Farm Improvement and Changes in the Agriculture in the Upper Course of the Satetsu river

Abstract

The projects of farm improvement in Kitakami Mountains have made remarkable progress in recent years. In this paper, the author tries to analyze the character and meaning of the farm improvement in the upper reaches of Satetsu, to the southwest of Kitakami Mountains. The results are summarized as follows.(1) On account of increased productivity with the advance of farm improvement, rice which formerly has been produced for the self-sufficiency became one of the important articles of commerce among the agricultural products.(2) Such a remarkable development of rice production not only raises its position in the agricultural management, but also powerfully influences the way of dry-field farming. Nowadays, the combination of rice with one of the products of dry-field farming represents commercial crops in the agricultural management in this region.(3) However, the author considers that the physical conditions of the basin in mountain land gives a limitation to the advance of farm improvement and preserves the traditional complex system of agricultural management which was consisted of the paddy-field farming and the dry-field farming.