This paper examines the change in certified organic and eco-farmers since the adoption of registered eco-farmer system (1999) and organic certifying rule (2000), and then develops a theoretical framework to identify the factors influencing the growth of these farmers. The transition to an organic farming system from a conventional farming system will lead to changes in labor use efficiency, production and farm income structure, which then exert substantial effect on change in organic and eco-farmers.
Empirical results suggest that change in organic and eco-farmers has been significantly influenced by earlier farmers' practices in organic farming, farm size, the earlier establishment of a certifying agency at the town level, and support from local agricultural cooperatives. However, a positive response to public investment is not found. These results imply that it is important to re-evaluate and spread the farming practices developed by experienced organic farmers, while improving regional service systems and the efficiency of public investment.

抄録全体を表示

It was said that many Japanese immigrants had a close relationship with and contributed to the California rice industry in its dawn. The actual relationships and contribution, unfortunately, were not made clear because of the expulsion of Japanese and the deterioration of US-Japan relationships. This paper intends to describe the those relationships and conditions and clarify them.

抄録全体を表示

In order to protect urban area farmland, the Production Green-land Law was enacted in 1974. Even after it was widely applied in 1992, a certain amount of farmland has been developed without detailed conservation plans. The purpose of this paper is to propose a land classification method which is applicable as a criterion for farmland preservation in urban areas.
We built a linear programing model that satisfies five necessary conditions for conservation planning for urban farmland. First, it should be detailed enough to assess farmland conservation at the field plot level. Second, monetary valuation is preferable as a classificasion criterion in order to compare different maps and to simulate the effect of landuse change. Third, it must consider negative externalities caused by urbanization because avoiding externalities is one of the major purposes of zoning strategy. Fourth, it should take into consideration transportaion efficiency between farm field plots. Finally, direct marketing farmers should be considered since they are thought to be adaptable to recent demands of residents.
Farming patterns and technical coefficients were set though an interview survey on farm activities. We chose direct marketing farms, open field farmers and greenhouse farms as farming patterns. Eight groups of constraints were established, including transportation and externalities.
As a result of our calculations with actual cases, a land classification map was drawn up. In the studied case, it was found that there was about 1.5-fold difference in farmland value per area between field plots. Although we presented the importance of detailed conservation strategy, this method included several problems as it didn't cover all types of field farm operations. We need a more intensive farm study to clarify externalities. In addition, comparison between the theoretical model and an empirical model is needed to reinforce our results.

抄録全体を表示

This paper investigates empirically the determinants of the adoption of water control technologies for rice production, i.e. irrigation canals and bunds, in rainfed lowland in West Africa.Since the adoption of water control technologies is considered as medium- or long-term investment in land, land tenure security is hypothesized to have a significant influence on it. Our survey in 179 sample villages in Bouaké region, central Côte d'Ivoire, identifies two distinctive types of lowland ownership: family ownership and village ownership. Hence, the analysis focuses on the two types of lowland ownership. First, the factors that maintain village ownership are analyzed by a Probit regression using survey data from 242 lowlands in the sample villages.The main findings are that village ownership exists in lowlands easily monitored and that ethnically homogenous villages are more likely to have village-owned lowlands particularly if they have ethnic culture of community solidarity. On the other hand, population pressure and market access, which are suggested to be relevant by the induced institutional innovation theory, have no significant effect on the land ownership.Subsequent Probit regression analyses examine the effect of the village ownership on the adoption of water control technologies, where the village ownership is treated as endogenous.The results show that village ownership itself has no significant effect on cultivators' adoption of water control technologies. Rather it is significantly promoted by population pressure from immigrants and market accessibility, as predicted by the induced technological innovation theory. In addition, the results that immigrant population as well as education level enhance the adoption of canals but have no effect on the adoption of bunds suggest that canal technology may require more external intervention and cultivators' capacity of adoption. In conclusion, the improvement of market accessibility as well as extension systems will be required for the intensification of lowland rice production.

抄録全体を表示