International comparative study on water management systems for realizing internationally competetive low-cost rice farming

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K07936
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Rural environmental engineering/Planning
• Research Institution: University of Tsukuba
• Principal Investigator: ISHII Atsushi 筑波大学, 生命環境系, 教授 (90222926)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 低コスト稲作 / 灌漑システム / 従量制 / 圃場整備 / 大区画水田

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Comparative study on rice farming, rice paddy fields and irrigation systems in Australia and Japan was implemented for developing the irrigation system adapted to internationally competitive low-cost rice farming in Japan. The main findings are as follows; 1) water distribution between farmers in a local village has become more difficult as farmers living in different villages have extended their farmland in the village. 2) The volumetric water fee system induces farmers’ spontaneous water-saving and makes water distribution between farmers easier. 3) Land consolidation project producing large scale paddy plots enables to decrease of irrigation canals and drains at the field level. That enables large-scale farmers to apply water and to maintain irrigation facilities in their large paddy areas easier with cheap and primitive irrigation facilities such as earth canals.

Free Research Field

農業農村工学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

現在日本では、コメの生産コスト削減が農政上の課題となっており、その実現のため大規模稲作経営体の育成および大規模水田圃場の整備が推進されている。しかし、水田農業に必須の灌漑システムについては、いまだ少数の担い手が安価な水利施設で配水・維持管理できるシステムが提示されていない。本研究はこれを目指したもので、社会的に重要な意義を持つ。また、水利共同体としてのムラの農家間の配水調整の変容と、従量制水利費賦課方式の配水調整上の効果といった本研究の成果は、水資源の分配・管理制度に関わる有用な知見を与えるもので、学術的にも意義がある。