The Leased-Land Relation and Rural Society in the Hokkaido Paddy Field Zone

When it comes to farmland liquidity, instead of farmland dealing, leasing has been increasing rapidly in the Hokkaido paddy field zone since the second half of the 1980s. The leased land development is especially remarkable because of the formation of a large number of lenders of farmland, against the background of farmhouse aging, in the Kamikawa central area. Large-scale management of accumulated leased land which lies in two or more rural communities is developing actively. The problem is the stability of the leased land use and the regional resource management. This paper clarifies leased-land-related character, for Toma Town in the center of the Kamikawa area. The creation of farmland sets has been achieved in this town through an original approach to large-scale management. The analysis result is shown as follows. First, the leased land use is long term and shows the tendency to stabilize, in large-scale management. But, on stabilization, the role of purchase is not small, either. The leased-land relation also holds temporary character until it results in dealing. Second, the lender does not take part in the regional resource management such as waterway management in the rural communities. The regional resource management is unrelated to the lender who abandons farming. However, though it is an individual relation, the support of the resource management in large-scale management by the lender, is confirmed. Third, lendership is not a permanent state. First of all, they are elderly households. Moreover, for the farmland, weight is put on the means of production. Therefore, transfer and farmland clearance are seen in such cases. It can be said that the leased-land relation is an inner package of the relation, always canceled by eventual sales. Therefore, as a direction for large-scale management, to reduce the load of the resource management, the following is required: First, that there be farmland accumulation in a neighboring area, during the shift from leased land to purchase, thereby providing experience in the town where the farmland set will be created. It will be necessary to clarify the achievement factor in the future. Second, that lenders who can participate in the resource management be identified.