SOME PHASES OF FARM-LAND CONSOLIDATION IN JAPAN

Abstract

It was one of the urgent demands in Japan before the Farm-land Reform to consolidate subdivided farm-land properties, because of their meticulous fragmentation and dispersion in consequence of old land-exploitation and intensive land use. Full-scale farm-land consolidation has, however, been promoted by the Land Improvement Law (1949) after World War II. The main problems of this paper are: (1) To what extent and range the fragmentation and the dispersion of farm-land have proceeded in Japan and why? (2) Why it was impossible to promote farm-land consolidation by the Arable Land Readjustment Law before the Farm-land Reform and to what range the farm-land consolidation has been developed regionally by the Land Improvement Law? (3) How the farm-land consolidations are carried out in relation to regional conditions? The results of this investigation are follow: (1) Fragmentation and disersion of farm-land are remarkable in Hokuriku and Tokai Districts in Central Japan, where compact village are prominently found in rice-field areas and planned land-allotment is said to have prevailed in the Edo Era. Relatively well consolidated ares are found surrounding Central Japan. As for the average size of the holding, that of the most newly developed Hokkaido is the largest, follow by Tohoku District. Some physical, farm-managing and social-economic factors for the fragmentation and dispersion of farm-land are pointed out. (2) As a countermeasure the Arable Land Readjustment Law was in execution befor the last war, which was promoted mainly for the purpose of landowners pursuit for a differential rent. According to the law, land properties were exchanged only among the land owners of a small scale and all others were left unchaged. (Fig. 1.2) Under the Land Improvement Law of 1949, farm-land consolidation has been carried on for the development of agricultural mechanization and rationalization of agricultural management by the initiative of peasantry and the help of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. The work was done at 9, 123 localities with the total area of 1, 686, 551 ha, or 31.6% of the total farm-land area (1959 to 1960). (Fig. 3) The regional states of the progressing working work are as follows ; dry-field and rice-field one-crop areas along the coast of the Japan Sea are remarkable in farm-land consolidation and Tohoku District, where farm manegement is of large scale and farm mechanization is relatively slow in progress, and Tokai and Kinki Districts, where urbanization and industrialization have been remarkable advancing in recent years, are slow in promoting the consolidation. (3) Three types of farm-land consolidation are pointed out, according to regional conditions, as in the following: (a) Ddvelopment of land use—in Kawaji Area of Iida City, Nagano Prefecture, located in the Tenryu Valley of Central Japan. Topogeaphy of flood plain, terrace and upland were taken into consideration for the purpose of preventing flood damages in the valley and introducing fruit-growing and dairy farming into upland (Fig. 4. 5), applied them to mulberry field, rice field and fruit growing. (b) Adjustment of irrigation—in the Hikami Area of Kida County, Kagawa Prefecture, in the midist of the irrigation-pound area of Southwest Japan, they rectified the conventional irrigation systems proper to the actual conditions of irrigation pounds on the occasion of farm-land consolidation after the Farm-land Reform, reducing labour power and advancing land use highly (Fig. 6.7). (c) Removal of farm houses—in the Mihota Area of Asaka County, Fukushima Prefecture, in the middle of the rice field area of Northwest Japan, they developed rice fields by the irrigation water of the Asaka Irrigation Canal in the Meiji Era.