| Budget Amount *help |
¥1,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000)
Fiscal Year 1998: ¥700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000)
Fiscal Year 1997: ¥400,000 (Direct Cost: ¥400,000)
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| Research Abstract |
The sales market of rice, the staple farm crop in Japan, has just entered a period of turbulent situations due to the impact generated by the import liberalization (GATT Uruguay Round) and the enforcement of the New Food Law. The main objectives of the research are to determine how the rice farming copes with such situations ; and to analyze those factors that determine the rice farm management policy, The research sites are at Hokkaido, Akita and Niigata prefectures and the research methodology covers field surveys concerning producers' views on the market condition of rice production area, and interviews with producers concerned to make a follow-up survey of three years' state of affairs.
The findings include the following : First, the strategies related to rice production area have strongly influenced the rice producers' technical responses towards the price fluctuation of the semi-rationed rice (i.e., not subject to government price controls). Such strategies involve the improvement
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of local rice varieties and the marketing methods. Many farmers, especially those of Hokkaido and Akita prefectures have substantially adopted the strategy of selling rice to agricultural cooperatives, while, those of Niigata prefecture have substantially adopted the method of direct-sales to their consumers. Second, the strategies of those producers, who are coping with the turbulent situation, are lagging behind in general and this has affected the development of policy concerning where to sell, and the implication of conversion policy for organic rice farming. It is obvious that producers have attached priority to the cost down strategy and strategy for sales channel development and price discrimination policy all as the means of farm management. The follow-up survey in Niigata prefecture reveals that farm management strategies differ every year even within a certain production area. To clarify why the management strategies so differ, I considered some probable factors such as farm management-scale, farmers' age, and absence or presence of sales channels, but the particular reason is still obscure. However, considering the present situations, it is quite dear that the rice producers' farm management policy observed is developing under the conditions that strongly regulate the production area strategies. Less
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