Findings in Interviews on Motivation of Farmers for the Improvement of Paddy Rice Quality and the Implementation of New Methods of Paddy Rice Production in the Chiba Prefecture

摘要

This research is aimed to find out farmer perspectives on the improvement ofpaddy rice quality and the new method of paddy rice production based on the summariesof interviews with Chiba Prefecture farmers provided by the academic supervisor ofthe author. Farmersu27 motivation on the improvement of paddy rice quality and the adoptionof new methods for paddy rice production comes from farmersu27 desire to continuepaddy rice production. The concept of continuation is different from sustainability sinceno increasing nature of any index on well-being is revealed. Farmers tend to abandon apaddy rice production if no support for agricultural environment is expected. The constituentsof the desire to continue paddy rice production varies among their generationsand regions. The young generation farmers believe that the paddy rice production isstill reliable as an income source by cutting production costs, while the old ones haverelied on a high pride to produce rice as Japaneseu27s main food. Farmers in the northernChiba wish to survive individually and intergenerationally with their descendants, whilethose in other regions wish to survive regionally and intergenerationally with all farmersin the region. A sufficient revenue for farms and labor cost reduction are the focus ofthe management for most farmers, and various strategies are adopted according to thecircumstances surrounding farms.