静岡県に於ける蜜柑栽培地域の概況

Abstract

Small scale management of farming land is one of the characteristics of Japannese agriculture. While it is generally attributed to the very high density of agricultural population, it can be more fully explained by studying the historical development of the farming system.Thus the tendency of our farms to become smaller in size must be considered both geographically and historically. The focus of this study is laid on the way of local intensification of commercial agriculture, as indicated by the change in land utilization and the change of the class-structure of farmers.The author studied the mandarin orange cultivation areas in Shizuoka prefecture, Which is the largest producer of the fruit. After field study and reference to records and statistics of the site and the acreage of orchards and of the planting and managing practices, the following conclusions were reached.(1) It was during the social and economic change following the Meiji revolution that orange cultivation in the district was commercialized.(2) Just as the center of the orange production moved from other disticts to Shizuoka historically, its central area continued moving within the prefecture.(3) In general, majority of the producers are tenant farmers who opened orchards on hillsides by cutting forests. However, in some newly developing areas landowners are also important as producers.(4) While landlords and peasants were the two conflicting forces contributing to the development of commercial agriculture in Japan, the latter was the dominant agent in modernizing orange cultivation in the prefecture.