The Role of Land Improvement in Changing Japan’s Agriculture and Creating Rural Environments

土地改良法が制定されてから来年で70年を迎えるが，わが国の農業の発展や農村振興および農村環境創成に果たした土地改良の役割と今日的課題について検討することは，今後の日本農業のあり方を展望するためには必要と考える。そこで本稿では，まず，戦後の土地改良による農業水利施設や農地の整備が生産農業所得や労働生産性の向上をもたらしたことを明らかにした。また，混住化により弱体化した農村資源の管理システムを再生するために土地改良区を中核とした地域連携の重要性を評価した。近年，「日本再興戦略2016」で攻めの農林水産業の展開を実現させることが今後のわが国農業の国際競争力を強化するための重要な方策として位置づけられ，新たな土地改良長期計画が策定された。そこで，今後のわが国の農業構造の変革に対応するために達成すべき重点目標として掲げられた長期計画の課題のうち，生産コスト縮減を目指した農地集積と基盤整備，環境に配慮した土地改良，土地改良区の財務強化対策，防災および農村環境創成における農業用水の多面的機能に焦点を当てて土地改良の役割を検討し，その重要性を評価した。

Next year marks 70 years since the enactment of Japan’s Land Improvement Act. Reviewing the roles land improvement has played in developing agriculture, promoting rural development, and creating today’s rural environment as well as reexamining current challenges faced by agriculture and rural environments is necessary to re-envision the future of Japanese agriculture. First, this paper explains how, after World War II, improvement of irrigation facilities and agricultural land helped advance agricultural production, income, and labor productivity. At the time, Land Improvement Districts played a central role in encouraging regional cooperation so that rural resources continued to be locally managed, a system that has weakened due to urbanization, modernization, and changing lifestyles. The paper then examines “Japan revitalization strategy 2016” and the new Long-term Land Improvement Plan, which were formulated with the vision of revitalizing and redeveloping Japan’s agriculture, forestry and fisheries industries and thus strengthening Japan’s international competitiveness in these sectors. The long-term plan delineates priority goals, and this paper selects several of those to evaluate the potentially important role land improvement could play in meeting each goal. Selected goals are : 1) consolidate agricultural land and improve infrastructure to reduce production cost ; 2) pursue environmentally friendly land improvement ; 3) strengthen the financial soundness of Land Improvement Districts ; and 4) enhance multifaceted uses of agricultural water, specifically for disaster prevention and rural environment creation.

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