from suburb to city center in Hiroshima.City center in Hiroshima is near hypocenter and radiation risk is high.It is one of the reasons that there was no information about the radiation risk.2)To understand accurate moving route is difficult.It is because the reply accuracy to a questionnaire is various at each one.

View full abstract

Air and soil temperatures were observed during the period from September 2012 to August 2013 around Cerro Charquini (5392 m a.s.l.) in Bolivian Andes. According to the results, diurnal freeze-thaw cycles in air temperature appeared almost throughout the year. On the other hand, a frequency of the cycles in soil temperature was remarkably high during the dry season from April to October but extremely low in the rainy season from November to March. Therefore, freezing and thawing process in this area is not effective in the development of periglacial landforms.

View full abstract

Show abstractHide abstract

Most of Uganda’s rice is produced by smallholder farmers with the purpose of marketing for family income. Based on the field survey conducted in Namutumba district (Eastern Uganda), while identifying the importance of various chain actors, this study uses value chain approach to analyze constraints and upgrading opportunities in the distribution channels. Whereas rice farming is supported by several local, national and international organizations, farmers still encounter a number of quality related challenges: (i) low milling recovery due to many semi and unfilled grains as a result of striga weed which affects susceptible NERICA 4, the most widely grown cultivar by Ugandan smallholder farmers (ii) presence of foreign matter in paddy attributed to lack of drying facilities. The latter is also a major challenge faced by rural millers as it necessitates regular servicing. In addition, rural millers have limited financial credit for advancing to farmers for quality drying. Those who give out credit on individual basis are able to recover only a percentage of the total amount disbursed. Full credit recovery was achieved by millers who advanced tarpaulins to farmer groups. Power cost is extremely high accounting for 69% and 86% of total operation cost for electricity and diesel mills respectively. Efforts by rural town millers to form clusters for minimizing electricity cost have instead become more costly because of defaulting members. Quality plays a limited role in farm gate pricing since rural millers produce one rice grade and farmers do not separate different rice varieties during drying. Medium scale processors like Upland Rice Millers, however, are able to brand their rice according to varieties and grain features for example: (i) ‘Kayiso’ for lowland long and narrow grains (ii) ‘Upland’ for NERICA varieties and (iii) ‘Super’ for lowland short and thick aromatic grains. The prices for these brands are different with ‘Super’ being the most expensive. It also commands the highest demand on the market. Its supply is limited however, due to its long maturity and low adaptability to different agro ecologies. Frequent power rationing and inadequate paddy received during off season are some of the challenges common to all millers. Switching from susceptible NERICA 4 cultivar to the newly released high yielding and striga resistant NERICA 10 will help in curbing the effects of striga. To improve rice quality, rice millers should offer credit in form of tarpaulins to farmer groups. Training farmers in postharvest handling more especially separating different varieties during drying is necessary for improved milling quality.

View full abstract

Download PDF (41K)

Register with J-STAGE for free!