By Ye Xingqing, Research Department of Rural Economy, DRC

Research report Special Issue No.32, 2017 (Total 1556) 2017-9-22

Abstract: Over the past half a century, despite Japan’s efforts in amending the laws to deregulate farmland circulation and implementing incentive policies to promote the scale management of farmland, the problems with small-scale farmland management still remain. The underlying reason for this is that, with increased job opportunities in local non-agricultural sectors, farmers’ have slowed down their steps to withdraw from agriculture sector and seek for a living in the city. Besides, the government’s strong support to and protection for agriculture production have reduced the willingness of small-scale farmers to secede from agriculture. The swift urbanization drive in a compressed manner, the agricultural-based cultural tradition and land fragmentation have caused ill performance of the farmland market. Japan’s failure in transforming small-scale farming into large-scale management indicates that we need to be aware of the pros and cons of households with combined occupations; adopt timely adjustment of the inclusive support policies, and be prepared for making preventive measures for farmland market failure.

Key words: small-scale farming, non-agricultural production, large-scale management, Japan