2004 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Research on the Preservation of the Environment in Farming Areas in an Era of an Aging Population and Declining Birthrate
| Project/Area Number |
13410052
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
社会学(含社会福祉関係)
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| Research Institution | Kumamoto University |
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Principal Investigator |
TOKUNO Sadao Kumamoto University, Department of literature, Professor, 文学部, 教授 (40197877)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
TAKANO Kazuyoshi Yamaguchi University, Department of social-welfare, Professor, 社会福祉学部, 教授 (20275431)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2001 – 2004
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| Keywords | environment / declining (decreasing) population / organic farming / modernism / shrinking household size / "food and agriculture," fragmented consumers / 近代化・産業化 / 棚田保全 |
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| Research Abstract |
In this research report, firstly the causes for the destruction of the environment in agricultural areas were found to lie not only in external factors such the modernization of production techniques, but also in internal factors such as the release of farm workers from being overworked as well as the shortening in the number of hours that fanners can work due to side jobs. As a result, the research shows that the main point to preserving the environment, is to have people engage in agriculture such as Aigamo farmers who can independently grasp the organically general relationships between such things as production techniques, management, safety, and societal changes, etc. A major finding was that in recent years, the consciousness of the government has been orientated toward safety as part of its "Food and Agriculture" safety campaign, yet the number of fragmented consumers who believe that "it's fine if it's cheap" has increased dramatically, and thus the campaign has increasingly become a hotbed for harmful rumors.
Next, the report considers the leading problems of local communities and the environment, with a focus on the recent shrinking in the size of fanning households. A major finding of the research was that among the 44 million Japanese households,25.6% are single member,23% are 2-member, and 18.5% are 3-member. These statistics clearly show the trend of shrinking household size. This trend is occurring throughout the country, not just in either rural areas or city areas. It is believed that this fact will be the biggest weak point for Japanese society in the 21st century. To respond to this problem while experiencing the momentum of a decreasing population, there is a pressing need to reformulate what the significance and function of households are, as well as to formulate a paradigm on how people can lead relaxed lives when they reach their 80s.
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