Improvement Agriculture Rural Areas No2,　農業農村整備事業２

Japan’s agricultural and rural area improvement projects have various project systems to correspond to historical backdrops and regional demands.　Today, we consider the Comprehensive Improvement Project of Mountainous Regions whose primary objective is to improve the living environment of rural areas, which requires problem solving from new viewpoints.　

The project was established with not only farmers’ but also local residents’ voluntary concepts as a foundation to develop integral action required for the bases for both the production and living environment,.

Japan has many mountainous regions and limited plains.　Therefore, most of the farmland in mountainous regions must endure unfavorable conditions such as sharp slopes and inconvenient traffic connections to urban areas (consumption areas).

Consequently, such areas suffer from aging and depopulation and, in the field of agriculture, experience severe problems such as the increase in land no longer farmed due to a decrease in the number of prospective farmers.　Thus concerns have been raised about the adverse effect on the local economy and the decline of rural regions due to malfunctions of the land and environmental preservation measures etc.

The New Land Improvement Basic Plan, which was formulated based on the new Food, Agriculture and Rural Areas Basic Law, places measures for mountainous regions as one of the most important issues, and made various recommendations as concrete measures.

c) Improvement of conditions for permanent settlement of people by promoting spontaneous development with individuality (relaxed and comfortable atmosphere with abundant greenery and water in the mountainous region).

The Comprehensive Improvement Project of Mountainous Regions was created in fiscal 1990 to cope with actual situations surrounding the mountainous regions and also to establish an agricultural system which makes the most of the multi-faceted functions of mountainous regions and vitalizes rural areas.

Now, I would like to introduce cases in Hokkaido in which rural regions create ideas themselves and people are actively making a concerted effort to breakaway from hardship and revitalize their region.

In Nakashibetsu Town in Nemur

o Subprefecture, despite being a large-scale dairy-farming district, elderly people grow vegetables and get together once a week in city areas to open a “morning market,” where they sell products directly to consumers.　There the elderly people always play the leading role, with their families assisting by taking them to and from the market or carrying the produce.

In Shibetsu Town in Kamikawa Subprefecture,

in order to produce a regional specialty, they started by giving one sheep to each farmhouse for raising, and nowadays various activities have been developed such as selling sheep meat and sweaters, or opening pastures for tourists, invigorating the region by making use of sheep.　

In Nishiokoppe Village in Abashir

i Subprefecture, a research group was initiated to capture and raise Ezo deer, which had been growing in number to cause severe feeding damage to crops.　As the resource value of Ezo deer is diverse (e.g. quality meat, tourist farms), the research group aims to boost the development of the town by utilizing Ezo deer.

Due to the magnificent natural environment

with Daisetsu National Park nearby, Higashikawa Town has attracted many people settling after retirement or owning a second house, seeking the clean air and pure water. Among them are famous photographers, proving the area with a high level of culture and nature.　The town holds a national photo contest.　

In Biei Town in Kamikawa Subprefecture, the colorful combination of the crops on the hill matching the magnificent natural scenery draws many tourists.　The town has a landscape conservation regulation to emphasize the protection of its scenery.

Generally speaking, we tend to associate regional resources with tourism.　However, resources can be the result of activities by the community, small circle activities or by the people themselves.　It is often said that economic activities are embodied in people, goods and land.　Particularly in the mountainous areas with few natural resources, it is necessary to discover “people” as potential regional resource - that is, our treasure - and create a culture that facilitates their activities.

In mountainous areas, field conditions as a production base are no better than those of flatland areas.　There, sharp slopes make it difficult to enlarge the partitions of agricultural land.　Other severe natural conditions such as narrow and winding farm roads, and lower temperatures for crops due to the early arrival of winter makes farming itself difficult.　

Therefore, trying to attain the same level of conditions as those of flatland conditions will surely make expenses add up.　Although the conditions for projects in mountainous areas such as beneficial acreage, the extension and widening of farm roads have been relaxed, these areas are still disadvantaged.

The town of Bifuka in the Kamikaw

a Subprefecture, where rice cultivation, dairy farming, and upland farming are carried out, installed a compost plant to be used by the whole town.　It has a system in which dairy farmers pay to bring in livestock waste and paddy and upland farmers purchase the compost, enabling the collaboration between crop and dairy farmers.

In mountainous regions, which have unfavorable conditions and lower farm incomes in general, it is necessary to promote labor-intensive farming such as the development of intensive agriculture and promote the establishment of a system in which each region supports its own regional farm management (systematization of regional agriculture) such as by aiming to increase farmers’ income by systemizing the production, processing, manufacturing, and selling of crops.

The life in rural areas is often described as gloomy or hard.　This is not a very good image, especially for young people.　Employment opportunities are limited in the first place.　However, a lack of urban amenities and recreational facilities seems to contribute to depopulation in rural areas.

This calls for measures relevant to “c) Improvement of conditions for permanent settlement of people by promoting spontaneous development with individuality” found in “Future Direction of Measures for Mountainous Regions” mentioned in the section, “Project’s Background.”　In this regard, the development of essential utilities including water, electricity and roads is obviously required.　However, there is no need to upgrade everything to the same standard of urban infrastructure.　It is necessary to set improvement priorities by turning attention to the good rural living environment which is missing in urban areas, and assessing objectively demerits and merits compared with urban areas.　At present, the most wanted thing is a flush toilet and we hear grandparents say that their grandchildren living in urban areas don't visit them for fear of their dark and smelly old-style toilets, which is not laughable.

Urban people seem to have a perception that the development of rural parks is unnecessary because rural areas are a park with abundant nature in themselves.　However, we think large, unique, unspoiled parks with rich greenery, missing in urban parks, should be developed because vast rural areas need a place for communication.　

Rural areas with abundant water and greenery give us a sense of openness and comfort which cannot be gained in urban areas.　As a matter of fact, it is those living in rural areas that should recognize such relaxation and comfort, and we hope they enjoy such an environment fully.

In the meantime, rural communities need efforts for the revitalization of their areas with the involvement of urban people.　This is the idea of the “hometown population.”　Here, it is important to energize each other's activities by some events, ownership of farmland or crops, orientation farming, and commissioning amateur farmers to partly manage farmland.

Those living in rural areas are more aware than anybody else of the limit of their activities alone either in agricultural production or daily life.　This is also recognized by urban residents, and they may have no resistance to visiting rural areas which are originally their “hometown”.　In order to satisfy these interactive needs, it is indispensable to share information related to production and living, which requires the establishment of a modern information management system that allows the transmission and collection of the necessary information when needed.

At the preparation stage of a project execution plan for the Comprehensive Improvement Project of Mountainous Regions, municipalities, which act as a coordinator, are to draw up a “Basic Plan for Agricultural Promotion” concerning the revitalization of regional agriculture and rural areas whilst communicating with local people from all walks of life.　

This Basic Plan determines the basic strategy as to the tools of regional revitalization and is the critical core concept in the formulation of a project execution plan including selection of specific types of work and determination of project scale.　It consists of the following four steps, which are: Setting of proposed region, Consideration of improvements to be made, Coordination with relevant projects, and Formulation of activity plans by local residents.

- As “Basic Policy for Measures concerning Rural Areas Promotion”, the content of improvement and rough amount of work to be covered by the project is determined in order to identify the positioning of measures such as the Comprehensive Improvement Project of Mountainous Regions for realization of the desirable future conditions of the region.

Rural areas are spaces consisting of production, settlement and nature, which have been harmonized over a long history, and at the basis of the harmony is land use.　Consequently, the basic direction of improvements according to land conditions are determined with respect to each land use classification.　

Improvement is made for productivity increases in fields with relatively large plots, taking into account gradient, irrigation and drainage conditions and costs of improvement, etc.　At the same time, conditions which enable a concentration of farmland to prospective farmers are improved in response to expected increases in the retirement from agriculture due to the aging of farmers.

On the other hand, for farmland where readjustment into arranged plots is difficult due to geological conditions, the plot area is enlarged by contour farmland consolidation and simple removal of dikes while developing farm roads, irrigation and drainage channels and underdrainage, etc. for laborsaving.　Time saved through the above measures is used for the introduction of high-value added products or other industries to increase farmers’ incomes.

Improvements are first made in such fields as water for farming, drinking and miscellaneous use, disaster prevention and safety, community roads and drainage canals, taking into consideration hygiene and the safety of human lives.　Then measures for the development of rural parks and facilities for revitalization are considered to meet the people’s needs for convenience and amenity.　

If the measure is common to more than one theme of regional promotion, layout planning of facilities and improvements are coordinated and sorted out so that the measure will fulfill the functions required by each theme.

Details of the plan for regional promotion by local residents carried out in conjunction with the project and also the approaches to be taken by municipalities, etc. to support these activities are sorted out.

Existence of a population is the first prerequisite for revitalization of the region, and the crucial point is whether or not younger people, in particular, who will be the leaders of future generations can take an active part laying roots in the region.　

Under the current situation, however, it is no easy task to bring to a stop the outflow of the young labor force in the near future.　The securing of income needed for living by agriculture alone is often difficult in mountainous regions in general and various attempts have been made, including the introduction of rural industry, resort development, development of local industry and exchanges with urban areas.　However, as few of these efforts have functioned satisfactory, it is important to develop the region’s own original revitalization efforts.　

In order to make revitalization last long, sustainable development must be promoted by spontaneous originality, not by following examples of advanced regions.　Therefore, only after measures for promoting revitalization of the software sector have been established, the hardware sector including various types of projects can be effective.　

In order to promote revitalization, it is necessary to consider the creation of organizations responsible for each level of designing, planning, execution, operation, maintenance and management, systems for absorbing various ideas from local residents, as well as methods for developing human resources and concrete action policies.

In particular, when considering effective use of facilities and proper maintenance of their functions after the implementation of the project, active involvement and cooperation of local residents is a must.　It is important therefore to create a system which local residents develop a sentimental attachment to.　In order to create this sense of attachment, local residents should be encouraged to volunteer to manage the facilities.　

Furthermore, it is desirable that municipalities take measures for the continuous development of these activities, such as subsidizing a part of expenses for the administration of facilities until the organizational activities get on track.

これは、JICA札幌センターで開催の研修における、発展途上国からの研修生向けの資料である。講師に無断で他の目的に転用しないこと。

　　　This is the text for the trainees from developing countries, who have the training courses in Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Sapporo Center. The instructor belongs to the Farming Community Planning Division, Department of Agriculture, Hokkaido Government. Do not use for other purpose without the permission of the instructor above.