[H-GG01] Use, change, management of natural resources and environment: Interdisciplinary perspectives

[HGG01-01] Whose a agricultural land ?- A viewpoint to the ownership and use of agricultural land

*Toru Sasaki¹ (1.Miyagi University of Education)

Keywords:Non-farm household, Abandoned cultivation land, Agricultural land, Ownership and use

According to 2015 census of agricultural and forestry, the decrease in farm households continues. However, the reverse phenomenon of commercial farm households and non-farm households was confirmed. The non-farm household is not included in a total farm household on an agricultural and forestry census. In other words, it may be said that it is the household which owns farmland though they do not run agriculture. It is said that the agricultural land-use in Japan tends to be recede. Representative indicators have been regarded as expansion of abandoned farmland. In the agricultural land system of our country, it is stipulated that farmland is owned by farm household. In fact, it is left to the owner to keep farming, abandon cultivation, or to convert agricultural land into others. However, agricultural policy is trying to increase the food supply capacity, not to properly use it as farmland contradicts its policy. The purpose of this report is to examine the characteristics of agricultural land use from various indicators and raising questions on ownership and management of agricultural land in Japan.