Prictice-oriented study for the extensive farmland management based on semi-domesticating useful plants: Reconstruction of the local knowledge in East Asia

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K18399
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 4:Geography, cultural anthropology, folklore, and related fields
• Research Institution: Kochi University
• Principal Investigator: Masuda Kazuya 高知大学, 教育研究部自然科学系農学部門, 准教授 (90573733)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-07-09 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 半栽培 / 在来知 / 粗放的土地利用 / コンニャク / 自然生栽培 / 混植 / カヤ / 四国山地

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The unused farmlands have increased in the contemporal Japan because of the rapid decrease of population and aging. It is the big issue in terms of the food security and land management. This study is aimed to rethink the significance of a local knowledge on semi-domestication of cropping in terms of low imput of labor force and cultivating materials, and to build a practical model for the extensive farming and land management system.
This study pays attentions to "Jinenjo Culture", a traditional method, of Konjak (Amorphophallus konjac), as a case of extensive cropping. The main research has been carried out in the mountation area of Kochi to collect the local knowkedge on it and to practice it for reproduction. Then I compare a case of Jinenjo culture in Kochi to other cases of it in Yamanashi, Shiga, and Miyazaki. I conclude that there are some patterns of Jinenjo Culture such as coupling with grassland and combination planting with other crops.

Free Research Field

環境人類学、地域研究

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

今日、日本国内の農山村では、人口減少・高齢化により遊休農地が増加しており、農業生産の維持だけでなく、国土保全の上でも深刻な問題となっている。本研究の目的は、半栽培という在来知を労働力・資材の低投入という点から再評価して現代的意義を検討するとともに、それを活かすことで低位安定型の生産と土地管理の両立を図る粗放的農地利用のモデルを構築することである。農業の近代化のなかでコンニャクの自然状栽培は衰退あるいは看過されてきたが、自然生栽培が残る地域の現状、気候や日照条件、地形、地質などの、細やかな自然環境条件に関する在来知、カヤなど現地に関連した他の資源との連関について示すことができた。