ARSA 2014 International Conference Proceeding - Volume I

Volume 1
PAGE
FOREWORD i
OPENING REMARKS
OPENING REMARKS Ii
Koichi Ikegami
WELCOME SPEECH
iv
Soukkongseng Saignaleuth
PART 1. KEYNOTE PAPER

Will the “Financialisation” of Food and Farming Provide the Basis for a Prosperous Future 1
for Rural Asia?
Geoffrey Lawrence, Sarah Ruth Sippel, Nicolette Larder and Lotus Des Fours
PART 2. PANEL PAPERS

Panel 1: Disaster Management and Resilience in the Rural Asia
The Community Management to Tsunami Disaster Forward to Reconstruction of Rural Life 13
After the Great East Japan Earthquake
Hideki Yoshino
Community-Based Disaster Management: Indonesian Experience 21
M. Saleh S. Ali and Muhammad Arsyad
The Community Problems of Fukushima Three Years after Nuclear Disaster 30

Ryousuke Takaki
Panel 2: Changes in Rural Policy and the New Concept of Community in Korean
Rural Society in the Period of Neo-Liberal Era
The Long-term Vision of Korean Rural Society and Its Development Strategy: Integrated 41
Development of Rural Society through an Endogenous Development Strategy
Jin Do Park
Panel 3: The Making and Unmaking of “Green Revolution”: From Asian and
African Perspectives
Green Revolution from Comparative Perspective: Between Asian and African Experiences 48
Tadasu Tsuruta
From Green Revolution to Green Economy in Africa 55
Kenta Sakanashi
Organic Rice Farming Promotion in Northeastern Thailand:An Exploration of Some Factors 62
affecting Farmers’ Outlooks, Perspectives and Satisfactions
Seksak Chouichom
Creating Unique Agricultural Products for Emerging ASEAN Economic Community: A Case 73
Study of a Glutinous Rice Production in Northern Thailand
Kanokon Seemanon, Masahiro Yamao, Vijitsri Sanguanwongse, Boonjit Titapiwatanakun,
Prapinwadee Sirisupluxana and Pornprapa Kikuchi
Panel 4. Future of Asian Rural Society
Proposing an Integrated Approach to Visioning Nōsanson 79
Shuji Kurimoto, Yukari Fuchigami and Michinori Uwasu
PAGE
Managing Regional Natural Resources in the Context of Rural-Urban Partnerships– Case 85

Studies of Local Areas in Japan
Keishiro Hara, Terakazu Kumasawa, Kazutoshi Tsuda and Michinori Kimura
Shrimp-Based Cropping Systems and Changes in Cultivated Rice Varieties in the Coastal 91
Area of Bangladesh
Md. Rashedur Rahman, Kazuo Ando, Shinya Takedu and Shigeo Kabayasi
The Economic Role of Forest Resources in Livelihood of Namee Vvillagers, LoaNGam 98
District, Salavanh Province, Lao PDR
Khamsing Keothoumma
PART 3. CONTRIBUTED PAPERS
Engaging People’s Participation for Rural Development
Household-Based Livestock Operations Master Sample Design in the Province of Nueva 105
Ecija, Philippines
Anna Ma. Lourdes S. Latonio
Textile Production of Rural Lao-Tai Women in Xam Nuea and Xam Tai Districts in Laos 112
Nagisa Ito
Women, Land and Empowerment: The Matrilineal Factor– The Case of Three 119
Communities in Bobonaro District, Timor Leste
Vanda Narciso and Pedro Damiao de Sousa Henriques
The Food Sovereignty Movement and the Empowerment of Rural Women in Asia: 127
Perspective from South Korea
Hyo-Jeong Kim
The Potential of Community-Based Participation in Social Development in Lao PDR: A 133

Case Study of the International Cooperation Project for Community Health and Education
from the University of Ryukyus
Noriyuki Suzuki and Pheuiphet Sadaoheung
The Organizational Process Approach: A Method for Identifying Local Mechanisms of 140
Popular Participation in Rural Development
Shinichi Shigetomi
Communities in Transition
The New Role of Urban Agriculture in a Large City: An Agri-Oasis in Japanese Food 146
Deserts
Yoshifumi Ikejima
Transition in the Role of Forestry in the Local Community: The Case of Nakahata in Osaka, 154
Japan
Yukari Fuchigami, Shuji Kurimoto, Michinori Uwasu, Keishiro Hara
Re-evaluation of Types of Local Capital in Kannogawa District 161

Yukari Fuchigami, Michinori Uwasu, Shuji Kurimoto, Tomohiko Ohno, Hiroyuki Takeda
A Dual Policy Framework for Urban Fringe Farmland in Kitakyushu City: Development or 167
Conservation
Hitoshi Miwa and Yoshifumi Ikejima
PAGE
Re-designing Farming Communities for an Aged Society: Multidisciplinary Perspectives 174

and Industrial-Academic-Government Cooperation
Shingo Teraoka, Sadahiro Hamasaki, Gentaro Mizugaki and Hiroaki Obitani
Re-designing Farming Communities for an Aged Society: The Geographical and 181
Sociological Context
Gentaro Mizugaki, Hiroaki Obitani, Shingo Teraoka and Sadahiro Hamasaki
Socioeconomic and Cultural Transformation
An Island in the Ocean: The RSPO and Oil Palm Producers in Sarawak 188
Fumikazu Ubukata
Conceptual Framework for Analyzing Impacts of Fairtrade on People and Community 193
Koichi Ikegami
The Important Cultural Landscape Selection System as a Means for Maintaining the 198
Territorial Integrity of a Rural Community: A Case Study of the Community of Harie in
Takashima City, Shiga Prefecture, Japan
Takehito Noda
A Relationship Between Rural Household Poverty and Socioeconomic Characteristics in 203

Rural Areas, Southern Laos
Inpong Siliphouthone and Kumi Yasonobu
On the New Development of Japan’s Rural Industrialization in the 21st Century 211
Weihong Zhou
The Transfiguration Accompanying the Globalization of the Traditional Festival “Nowruz” 219
and the Traditional Beverage “Kumiss” in the Republic of Kazakhtan
Takahiro Iwagaki, Atsushi Saito, Zhanar Amantay, Taeko Shimoda and Atsushi Ogihara
The Meaning of and Changes in “ТОЙ” in Life Event Ceremonies in the Republic of 224
Kazakhtan
Atsushi Saito and Atsushi Ogihara
Dynamism and Challenges in Rural Lao PDR

Ethnic Tourism in Lao PDR: Intersections of Gender and Ethnicity in Ecotourism for 229
Poverty Reduction
Saithong Phommavong
Simulation of Climate Change Impact on Lowland Paddy Rice Production Potential in 237
Savannakhet Province, Laos
Somkhit Boulidam
WILL THE ‘FINANCIALISATION’ OF FOOD AND FARMING PROVIDE THE BASIS FOR A
PROSPEROUS FUTURE FOR RURAL ASIA?
Emeritus Professor Geoffrey Lawrence+#^, Dr Sarah Ruth Sippel*,

Dr Nicolette Larder+, Ms Lotus DesFours+
+ School of Social Science, The University of Queensland, Australia
# Global Change Institute, The University of Queensland, Australia
* University of Leipzig, Germany
^ Presenter and correspondent:
Emeritus Professor Geoffrey Lawrence PhD FASSA
School of Social Science
The University of Queensland
Brisbane, Australia, 4072
President, International Rural Sociology Association
g.lawrence@uq.edu.au
ABSTRACT
‘Financialisation’ is a term used to describe the penetration of financial entities into many aspects of economic life. Private
equity firms, hedge funds, merchant banks and sovereign wealth funds have been investing in significant sections of most
economies - largely in an effort to provide increasing returns to their shareholders. Most recently, these investments have
targeted the food and farming industries. For a variety of reasons – unpredictable weather, perishable products, volatile world
commodity prices, fluctuating interest rates, and slow growth in agricultural land prices – farming had not, in past decades,
been seen as being as attractive as dot.com investments or, more recently, real estate (Burch and Lawrence, 2009; Clapp,
2014). But when the dot.com speculative bubble burst in the early 2000s and real estate (particularly in the US) was deemed
‘toxic’ in 2008, agriculture became a target for investment. The movement of finance into food and farming industries was not
only driven by the collapse of previously viable sectors of the economy, but also by some underlying realities: globally, good
farming lands were becoming scarce; there were profits to be made from crop biofuels; the growth of the middle classes in
places like China, India and Indonesia stimulated investment in meat and processed foods; and, new financial products – such
as derivatives - that tied food to unrelated products such as coal, gas, and gold provided financial capital with the opportunity
for speculative gain. The takeover of agrifood companies by finance capital together with an unprecedented interest in the
acquisition of foreign farm lands by sovereign wealth funds and private land managers (sometimes referred to as ‘land-
grabbing’) have become two of the main features of the financialization of the food and farming sectors. In this paper, the
process of ‘financialisation’ will be outlined, followed by a short discussion on whether or not ‘financialisation’ might assist in
the creation of a more prosperous future for rural Asia.
INTRODUCTION
Financialisation and Global Agriculture
Under conditions of global neoliberalism, financial entities such as merchant banks, private equity firms and hedge
funds have taken advantage of a more deregulated international market-place to extend their profit-making
activities. So, too, sovereign wealth funds have sought advantages from investment of vast sums of money in
overseas locations. ‘Financialisation’ is a term used to describe the increased presence, and profit-seeking
endeavours, of firms in the finance industry as they penetrate and seek to reconstruct domestic and international
economies (Epstein, 2005). In a broad sense, capital accumulation – the very dynamic that stimulates growth in the
international economy – is coming under the control of the finance sector which invests its highly-mobile liquid
assets in the hope of securing profits through trade in ‘futures’, derivatives and other financial products, and via
speculative activities (Krippner, 2011; Fairbairn, 2014). This is not the world of the so-called ‘real’ economy – the
production and distribution of goods and services. It is money-chasing-money, or what has been pejoratively
termed ‘casino capitalism’ – the pursuit of profits without production (Stilwell, 2002: 28). According to Moore
(2012), as early as the 1970s finance capital no longer required a vital, productive, ‘real’ economy as the basis for
profit. Rather, it became impatient with slow moving circuits of production and trade and sought, instead, to create
new financial instruments that could penetrate the most basic elements of social life ‘from pension funds to
university educations to consumer credit’ (Moore, 2012: 5).
From Challenges to Prosperous Future in Rural Asia  Volume 1 1
George Lawrence et al
For Isakson (2013) three trends have defined the financialisation of the global economy. The first is the growing
importance of institutional investors such as merchant banks, hedge funds, private equity consortia and mutual
funds. They are obtaining an ever-increasing share of total domestic profits. The second is the entry of non-
financial firms into financial markets. Supermarkets, for example, no longer sell food and household items but now
offer an array of financial products such as car, home, travel and pet insurance, along with credit cards and loans
(Burch and Lawrence, 2009). The third is the strong focus on ‘shareholder value’ as the single goal of corporate
decision-making. Shareholder value refers to the returns to investors in a company. Since the 1980s corporate
managers have been judged by their capacity to provide ever-increasing levels of returns to shareholders – often
forsaking social, ethical and environmental concerns that relate to a company’s activities. The global consequences
of financialisation include growing income inequality, deteriorating economic growth and rising market volatility
(Isakson, 2014).
One of the targets for investment of firms in the finance sector during the last decade has been food and farming.
This has struck a number of observers as somewhat surprising. Banks and other lenders have usually been reluctant
to invest in farming activities, in particular. Farmers face uncertain weather conditions, unpredictable price
fluctuations and fickle markets and these characteristics are not conducive to stable financial returns (Burch and
Lawrence, 2013). Banks have been content to lend to the farm sector in the knowledge that if farmers became
increasingly indebted or were bankrupted, properties could be sold and invested funds returned to the lenders. So,
why, it is being asked, are farms and firms in the agrifood industries, being targeted as part of financialisation?
The Targeting of Food and Farming
The answer to the question above is complex. To begin, global neoliberalism has encouraged the proliferation of
financial firms that are literally ‘footloose’. They search the world for new sources of profit and can, and do, bypass
nationally-based laws and regulations that might otherwise have contained their speculative endeavours. They owe
allegiance to no-one but their shareholders. Nation-states, themselves, have been winding back regulations that
are viewed as a fetter on capital flow. They have been replacing older mechanisms of control over capital with
regulatory settings that facilitate global flows – part of so-called ‘roll-out’ neoliberalism (Peck and Tickell, 2002) –
the overall aim of which is to encourage capital investment. For the finance firms, as with other transnational
companies, the ideal world appears to be one in which controls on capital flows disappear (as part of the longer-
term goal of ‘financial integration’). Global financial integration is strongly endorsed by the International Monetary
Fund (IMF, 2012) as a key to future global economic prosperity.
Technical mechanisms and the creation of new financial products have also been crucial drivers. Computer
technologies have enabled instantaneous flows of money in the global marketplace, while the loosening of controls
on the finance industry has both stimulated the activities of entities such as private wealth consortia and hedge
funds, and generated a variety of new tools that can be utilized to bring farm products into the speculative
calculations of finance firms. In regards to the activities of private equity (PE) firms, the aim of investment in
agrifood firms is to purchase companies listed on the stock exchange (making them no-longer publicly-listed
companies). Once de-listed, the targeted company is then ‘asset stripped’, and/or is used as a lever to access new
loans, and/or is controlled by a new management regime. The ‘old’ firm is thus transformed in an effort to increase
its value before being floated on the stock exchange. In this way ‘shareholder value’ is realised through the
restructuring of what are deemed to be underperforming companies (Burch and Lawrence, 2013). PE investors
have targeted agri-food sector firms such as Nabisco, Burger King and Cadbury Schweppes in recent years and,
today, there is strong interest in meats and packaged foods, estimated to make up some 77 percent of global PE
deals (Lynch, 2014).
In relation to the new ‘tools’ for investment, mentioned above, derivatives are of particular interest. Derivatives
are financial contracts that are ‘derived’ from underlying assets. These assets might be commodities (such as gold
and oil), stocks and bonds, interest and exchange rates, or indices (such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average)
(Breger Bush, 2012: 14). Derivative markets are part of ‘futures markets’ trading. As Breger Bush (2012: 15) has
noted, buying or selling a derivative is tantamount to placing a bet on whether the price of the derivative will rise
or fall over time. Purchasing a derivative is done to hedge against price movements, as well as to speculate – trying
to make a profit by taking a risk on price movements (Breger Bush, 2012; Holton, 2012).
2 From Challenges to Prosperous Future in Rural Asia  Volume 1

Why derivatives are important to the food and farming industries is that banks have been offering investors a
derivative-based product called a Commodity Index Fund (CIF) which ‘bundles’ commodities. Farm products
normally make up about one third of the CIFs (with others typically being coal, oil and precious and base metals)
(Clapp, 2014: 6). Up to 24 agricultural and non-agricultural commodities comprise a CIF. Price movements in
metals, for example, can trigger sale of a contract irrespective of the situation of supply and demand of the
agricultural commodities within that bundle (Third World Network, 2008). Speculative activities can lead to the
rapid rise in the price of farm-based commodities:
Commercial speculation in agriculture has traditionally been used by traders and processors to protect
against short-term price volatility, acting as a sort of price insurance while helping to set a benchmark price
in the cash market. But the elimination of speculative position limits for financial speculators and the rise of
commodity index funds undermined traditional price risk management. These funds create a constant
upward pressure on commodity prices, alleviated abruptly only when fund contracts are "rolled over" to take
profits (Third World Network, 2008).
CIFs were implicated in the global food price rises between 2005 and 2008, resulting in growing hunger and riots in
over 30 nations (Kaufman, 2010). The index funds produced a so-called ‘demand shock’ on wheat futures, causing
wheat prices to spiral – the very opposite of the ‘promise’ of producing stability in the marketplace (Kaufman,
2010). Speculation by financial entities in agricultural commodities was, in part, facilitated by relaxation of ‘position
limits’ (the largest number of options or futures contracts an investor can hold on one underlying security). Banks
could sell more agricultural derivatives to investors in a situation where trading faced little regulation, resulting in
speculation and food price hikes (Clapp, 2014: 7).
While derivative trading has become increasingly significant for nations of the Global South, Breger Bush (2012)
cautions against viewing them favourably. Derivatives are privately owned, market-based, mechanisms that are
strongly favoured by business over state-based approaches aimed at achieving price and/or income stabilization.
They are one of the tools of the global neoliberal political project. And, while derivatives could allow hedging in a
manner which protects smallholder farmers, the way they currently operate in the South is largely to exclude these
farmers from any potential benefits. Derivative markets promote speculative trading which can transmits price
volatility and undermine attempts to provide stability for producers. Indeed, between 2006 and 2011 investment in
commodity futures markets doubled from some US$65 billion to US$126 billion – much of it based on speculative
activity (Barthwal-Datta, 2014: 36). For Breger Bush (2012) current neoliberal settings have allowed the large global
players from the North to consolidate their power at the expense of less powerful actors in the South.
Returning to the issue of farmland becoming increasingly attractive to the finance industry, a number of factors
have been identified. Rising global commodity prices have provided signals to investors that land-based
investments have high earning potential. Land values appreciated by some 400 percent globally during the decade
to 2012 with farmland being viewed as a reliable investment at a time of uncertainty in residential property
markets with their so-called ‘toxic assets’ (Lawrence, Sippel and Burch, forthcoming 2014; Savills Research, 2012).
There has also been a global decrease in the amount of farmland per head of population (from 0.37ha/person in
1961 to approximately 0.20ha/person in 2011) (Index Mundi, 2011: 1). This has been due to the dual phenomena
of a growing world population together with the loss of arable land through soil degradation/desertification (Cribb,
2010).
The rapid growth of the biofuel industry has been yet another factor making farmlands attractive to investors
(McMichael, 2013). The ‘meatification’ of the diets of the middle classes in nations like China and India has been a
signal to financial investors that the demand for grains for intensive (factory-farm) poultry and livestock production
will rise, and with it grain prices and the value of the lands producing those grains (Conerly, 2012). Finally, the
warming of the planet through the release of greenhouse gases is prompting governments to create schemes that
bring financial benefits to those who can reduce atmospheric carbon. Carbon trading schemes are proliferating and
finance corporations have identified farm-based carbon sequestration as the source of future profit. According to
one company, carbon trading has become a fast-growing specialty in financial services and is a market that could
grow to US$1 trillion within the next decade (Green Chip Stocks, 2014).

The Large-scale Acquisition of Farmlands
For the reasons stated above, finance capital has found agricultural land to be an attractive investment. Not
surprisingly, we have seen the rise of Farm Investment Management Organisations or ‘FIMOs’ – private companies
that charge a hefty management fee for compiling a portfolio of farm land and offering it to clients. According to
Fairbairn (2014) FIMOs usually require clients to invest around $50m, thereby attracting institutional investors that
are prepared to retain land over the medium term (ten or more years). Income is obtained annually from farm
production and, again, in the longer term via capital gains when the property is eventually sold. Examples of these
farmland managers are the Hancock Agricultural Investment Group, Prudential Agricultural Investments and the
Macquarie Group (Fairbairn, 2014; Larder, Sippel and Lawrence, forthcoming 2015).
A second source of investment has been from nation states that possess sufficient accumulated capital reserves to
invest abroad. Sovereign wealth funds from oil-and-mineral-rich but land-and-water-poor countries have been
particularly active in overseas land purchases for the dual purposes of providing financial returns on investments
and - for reasons of food security - of ensuring that foods are available to their citizens in the event of future ‘price
shocks’ (Cotula, Vermeulen, Leonard and Keeley, 2009; Kaag and Zoomers, 2014 ). Over the past decade millions of
hectares of farmland, peatland and forest have been purchased by China, India and the Gulf States and have been
turned into monocultures of soybean, palm oil and sugarcane for food and biofuels (Kaag and Zoomers, 2014).
Such investment often displaces smallholder farmers and pastoralists, resulting in ‘depeasantisation’ (McMichael,
2013). But it is readily endorsed by governments in poorer countries (such as Kenya, Ethiopia and Sudan) that
welcome foreign direct investment (FDI) as the key to future rural prosperity (McMichael, 2013).
Chinese investment is an interesting case in point. Attempting to cope with growing food insecurity, China has
invested in farming and agrifood industries in nations as diverse as Australia, Cuba, Laos, Tanzania and Uganda
(Watts, 2013). It is estimated that approximately two-thirds of available farmland in China is of low quality and, as
such, China will need to find an additional 120 million hectares of quality farmland to meet its future food needs
(Watts, 2013: 1). And, as it is urbanising it is becoming more dependent upon the US for agricultural products –
something that concerns the Chinese government. Its solution to both problems has been to acquire farmlands
abroad including those in the Mekong River Basin (Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar). There have been 25-30 new
investments in the Basin since 2000 (Hofman and Ho, 2012: 16).
The purchase and leasing of lands abroad is not only to grow food that can be repatriated: it is also to save water in
China (Barthwal-Datta, 2014). As Barthwal-Datta (2014: 195) notes, it is ‘unfortunate’ that the land deals are
occurring in nations that have a high level of food insecurity. However, rather than interpreting Chinese
investment in a negative light Hofman and Ho (2012) view it as ‘development outsourcing’ based upon
investments by a variety of investors (state-owned, collectively-owned, private and individual actors) whose
motives, activities and impacts are quite varied (Hofman and Ho, 2012: 21; IISD, 2012). For researchers like Hofman
and Ho, Chinese investment is a multi-layered, highly complex, phenomenon - not a ‘monolithic’ land grab.
In contrast, for others such as Kaag and Zoomers (2014), large-scale land acquisitions are unambiguous ‘land grabs’
and a form of neocolonialism, while McMichael (2014: 52) views them as a form of ‘security mercantilism’ in which
WTO trading rules are bypassed to allow foreign nations direct access to food/feed/fuel supplies in target
countries. Some have viewed them as ‘water grabs’, ‘green grabs’ or, more broadly, ‘resource grabs’ (see Fairhead,
Leach and Scoones, 2012; Holmes, 2014). Other authors have sought to distinguish between ‘land grabbing’ and
genuine rural development. What, then, is a ‘land grab’? It has been proposed that a ‘land grab’ is characterised
by:
 a large-scale land acquisition which is illegal, underhanded, or unfair

 few benefits flowing to local or national populations - especially in relation to food security
 dispossession – local people are forced from their lands
 minimal/no consideration of natural resource implications
 minimal infrastructural development for local communities
 autocratic decision-making by authoritative regimes, including failure to incorporate all stakeholders
 an inequitable share of benefits between stakeholders (McMichael, 2013; Riddell, 2013: 163)

African nations are particularly vulnerable to a ‘land grab’ because land is often held communally. Governments
can readily define such lands as ‘idle’, thereby acquiring them illegally and subsequently selling or leasing them to
domestic or foreign investors who promise to modernise agriculture, create jobs, build infrastructure and create
new agro-export platforms (McMichael, 2012). But there has also been a flurry of activity in Asia, with conflict over
land tenure having emerged as a key concern. According to Cherry (2013) and Borras and Franco (2011), the
‘vacant’ and ‘unused’ labelling of land by governments in the region has resulted in the removal of smallholder
subsistence farmers whose ‘customary ownership’ is no longer recognised. As well, the oil palm boom in
Southeast Asia has been clearly linked to the growing market for biofuels in Europe (Transnational Institute, 2012).
Finally, it appears most of the benefits accrue to transnational capital, local elites and bureaucrats, leaving poor
livelihood outcomes for local farming communities (Barthwal-Datta, 2014; Borras and Franco, 2012).
Despite ‘land grab’ having become a term which has proliferated in the academic literature, many writers have
cautioned about its application. The scale and nature of land deals is often fuzzy, calling into question the
reliability of data purporting to show that ‘millions’ of hectares have been acquired (Hofman and Ho, 2012;
Scoones, Hall, Borras, White and Wolford, 2013). Furthermore, little is often known about experiences at the local
level: do land grabs always result in depeasantisation and resource degradation? Methodological rigour and
reflexivity are essential ingredients to a more nuanced understanding of land purchases (Oya, 2013). But what is
not being doubted is the extent to which the acquisition of resources (a resource ‘rush’?) by a series of global
financial actors has burgeoned over the past decade (Cotula et al., 2009; Scoones et al., 2013).
Responding to widespread criticisms of the flood of foreign investment in lands following the food price hikes of
2008, the World Bank developed a set of seven ‘principles for responsible agro-investment’ that were eventually
adopted by FAO, UNCTAD and IFAD. These are:
 Existing rights to land and associated natural resources are recognised and respected
 Investments do not jeopardise food security but rather strengthen it
 Processes for accessing land are transparent, monitored and accountable
 People and communities affected are consulted and subsequent agreements enforced
 Projects must respect the rules of law, reflect industry best practice and result in durable shared value
 Investments will generate desirable social and distributional impacts – not increase vulnerability
 Environmental impacts are quantified and measured to ensure sustainable resource use (The World
Bank, 2014: 5)
In 2011, in recognition of the continued scale and impact of foreign investment, the UN developed a set of
‘Principles for Responsible Investment’ (UNPRI) for farmland. According to UNPRI’s (2011) five principles,
investment should:
 Promote environmental sustainability (combating erosion, managing water, reducing chemical

emissions, mitigating climate impacts)
 Respect labour and human rights (particularly of vulnerable groups, indigenous peoples, local cultural
and value systems, and local food security)
 Respect existing land and resource rights (acquisitions must be culturally appropriate and transparent,
ensuring engagement with local stakeholders)
 Uphold high business and ethical standards (respecting the rule of law and avoiding corruption and
bribery)
 Be reported upon - allowing activities to be widely known, particularly in regard to any progress made
in implementing the principles.
To what extent have these sets of principles been followed in recent large-scale land acquisitions? The World Bank
(2014) has provided examples from nations such as Nicaragua, Indonesia, Bolivia, Malawi, Honduras and Vietnam
demonstrating how a good number of these principles are being met. Similarly, UNPRI considers it has also made
considerable progress. In its report of 2012 it presented five case studies of success in finance-industry compliance
with the principles (UNPRI, 2012).

In contrast, international not-for-profit organisation GRAIN, and researchers such as Borras and Franco (2014),
have argued strongly that the sets of principles outlined by the World Bank and UNPRI do not have the capacity to
deliver better outcomes for those nations where farmland investment is occurring. In fact, GRAIN argues these
principles stand to make matters worse. According to GRAIN (2012) the principles call for voluntary self-regulation
by finance capital – something that is unreliable, ineffectual and lacks a clear means of enforcement. It is
unrealistic, GRAIN argues, to believe that corrupt governments and dysfunctional states with open-door policies
for foreign investment will be capable, or desirous, of implementing such a code.
GRAIN notes that civil society groups throughout the world have condemned the principles as endorsing further
foreign investment when the aim should be to prevent such investment from occurring and to support, instead,
the efforts of small-scale rural producers. For Borras and Franco (2014) the current development of ‘codes-of-
conduct’-type responses to land grabbing are premised on foreign investment in land continuing, albeit with the
presence of a larger dose of ‘corporate social responsibility’. Their argument is that the framing of the issue
remains wrong-headed: the World Bank, FAO, UNCTAD and other international bodies view the ‘problem’ of
developing nations as a lack of capital investment, when the real issue is that of ensuring access to land by the
poor (Borras and Franco, 2014: 161). In addition, the various codes and principles are viewed, cynically, as a
corporate marketing ploy: adherence to ‘principles’ can add value to investments because they enable firms to
demonstrate that corporate social responsibility occurs in the context of profit-making, assisting in making their
land purchases legitimate and beneficial in the eyes both of investors and target nations (GRAIN, 2012). However,
as Clapp and Helleiner (2012) have argued in the case of biofuels, higher energy prices will encourage continued
production of biofuels. Therefore, forest lands will continue to be cleared and it is likely that the subsequent
impacts (biodiversity loss, soil degradation, chemically-polluted waterways) will remain an outcome of replacing
forests and small-scale farming systems with industrial agriculture.
Assessment: Foreign Direct Investment versus Land Grabbing
The World Bank (2014: 1) has publicly stated that it:

… does not support speculative land investments or acquisitions which take advantage of weak institutions
in developing countries or which disregard principles of responsible agricultural investment.
However, it has also argued that private sector investments must rise by some 50 percent per annum – from the
current $142 billion to $209 billion per annum – to meet growing food needs over future decades (World Bank,
2014: 1). Clearly, the World Bank is very hopeful that such investment will abide by the principles that are in place
for responsible investment in farmland. But, as we have seen, for GRAIN and many similar organisations,
investment of the sort indorsed by the World Bank, the UN and other organisations appears to fail an important
first test: supporting local producers to remain on lands that will provide the foods that will contribute to long-
term national food security (La Via Campesina, 2009). As Buck (2014) notes, the neoliberal food regime is premised
on the expansion of global markets, concentrating power in the hands of a small number of corporate actors, not
protecting the food sovereignty of smallholders and rural communities.
How can we understand this apparent ‘clash’ of approaches to development? While this might be dismissed as a
crude dualism, there appear to be two very different ways of interpreting modern-day investment in food and
farmlands. Those supporting FDI argue that it is imperative that so-called ‘backward’ (peasant/subsistence/small-
scale) farming is replaced by ‘modern’ systems that rely upon new technologies, more productive inputs, and
better management regimes to enhance levels of productivity. Indeed, the ‘package’ of trade liberalisation,
privatisation, deregulation and the expansion of private property rights is a key platform of the so-called
‘Washington Consensus’ which asserts that neoliberal settings will bring about necessary structural adjustment in
farming and promote economic development (Khan, 2014).
Following the ‘liberation’ of agriculture, the responsibility will rest with governments and private enterprise to
invest capital to provide the necessary infrastructure (roads, ports, telecommunications and governance
structures) to allow farm produce to move quickly to new domestic and international markets – the former feeding
a burgeoning urban population (many of whom have been displaced from small-scale agriculture), and the latter
bringing export income to underwrite the transformation of farming, while allowing additional surplus to be
invested in urban infrastructural development.

This ‘modernisation’ trajectory is strongly supported by the World Bank, IMF, FAO, corporate capital and other
entities which consider, inter alia, that: globalization is beneficial and inevitable; the South will ultimately benefit
from investment which allows for both ‘green revolution’-type transformation of farming and the harnessing of
urban labour which is competitive because of its relatively low cost; and, the best means of achieving
transformation is from unrestricted large-scale foreign-based financial investment (Rosset, 2006; Young, 2012).
The contrasting view is that the appropriation of farmlands from some of the poorest people in the world is a form
of neocolonialism, one that severs subsistence producers from their lands and literally pushes once-productive
farmers into a lumpen proletariat living in urban slums where jobs are menial and difficult to obtain, and where
access to food becomes a day-to-day struggle (Patel, 2013). Farmlands once feeding local communities now grow
crops for export or for conversion to biofuel – something that reduces, rather than assists, these economies to
provide enhanced food security for their citizens (McMichael, 2012; Patel, 2007).
As Barthwal-Datta (2014: 199) has noted, small farmers produce around 80 percent of all the food consumed in
Asia and advises that ‘policymakers in Asia would do well to place smallholders at the heart of their concern’.
According to GRAIN (2014) the world’s small farmers (those with around 2.2 hectares of land) are twice as
productive as large farms. It is also claimed that their activities are more environmentally sustainable, and they are
better at protecting biodiversity and providing economic benefits to local communities (GRAIN, 2014). Yet, as part
of global agrarian ‘reform’ they are under constant threat as farmlands shift from satisfying local food needs to
producing crops such as soybean, oil palm, canola and sugar cane for large-scale industrial processing. Clearly more
research needs to be undertaken to understand the dynamics of change and how changes in land ownership and
practice influence food security outcomes. How will the world feed an additional 2 billion people by 2050?
Conclusion: Will Financialisation Provide the Basis for a Prosperous Future for Rural Asia?
This is what we currently know: Firms in the financial sector, along with government-based sovereign wealth fund
agencies, are investing in large-scale land purchases and in the agrifood industry. The main drivers for the investors
are profit-making and food security (the latter, in particular, for nations lacking land and water resources). The
main advantage for the host nation in acquiring foreign investment is its ‘promise’ to transform farming, provide
jobs for workers and encouraging the building of necessary infrastructure – the bridges, roadways and irrigations
schemes to enhance local economic activity and to create a basis for the national and international marketing of
farm products.
For many host governments in Asia, as throughout the developing world, such a promise is seductive. But, in some
cases, the model of development that accompanies such investment is one which leads to significant negative
outcomes. These include: land dispossession of current food providers; the compromising of rural livelihoods;
limited benefits of development at the local level; and environmental destruction. Organisations such as the UN
and World Bank have sought to address the current failings of the globally-inspired neoliberal ‘modernisation’ of
agriculture by proposing that a series of ‘principles’ be followed. However well-intentioned these principles are,
evidence continues to mount of on-going abuses as capital reshapes the farming landscape of developing nations.
While it is clear that Asian nations can develop their economies by improving agricultural production the choice, for
many analysts, is stark. One is to financialise and ‘modernise’ the food and farming sector via green-revolutionary
style intensification; another is to support local subsistence producers through strategic, local, investment that lifts
productivity gains to enhance domestic food production and consumption. There is no doubt that financial firms
will continue to provide investment. But such funding is likely to be most beneficial when host nations are able to
control investment. This investment might be expected to be much less short-term and speculative: rather, it is
much more likely to be long-term and strategic – aimed specifically at improving the livelihoods of rural dwellers,
enhancing food security, building local infrastructure, and protecting the environment. These are largely embraced
in the various ‘principles’ of supra-national governance agencies. But what is required is that these principles are
taken seriously and are strictly adhered to.
What are our responsibilities as social scientists studying the role of finance in contemporary agrarian change? The
first is to apply our conceptual and methodological skills to analyse and interpret what is occurring as
‘financialisation’ proceeds. The second is to identify what effects are being felt by those experiencing
financialisation, in particular distinguishing between those who are being advantaged and those who being

disadvantaged. The third is to make our findings public so that governments, corporations, NGOs, community
groups and local citizens can act to bring about a more fair, just, food-secure, and environmentally-safe world for
this generation and future generations.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This study was part-funded by the Australian Research Council (Project No. DP 110102299). Professor Lawrence
was also part-funded by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2010-330-00159) and the Norwegian
Research Council.
REFERENCES
Barthwal-Datta, M. 2014. Food Security in Asia: Challenges, Policies and Implications. London: International
Institute for Strategic Studies.
Borras, S. and Franco, J. 2012. Political Dynamics of Land Grabbing in Southeast Asia: Understanding Europe’s Role.
Amsterdam: Transnational Institute.
Borras, S. and Franco, J. 2014. From Threat to Opportunity? Problems with Codes of Conduct for Land Grabbing, in
Lambek, N., Claeys, P., Wong, A. and Brilmayer, L. (eds) Rethinking Food Systems: Structural Challenges, New
Strategies and the Law. New York: Springer, 147-162.
Breger Bush, S. 2011. Derivatives and Development: A Political Economy of Global Finance, Farming and Poverty.
New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Buck, M. 2014. Policing the New Enclosures: On Violence, Primitive Accumulation, and Crisis in Neoliberal Food
Systems, in Wolf, S. and Bonanno, A. (eds) The Neoliberal Regime in the Agri-food Sector: Crisis, Resilience
and Restructuring. London: Earthscan, 52-69.
Burch, D. and Lawrence, G. 2009. Towards a Third Food Regime: Behind the Transformation. Agriculture and
Human Values 26: 267-279.
Burch, D. and Lawrence, G. 2013. Financialization in Agri-food Supply Chains: Private Equity and the Transformation
of the Retail Sector, Agriculture and Human Values 30 (2): 247-258.
Cherry, J. 2013. The Great Southeast Asian Land Grab. Available at: http://thediplomat.com/2013/08/the-great-
southeast-asian-land-grab/ Accessed 1 July 2014.
Clapp, J. 2014. Financialization, Distance and Global Food Politics. The Journal of Peasant Studies. Published on-line
15 January 2014. DOI: 10.1080/03066150.2013.875536.
Clapp, J. and Helleiner, E. 2012. International Political Economy and the Environment: Back to the Basics?
International Affairs 88 (3): 485-501.
Conerly, B. 2012. The Coming Boom in Agriculture. Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/

billconerly/2012/03/01/the-coming-boom-in-agriculture/ Accessed 27 June 2014.
Cotula, L., Vermeulen, S., Leonard, R. and Keeley, J. 2009. Land Grab or Development Opportunity? Agricultural
Investment and International Land Deals in Africa. Rome: FAO.
Cribb, J. 2010. The Coming Famine: The Global Food Crisis and What we can do to Avoid it. Berkeley: University of
California Press.
Epstein, G. (ed.) 2005. Financialization and the World Economy. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Fairbairn, M. 2014. ‘Like Gold with Yield’: Evolving Intersections between Farmland and Finance. The Journal of
Peasant Studies. Published on-line 14 January 2014. DOI:10.1080/03066150.2013.873977.

Fairhead, J., Leach, M. and Scoones, I. 2012. The Journal of Peasant Studies 39 (2): 237-261.
GRAIN. 2012. Responsible Farmland Investing? Current Efforts to Regulate Land Grabs will Make Things Worse.
Available at: http://www.grain.org/article/entries/4564-responsible-farmland-investing-current-efforts-to-
regulate-land-grabs-will-make-things-worse Accessed 29 June 2014.
GRAIN. 2014. Hungry for Land: Small Farmers Feed the World with Less than one Quarter of all Farmland. Available
at: http://www.grain.org/article/entries/4929-hungry-for-land-small-farmers-feed-the-world-with-less-than
-a-quarter-of-all-farmland Accessed 6 July 2014.
Green Chip Stocks. 2014. Carbon Trading: The World’s Next Biggest Market. Available at: http://
www.greenchipstocks.com/report/carbon-trading-the-worlds-next-biggest-market/107 Accessed 27 June
2014.
Hofman, I. and Ho, P. 2012. China’s ‘Development Outsourcing’: A Critical Examination of Chinese Global ‘Land
Grabs’ Discourse. The Journal of Peasant Studies 39 (1): 1-48.
Holmes, G. 2014. What is a Land Grab? Exploring Green Grabs, Conservation and Private Protected Areas in
Southern Chile. The Journal of Peasant Studies. Published on-line 23 June 2014. DOI:
10.1080/03066150.2014.919266.
Holton, R. 2012. Global Finance. London: Routledge.
IISD. 2012. Farmland and Water: China Invests Abroad. Winnipeg, Canada: IISD.
IMF. 2012. The Liberalization and Management of Capital Flows: An Institutional View. Available at: http://
www.imf.org/external/np/pp/eng/2012/111412.pdf Accessed 26 June 2014.
Index Mundi. 2011. Arable Land (Hectares Per Person). Available at: http://www.indexmundi.com/facts/world/
arable-land Accessed 26 June 2014.
Isakson, R. 2014. Food and Finance: The Financial Transformation of Agro-food Supply Chains. The Journal of
Peasant Studies. Published on-line 20 January 2014. DOI: 10.1080/03066150.2013.874340.
Kaag, M. and Zoomers, A. 2014. The Global Land Grab: Beyond the Hype. London: Zed Books.
Kaufman, F. 2010. The Food Bubble: How Wall St Starved Wall St and Got Away with it. Harper’s Magazine, July:
27-34.
Khan, S. 2014. A History of Development Economic Thought: Challenges and Counter-challenges. London:
Routledge.
Krippner, G. 2011. Capitalizing on Crisis: The Political Origins of the Rise of Finance. Cambridge: Harvard University
Press.
La Via Campesina. 2009. Declaration of Rights of Peasants – Women and Men. Available at: http://
viacampesina.net/downloads/PDF/EN-3.pdf Accessed 30 June 2014.
Larder, N., Sippel, S. and Lawrence, G. (forthcoming 2015). Finance Capital and Australian Agricultural Land: A
Critical Examination of the Macquarie Group and Hassad Australia. Journal of Agricultural Change.
Lawrence, G., Sippel, S. and Burch, D. (forthcoming 2014). The Financialization of Food and Farming, in Robinson,
G. and Carson, D (eds) Handbook on the Globalization of Agriculture. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Lynch, J. 2014. Private Equity Firms Target big Australian Food Processors for Investment. Available at: http://
www.smh.com.au/business/private-equity-firms-target-big-australian-food-producers-for-investment-
20140617-3abhm.html Accessed 26 June 2014.

McMichael, P. 2012. Biofuels and the Financialization of the Global Food System, in Rosin, C., Stock, P. and
Campbell, H. (eds) Food Systems Failure: The Global Food Crisis and the Future of Agriculture. London:
Earthscan, 60-82.
McMichael, P. 2013. Food Regimes and Agrarian Questions. Halifax: Fernwood Publishers.
McMichael, P. 2014. Land Grabbing as Security Mercantilism in International Relations, in Margulis, M., McKeon, N.
and Borras, S. (eds) Land Grabbing and Global Governance. London. Routledge, 47-64.
Moore, J. 2012. Cheap Food and Bad Money: Food, Frontiers, and Financialization in the Rise and Demise of
Neoliberalism. Review: A Journal of the Fernand Brundel Center 33 (2-3): 225-261.
Oya, C. 2013. Methodological Reflections on ‘Land Grab’ Databases and the ‘Land Grab’ Literature ‘Rush’. The
Journal of Peasant Studies 40 (3): 503-520.
Patel, R. 2007. Stuffed and Starved: Markets, Power and the Hidden Battle for the World Food System. London:
Portobello Books.
Patel, R. 2013. The Long Green Revolution. The Journal of Peasant Studies 40 (1): 1-63
Peck, J. and Tickell, A. 2002. Neoliberalising Space. Antipode 34 (3): 380-404.
Riddell, P. 2013. ‘Land Grabs’ and Alternative Modalities for Agricultural Investment in Emerging Markets, in Allan,
T., Keulertz, M., Sojamo, S. and Warner, J. (eds) Handbook of Land and Water Grabs in Africa: Foreign Direct
Investment and Food and Water Security. Abingdon: Routledge, 160-177.
Rosset, P. 2006. Food is Different: Why we Must get the WTO out of Agriculture. Halifax: Fernwood Press.
Savills Research. 2012. International Farmland: Focus 2012. UK: Savills.
Scoones, I., Hall, R., Borras, S., White, B. and Wolford, W. 2013. The Politics of Evidence: Methodologies for
Understanding the Global Land Rush. The Journal of Peasant Studies 40 (3): 469-483.
Stilwell, F. 2002. Political Economy: The Contest of Economic Ideas. South Melbourne: Oxford.
The World Bank. 2014. Land and Food Security. Available at: http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/agriculture/
brief/land-and-food-security Accessed 29 June 2014.
Third World Network. 2008. Commodity Market Speculation Played Major Role in Food Crisis. Available at: http://
www.twnside.org.sg/title2/susagri/susagri062.htm Accessed 6 July 2014.
Transnational Institute. 2012. The Global Land Grab: A Primer. Available at: http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/
files/resources/landgrabbingprimer.pdf Accessed 1 July 2014.
UNPRI. 2011. Principles for Responsible Investment in Farmland. Available at: http://
d2m27378y09r06.cloudfront.net/viewer/?file=wp-content/uploads/Farmland_Principles.pdf Accessed 28
June 2014.
UNPRI. 2012. Responsible Investment in Farmland: A Compendium of Case Studies. Available at: http://
www.unpri.org/viewer/?file=wp-content/uploads/2012.10RIinfarmland.pdf Accessed 29 June 2014.
Watts, E. 2013. Chinese Farms go Global. Available at: http://www.boulevard-exterieur.com/Chinese-Farms-Go-

Global.html Accessed 30 June 2014.
Young, E. 2012. Food and Development. London: Routledge.

PART 2. PANEL PAPERS

Panel 1. Disaster Management and Resilience in the
Rural Asia

THE COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT TO TSUNAMI DISASTER FORWARD TO
RECONSTRUCTION OF RURAL LIFE AFTER THE GREATEAST JAPAN EARTHQUAKE
Hideki Yoshino
Iwate Prefectural University, Japan
（yoshino@iwate-pu.ac.jp）
ABSTRACT
For more than 3 years Japan has faced the triple disaster; earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident caused by the magnitude
9.0 earthquake called the Great East Japan Earthquake struck off the pacific coast of Japan's Tohoku region on March 11, 2011.
Totally in Japan around 16000 residents passed away directly by the earthquake and tsunami, more than 2600 people lost still
in now and 400000 houses or buildings had been seriously destroyed. In this presentation, I introduce the community
management to Tsunami Disaster in rural and fishery area especially in coast side of Iwate prefecture in Northeast Japan, and
try to analyze the factors for collective activity or decision making based on local community structure of rural life as well as
agricultural and fishery production system in each three periods; the emergent period (1 st period), the resilient period (2nd
period), and the reconstruction period (3rd period). during the emergent period, we find deep collaboration and mutual help
between coast villages and mountainous villages, or among habitants themselves inside fishery village, They managed several
kind of resources as food, water, fuel and information about evacuees for survive. During the resilient period, we find the
existence of a strong leadership and followership in fishery villages to make the reconstruction plan of community by
themselves and success to make consensus in opinion among villagers. During the reconstruction period, we find the difficulty in
rebuild the infrastructures such as road, house and seawall by luck of materials, labor force or uncertainty of land ownership in
the commons along seaside area. And people in some villages reconsider the reconstruction plan once reluctantly accepted
during the emergent period. Finally we try to show the potentiality and the limitation of rural community for reconstruction of
coast area in Northeast Japan.
INTRODUCTION
The Great East Japan Earthquake has damaged seriously the cities and villages on broad coast area along the Pacific
sea. The damage is complex; the earthquake destroyed buildings or personal houses, Tsunami lost a lot of life and
property, the nuclear accident fallout the radioactive. Even before The Great East Japan Earthquake occurred, total
population has been decreasing and aging of population proceed in these attacked area. There are so much
difficulties for rebuilding and sustaining community in future. This presentation reports the autonomy of the
community in these area from disaster toward reconstruction. While central and local government did public or
large amount aid as well as international agencies do, what could community do? How could community make the
reconstruction plan by themselves? In this report I try to examine these process and reconstructive ability of
community after disaster. After all I point out the ability and potentiality of the community for preparing against
next disaster.
Damage of disaster and refugees
The Great East Japan Earthquake, Tsunami and the nuclear accident have seriously damaged the cities and villages
of broad coast area along the Pacific sea in east Japan. The number of the dead is 15884, the missing is 2633,
totally 18535 is passed away in Japan (from the announcement of national police agency at 10 th March 2014).
Especially Northeast 3 prefectures in Honshu island; Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima were much serious damaged. In
Iwate, the number of the dead is 4673, the missing is 1124, in Miyagi, 9537 and 1280, in Fukushima, 1607 and 207,
totally 15817 and 2629. These number are occupied 99.6% and 99.8% of whole number of Japan. Adding this, the
number of dead later related with earthquake is 2993 at 11th March 2014. After all more than 20 thousands are
dead or missing.
The Earthquake, Tsunami and nuclear accident have generated large amount of refugees. The number is 263958
spread in 1170 of cities, towns and villages in every prefecture at 13 th March 2014. The most number is 88575 in
Miyagi, the second is 84221 in Fukushima the third is 34494 in Iwate. Total amount number in 3 prefectures is near
300 thousands. In other area, 7933 in Tokyo metropolitan area, 5982 in Yamagata pref., 4726 in Niigata pref., 967
even in Okinawa pref.. And the number of refugees into other prefectures than 3 much damaged prefectures is
47683 from Fukushima, 7012 from Miyagi, 1477 from Iwate. In spite of national government declaration of

Hideki Yoshino
recovering safeness of the nuclear accident in Fukushima 1st atomic power house by the Tokyo electric power
company, there are many problems with the clearance of polluted water and the radioactive. We can not recognize
the solution of accident. People once living near atomic power house and now evacuating in all regions, are not
sure when they can come back their home town. A part of them gave up back home and decided to begin new life
apart from home.
Community in Japan and disaster
Generally in Japan there are regional community organization named CHONAIKAI or JICHIKAI in Japanese based on
the mutual cooperation of habitants in everyday life. CHONAIKAI (in this paper I representatively use CHONAIKAI
as two words) are not official or governmental organization, but independent and self-governed organization.
Households in the community takes part in their CHONAIKAI without legal obligation, While in the community of
countryside all household is the member of CHONAIKAI, in urban area the lower ratio of participating is often lower
than countryside. CHONAIKAI has their own budget that the organization collects annual membership fee. The
activities are complex in wider sphere; clean up in public area, prevention activity against crime and disaster,
activities for traffic safety, recreation activities and local festival. As Similar organization in Asia, we know Balangai
in Philippine, Kanakarn Chumchon in Thailand, RT/RW in Indonesia, habitant committee named Shaku or Kyomin
Iinkai in Taiwan and China, Gaibokai in Hongkong.
In the face of the disaster CHONAIKAI had several role to life support of habitants. I show these activities time by
time, ①ushering right after earthquake ②management of shelter and distributing resources for life ③receiving
refugee in mountainous area ④action for keeping the relations between habitants who live in the temporary
housing apart from each other ⑤management of temporary housing ⑥building reconstruction plan . Of course
CHONAIKAI can not perform enough in every single matter, or can nothing if it was seriously damaged. But the role
of habitants group is so much important as well as public sectors as police, fire station or fishery cooperatives or
commercial committee.
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND METHOD
In this report I describe and analyze the role of CHONAIKAI of fishery communities at the each reconstructing
period. The site is Kamaishi city located in middle south area of Iwate prefecture. The coast area of Kamaishi city
develop Saw-tootbed coastline and there are 4 gulfs named Otsuchi-wan, Ryoishi-wan、Kamaishi-wan, Tohni-wan
partitioned by 4 peninsular lands. People in these gulfs grow up and sell scallop, oyster, soft seaweed and so on.
Inside Kamaishi city, the plain area is small and spread along the Kassi river which flows from downtown and the
Unosumai river. Other area is almost mountainous with forest near to coast area.
In the central area, there is big factory of Nippon Steel & Sumikin company which uses the main port for
transporting materials and products. Owing to Nippon steel company Kamaishi city is imaged as the Iron city. The
population of Kamaishi city was 39996, and the number of household is 17564, ratio of elder population is 34.3%
before disaster ( recorded at Feb.2011 by basic official record of inhabitant). The population of 1930 was 43310. At
most it was 92123 at 1963 which was occupied almost by workers and their families of Nippon Steel.
In Kamaishi city there were 128 CHONAIKAI. The method of research is to interview to important informants with
semi-structured questionnaire sheet. The important informants are insist of the officers of Kamaishi city, leaders of
CHONAIKAI. The period of research is from May 2011 to present time.
RESEARCH RESULTS
Group control activity right after earthquake
Although 30 minutes from the earthquake to tsunami, little CHONAIKAI lead habitants to guide to safe place.
Instead CHONAIKAI, many Shobodan ( fire group by habitants based on community ) could have a role of these
activities. It is because that Shobodan has a responsibility to lead habitants to bring to safe place in ordinary.
Shobodan is consist of habitants and has a role of first correspondence with fire and disaster to cooperate with

Hideki Yoshino
official fire station. The area of each unit of Shobodan piles up CHONAIKAI. So practically each community had
leadership to guide habitants to move safety area.
Management of shelter and distribution of materials to refugee

In Kamaishi city some part of refugees in same community could enter in the same shelter, but most refugees could
not help being accommodated to separate shelter by separate evacuation. Some elder refugees evacuated to the
hotels in inner area by virtue of lack of shelter. In the case that refugee could find their shelter near community,
community leader had initiative to manage everyday life in shelter The man who is over 80 years old and has status
of an advisor of CHONAIKAI named Katagishi in Unosumai area stayed in his house at the earthquake. He
understood tsunami would come rapidly, so he began to evacuate to meeting house in hillside. First he thought
that even if Tsunami came, it would converge within around 2 hours and half. Actually he glanced that Tsunami
over 10 meters got over embankment and attacked his house and other houses. He moved another shelter with
stove after first evacuation with his family and neighborhood. In the evening of 13 March they removed another
unauthorized shelter in inner area and had stayed until June.
He became the leader of the shelter management group. He established the head office and started to made the
name list of refugees. He organized small groups such as receiving of materials, sanitary activities, cooking, and
made a day schedule from waking to sleeping in order to keep everyday life in order. He made sure to record safety
of all habitant in Katagishi district including those who returned their own houses, finally made a perfect name list
with information about safety and temporary address. He distributed materials in the shelter to people who were
back to their houses.
Adding this He established the area committee for reconstruction of Katagishi. And he made payment system for
removing debris with machine by male refugees and distributed its wage to all refugees in another task. In
Katagishi district, He assumed to be a leader and organized activity managed on the base of CHONAIKAI and helped
refugees. He did not exploit CHONAIKAI directly but made up new group and reconstructed ordinary life with rich
experience of his life.
The response of the inner community where people accepted many refugees
The community located in inner and mountainous area received refugees in both of authorized and not authorized
shelter, and the relatives’ house where the CHONAIKAI had built an emergent system for receiving refugees and
closely collected right information to save materials such as food and commodities. I introduce two cases in the
same district named Kurihashi in the mountainous area. Hashino-cho in Kurihashi district located in mountainous
area and 20 km far from the central area of Unosumai-cho which is one of the northern suburb areas of Kamaishi
city and in which about 6 thousand people lived along the Unosumai river flowing to the Pacific ocean. Hashino-cho
is consist of 8 CHONAIKAIs where 8 small communities are located in each and these CHONAIKAIs unite one
integrated institution (Hashino-cho Shinko Kyogikai). The population in Hashino-cho was 504 and household
number was 230 (Dec.2010).
Kuribayashi –cho in the same district is in relatively plain area and 10 km far from central area of Unosumai-cho.
Kuribayashi –cho is consist of 3 CHONAIKAIs in each communities and these three CHONAIKAIs also unites one
integrated institution (Kuribayashi Kyoeikai). The population was 761 and household number was 252 (Dec.2010)
There is one elementary school and the post office. After disaster many refugees from Unosumai-cho area
oriented toward Kurihashi district. At most there were more than 1300 refugees of which number exceed number
of habitants there. In Hashino-cho area there were 146 refugees but there is no public shelter in Hashino-cho area.
So refugees were accommodated in 50 personal houses of their relatives. That number reached 26% of all
household. In the same time more refugees from Unosumai-cho area also oriented toward Kuribayashi-cho where
3 public places including the elementary school became shelters. In 24th April more than 800 refugees stayed in
these shelters and 400 stayed in 76 relatives houses which reached 33% of all households.
Each of the united institutions in Hashino-cho and Kuribayashi-cho began to look after refugees. The institution in
Hashino-cho began to gather rice from habitants home to supply for the refugees in the shelters of Kuribayashi-cho
area. The institution gathered personal information and made the name list of refugees in relatives houses. While
the function of public office is almost down, the institution continued to distribute food and materials to refugees

Hideki Yoshino
in relatives houses by the way that leaders pick them up from the official headquarters storehouse by their
personal car once a week.
In Kuribayashi-cho area the head man and directors in the institution stayed in branch office of Shobodan (local
fire extinguishing group ) to make sure of safety and exchange information and distribute materials and
commodities with the assistance of Shobodan. The institution also gathered rice from each household in the area
to provide food for shelters until official food relief came. After they could get rice and food materials, they
began to cook by themselves in the small kitchen of the branch office to bring to refugees in the shelters. They
spontaneously managed and distributed food and commodities which they received from outside and kept in the
branch office to refugees in relatives’ houses in every Sunday. The Shobodan in Hashino-cho area indeed
fulfilled their duty to extinguish forest fire and then search victims in coast area. After all right after disaster the
community members and organizations managed to run their emergent work by themselves as much as possible
without a help or an order from the local government.
Communication between refugees after moving into temporary house
People in the devastated area stayed separately in the several shelters and moved to the temporary houses after
3 to 5 months. In Kamaishi city the order of occupants in the temporary houses depend on the drawing. So people
in the same shelter or community could not live together in same temporary houses. Some people choose rental
houses by their own way. Then it is so much difficult to communicate each other directly after living in the
temporary houses. Among refugees in the temporary houses local government lead to establish new inhabitants
group named JICHIKAI to communicate each other. But as for the communication among people who belong to
the same and original CHONAIKAI, the local government let them free for keeping communication during people
in the devastated area. Then Some CHONAIKAI was necessitated to stop activity because of lack of direct
communication.
In these situation Katagishi CHONAIKAI kept to exchange information of their safeness among members in spite of
separate living. The other CHONAIKAI named Nebama-Shinkokai has monthly a regular meeting that they never
had before disaster. They used the suffered hotel as the meeting place in the area temporally in the first period,
after then they used a newly-built small meeting hall in their community area given by supporting organization.
Although almost all things are lost by Tsunami, a newly-built small hall is a great present for them to resume a
meeting again. Murohama CHONAIKAI restarted meeting in the house left in their community to exchange the
information or news about not only safeness but also reconstruction between habitants living together in the
same community before disaster.
Planning a reconstruction policy in each devastated area
In the case of Kamaishi city the reconstruction policy plan is made according to the areas of each 18 CHONAIKAIs
out of 21 devastated area and only three urban areas such as Eastern Kamaishi area, Ureishi-Matshbara area and
Unosumai-cho area expand beyond CHONAIKAI. When people discuss or applause the content of the
reconstruction plan , the decision making process depends on each CHONAIKAI. Kamaishi city office ( the local
government ) proposed the whole city construction plan by Dec. 2011. The plan includes 21 devastated area as
well as the principle of plan for construction of whole city. For making each area plan, the local government had
held area meeting several times in each area or united area to discuss the content of plan with habitants from
May 2011. They had meeting at least three times in each area. At third time, officers of local government
explained the plan based on the request from CHONAIKAI’ and main target person is the leaders of CHONAIKAI.
(Ohori p133).
In the devastated area such as Kerobe area in Toni district, CHONAIKAI did a questionnaire investigation for
reconstruction of housing by itself and made an agreement with Kamaishi city local government in 19th Dec.
2011. Therefore CHONAIKAI still had a status of representative group still after disaster. In Heita area of Heita
district CHONAIKAI including the devastated central area they established their own reconstruction project and
propose the tentative plan to the local government. The chairman of the project is former leader of CHONAIKAI
until 2009.

Hideki Yoshino
Three urban areas such as Eastern Kamaishi area, Ureishi-Matsubara area, Unosumai-cho area embrace several
CHONAIKAIs and some CHONAIKAIs stop activity or dissolve after disaster. So they could not make their original
plan by the leadership of CHONAIKAI. Instead the CHONAIKAI the broader institution named Chiikikaigi (the
regional congress) which had established before disaster in each 8 autonomous districts had a role to be expected
leadership for making consensus. But because the coverage area is different from the devastated area Chiikikaigi
could not have status as representative organization. CHONAIKAI could still do an important role but in the central
urban area it is difficult to do.
Kamaishi city local government set the regional conferences of inhabitants oriented to reconstruction after
proposing the city reconstruction plan. Those conferences had role to negotiate and make consensus between
local government and habitants. In fact especially in fishery area、the CHONAIKAI may become to the conference.
ANALYSIS
The structure of CHONAIKAI in rural area
Some CHONAIKAI could save people’s life and hold initiative for a construction after the confusion caused by
disaster. Why the CHONAIKAI without devastation in inner area could achieve to support refugees organizationally,
or why the CHONAIKAI devastated in fishery community could collect information of inhabitants and manage
shelter independently? The factor would be inside the structural characteristics of of CHONAIKAI in rural area. The
CHONAIKAI has several functions as mutual help group based on the ordinary cooperation of habitants in the
ordinary life or production in the community. Although there is no duty for habitants to enter in CHONAIKAI,
almost all household enter in CHONAIKAI especially in rural area, and it has more comprehensive function than in
urban area. Even most of these functions are achieved as common activity such as clean-up activities and
recreation, CHONAIKAI is not only a brotherhood association nor a cooperative association for local government. In
the urban area we can not find such characteristics as rural CHONAIKAI has. These stand communal action in rural
area. I point out two excellent characteristics. One is based on the existence of common property possessed or
used by the community members, another is on the existence of the intangible property as local and traditional
play in the shrine festival. CHONAIKAI is main subject for both properties.
Common property and CHONAIKAI
In rural community there ordinarily are properties as land, forest and irrigation or community hall which are
possessed or used or managed by all or part of household in the community. Community has preserved forest as
common property with taking firewood and edible wild plants and mushroom for self-sufficiency. Adding these
use, community had history of getting economic benefit from sale of wood and lent land to local government or
enterprise. Mutual fire extinguishing group named Shobodan has protected forest and river from fire and a
downpour. For using sea commonly, the branch organization of the fishery cooperative is established in each
community and set the area for fishing and adjust the benefit from catch. Therefore the rural community has own
function to manage stake concern and decision making around common property in political and economic
sphere.
Though Shobodan or the fishery cooperative are different from CHONAIKAI and have their proper function, these
organization has common membership to CHONAIKAI. So these organizations are closely related each other. While
urban CHONAIKAI turn into brotherhood group or limited its function only in consumption matters, rural
CHONAIKAI continues to exist as whole functioning group including adjustment of interest among habitants. The
achievement of the function based on community resources as local commons is closely related with the unity of
CHONAIKAI and its the ability of performance. In the confused situation caused by disaster.
The factor by which CHONAIKAI could save life through rapid and appropriate action is partly explained by the
existence of strong leader in the community, CHONAIKAI with common property indeed could act emergently and
continuously. In coastside Katagishi CHONAIKAI made sure of people’s life in the shelter and Kerobe CHONAIKAI
made a reconstruction plan by community itself. In mountainous area the regional council of Hashino-cho and
Kuribayashi-cho accepted many refugees. These CHONAIKAI have and keep their own and common property for
the purpose of managing the right of using of sea or forest and getting benefit or loss from it.

Hideki Yoshino
Local and traditional play in festival
There are still a lot of local and traditional play in the coast area of Iwate prefecture. These are carried mainly by
habitants. These performances are so various such as showing dance and singing music as a pray or thanksgiving
for rich harvest or catch. These also mean a recreation for hard work. These performances are usually introduced in
the religious festival. Every community has its proper and small shrine. The local and traditional play is given to the
gods according to direction by oracle. The play is executed by all or some household in the community. While some
play is shown in public event or in outside area for tourist or urban citizens, its origin is performed in their own
community for habitants themselves. In Kamaishi city there is popular traditional play named Tora-mai (Tiger
dance) . The playing group of Tora-mai is indeed based on the community. There were 14 groups of Tora-mai in
Kamaishi city at 1992 by the official record. Almost all of groups is established in each community. The group is
different from CHONAIKAI but its membership is often overlapped with CHONAIKAI. Each group has a opportunity
to play periodically at least once a year. The Existence of play group may strengthen their solidarity of community
and make sure of the identification of community.
The community where CHONAIKAI lead a supporting activity or involved the proceeding to reconstruction plan has
their own local and traditional play. And some communities which lost all of tools and formal costume for playing
just like Katagishi area made effort to revive play after disaster. It is pointed out that the factor which people in the
coast area in Iwate prefecture could unite together and got over disaster in spite of much damage and dispersion is
on keeping local and traditional play by themselves long time and their attachment to the community.
CONCLUSION
Importance and limitation of community organization in the process to reconstruction
Community organization ‘CHONAIKAI’ has performed several roles in the process to reconstruction. Especially in
the period of transformation from shelter to temporary house, the devastated community people had periodical
meeting and exchanged mutually information in spite of separate living. In the community of the mountainous area
without devastation CHONAIKAI looked after a lot of refugees coming from coast area and then the community
leader ordered to make the refugees’ name list to distribute material or food. Community organization
‘CHONAIKAI’ had important roles in the process to reconstruction from disaster. After building temporary house
near the community in mountainous area, refugees could remove to that house. But that community could not
continue their supporting activities as before and communicate to the occupants in the temporary house directly
without information about occupants. Even local government has family data about refugees, the legal restriction
prevent it from releasing information to the community. So local government could not give data to the
community. CHONAIKAI has no contact to occupants in the temporary house and communication is so rare.
Local government has the responsibility to support the occupants. With the assistance of local government new
habitant groups had been established in temporary house. And actual supporting activity is curried by the social
welfare council or official and professional institution, or non-profit-organization or volunteer association or
university instead of CHONAIKAI. In the process of making a reconstruction plan in each devastated area,
CHONAIKAI in the small and rural area fitted to CHONAIKAI had responsibility to negotiate to local government and
decide or approve the plan But in urban area the coverage of a reconstruction plan involves several community
organizations. In the urban area some community organization already dissolved or stopped activity. The issue of
reconstruction is uncontrollable for one community organization in urban area. Then local government built the
broader organization to discuss the plan. After all in urban area CHONAIKAI could not have initiative for
reconstruction.
The role of CHONAIKAI
As mentioned above, the traditional community organization ; CHONAIKAI in rural area has important role to
support refugees and make reconstruction plan. CHONAIKAI is an organization of habitants and especially in rural
area it also has local commons as land , forest and the right of fishing. It manages the space where complex
relations among life and production are accumulated or cumulative in each other. The space of rural community is
also correspondent with the territory of the local and traditional play so that it becomes basic unit of home coming

Hideki Yoshino
feeling. After all the existence of tangible and intangible property and continuous relationship of habitants could
save a lot of life after disaster. The basic reconstruction policy of Iwate prefectural government is oriented to
rebuilding houses and community at the same place they lived in. Iwate prefecture plans to reconstruct 108
devastated ports for reusing of all 111 ports without integration. From the beginning of reconstruction Iwate
prefectural government does not have the plan to transform or integrate community. Therefore it is expected
that basic community group CHONAIKAI keeps its important role after disaster as same as before. As far as
investigating the process of reconstruction it is possible for CHONAIKAI to keep its function after disaster.
FUTURE ISSUES
Surmount of exclusive characteristics of CHONAIKAI
Though the other community group for adjustment of interests could be often separately established, its
membership is almost same as CHONAIKAI or established as subgroup of CHONAIKAI. But CHONAIKAI would be
apt to exclude new comer. It is difficult to manage community after fluid of population by disaster. If someone
newly come to live in the community there give birth a relation of cooperation or actually a social obligation
between the new comer and the original members. But the right and duty about common property and
traditional play are often limited only in original members. New comer can enter in CHONAIKAI but the right for
using local commons is restricted. After disaster these situation would disturb community to rebuild new
relationship between new comer and original members.
After disaster the fluidity of population may expand more because of migration of original members to outside
and immigration of new comer and U-tern population with hoping to rural life. There is little discussion about
adjustment of right and duty mentioned above and official participation of new comer into CHONAIKAI. It will be
needed to weaken the exclusiveness if CHONAIKAI and create new autonomous community for sustainable
production and life in rural area.
Reorganization or segmentation of CHONAIKAI
It becomes difficult to live again in just same place as before by the reconstruction plan which proposes
transference of living space near coast areas to the higher land from the view point of safety and block
rearrangement of land of living space in urban area. It will generate a reorganization of CHONAIKAI or
segmentation between people staying in the community and moving outside. If the original living site will change,
it may be difficult to continue traditional CHONAIKAI. This problem means not only living site but also the
redefinition of membership as for right for common property and reconsideration of the subject of traditional
play. From now on how can we forward the reconstruction activity with keeping identification of the community.
It is pointed that several CHONAIKAIs merged into one non-profit organization which could solve the broader
problems instead of each single CHONAIKAI in the process of reconstruction. In urban area the reorganization of
CHONAIKAI may probably occur in the process of reconstruction. Autonomy of community organization becomes
more difficult to continue through the decreasing population. And in the urban area. the more various groups has
been newly established, the more difficult to keep authority of Choinaikai as representative organization of local
community.
For reconstruction of community it is needed to develop the new method by which community made consensus
with picking up various opinions from various people. Especially in the place where the population is decreasing or
changed , it is probably difficult to continue the community management as before. It is an important issue how
can original members and new comers join to possess, manage and use common property and have a traditional
play.

Hideki Yoshino
REFERENCES
Ohori Ken.2013.“The consideration of the condition to consistent making plan and participation of inhabitants
Japan society of regional sociology” Annual report of Japan society of regional sociology No. 25 , Harvest
Tsukiyama Hideo. 2011. “Community organization in Kamaishiu city :analysis of the report of
investigation of CHONAIKAI in Kamaishi city” Bulletin of Nakano junior college No.66
Yoshiwara Naoki. 2000. Community organization in Asia CHONAIKAI, Gaibokai, RT/RW. Tokyo:
Ochanomizu shobo
Yoshino Hideki.2012. “ Transformation and reconstruction of rural community after The Great
East Japan Earthquake ,Tsunami – from the survey in the devastated area of Iwate prefecture” Community
Policy 10 (Association of community policy). Toshindo
Yoshino Hideki.2013. “ The issue of autonomy of community habitants from survey in Kamaishi city,
Iwate prefecture” Series of Japan society of local autonomy No.26( local autonomy participation,
Decentralization and Governance and local autonomy ). Keibundo

COMMUNITY-BASED DISASTER MANAGEMENT:
INDONESIAN EXPERIENCE

Department of Agriculture Socio-Economics, Faculty of Agriculture,
Hasanuddin University, Makassar 90245, Indonesia
INTRODUCTION
Natural disasters are events seemed friendly to Indonesia. Every year natural disaster come in turns ranging from
earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, floods, tornado, landslides, forest fires, social conflicts and so on and covering
the entire territory of Indonesia. These disasters can be estimated their coming, however there are also coming
without any preceding signs. When disaster comes, resulted in not only life and property, but also spawned a
range of economic problems, social, political and psychology that is not easily to overcome.
The disaster can be categorized purely for the disaster caused by natural factors and disasters that occur as a result
of human activity. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tornado and tsunamis can be classified into a disaster in the
first category, while landslides, floods, forest fires are a disaster can be classified into the second category is a re-
sult of human activities in fulfilling their needs such as forest logging, land clearance and burning (Widyastuti,
2005). Law no. 24 of 2007 classifies disasters into three categories: (a) The natural disaster is a disaster caused by
the event or series of events caused by nature, among others, in terms of earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes,
floods, droughts, hurricanes, and landslides; (b) a non-natural disaster is a disaster caused by the event or non-
natural sequence of events which include the technology failed, failed modernization, epidemics, and outbreaks of
disease; (c) social disaster is a disaster caused by the event or series of events caused by humans which include
social conflicts between groups or between communities, and terror.
According to Meriem Disaster-Webster Dictionary, disaster means "something that happens suddenly and causes
much suffering or loss to many people, something that has a very bad effect or result". Asian Disaster Prepared-
ness Center (ADPC) defines a disaster as "the serious disruption of the functioning of society, Causing widespread
human, material or environmental losses, the which exceed the ability of the affected communities to cope using
their own resources" (Abarquez & Murshed, 2004). Meanwhile, according to Law no. 24 (2007), a disaster is de-
fined as "an event or series of events that threaten and disrupt the lives and livelihoods caused by natural factors
and / or non-natural factors and human factors that lead to the emergence of human casualties, environmental
damage, loss of property, and psychological impact ".
DISASTER PHENOMENON IN INDONESIA
National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) has recorded disaster between 1815 and 2014. During that period
the biggest disaster happened was 5.204 times of flood killed 18 860 people, followed by hurricanes of 2,879 times
with 292 casualties, 2,254 landslides times with the 2,035 victims and drought of 1,692 times even only 2 victims
people. Some of the disasters happened infrequently, but resulted in many victims like earthquake and tsunami.
They occurred only 10 times but resulted in loss of life as much as 167.779 people; catastrophic volcanic eruption
of 126 times by 78.627 victims. In addition there has been also a disaster in terms of conflict of 108 times and
killing of 6,010 people (Table 1).

Table 1. Distribution of Major Disaster Type and Death Victim in Indonesia (1815-2014)
No Type of Disasters Event Victims

1. Earthquake 297 15,518
2. Earthquake and Tsunami 10 167,779
3. Eruption 126 78,627
4. Floods 5,204 18,860
5. Floods and Landslide 411 2,294
6. Landslides 2,254 2,035
7. Strong Wind 2,879 292
8. Conflict 108 6,010
9. Forest Fire 191 10
10. Drought 1,692 2
Source: BNPB (2014)
SOME GREAT NATURAL DISASTERS IN THE LAST 10 YEARS
Major disasters occurred in Indonesia in the last 10 years in the form of volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, earthquakes,
floods and social conflict will be explained below.
The Earthquake and Tsunami
Earthquake and Tsunami in Aceh, which occurred on December 26, 2004 was one of the worst natural disasters in
human history. Earthquake of 9.1 on the Richter scale centered in the Indian Ocean caused a tsunami that swept
across the Indian Ocean and resulted in the death and destruction across South Asia including Thailand,
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and India to East Africa. The most suffering in this disaster is Indonesian. 10-meter-high
waves hit the coast of Aceh along with the level of physical destruction and human suffering is enormous. In Aceh
alone, it was found that 221,000 people dead or missing, and about half a million homeless. As 750,000 people lost
their livelihoods. At all levels of the infrastructure crippled or destroyed (MDF and JRF, 2012). In addition to the
Aceh, earthquake and tsunami occurred also in Tasikmalaya on 2 September 2009 by 7.7 Mw causing a tsunami of
3 feet, and it was the second worst tsunami in Aceh after the tsunami of 2004. The Tsunami killed by 668 people
and 65 people missing. The tsunami was caused by the earthquake up to 400 meters from the beach.
Volcanic Eruption of “Merapi”
The volcanic eruption of Merapi in Central Java is one of the largest eruptions and it carries a lot of casualties. The
last eruption was in October and November 2010 were considered as the largest eruption since the eruption in
1872 and killed of 273 people. This kind of small erupts happen every 2-3 years, and a larger eruption happen
within 10-15 years. Merapi eruptions had big impact especially in 1006, 1786, 1822, 1872, 1930, 1994, and 2010.
Eruption in 1006 made the whole central part of Java Island shrouded volcanic ash eruption in 1930 destroyed of
13 villages and killed of 1400 people. In November 1994 eruption caused hot clouds glide to reach several villages
and killed of 60 people.
The volcanic eruption of Kelud in Kediri, East Java is also a fierce eruption and claimed many victims. The last Kelud
eruption occurred on Thursday, February 13th, 2014 and is believed by the Center for Volcanology and Geological
Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) as the largest eruptions in history Kelud eruptions. Kelud eruption was remarkable that
cast material into the air to a radius of 17 kilometers and dust eruptions up to the region of West Java. In fact, due
to the high intensity of dust, a number of airports on the island of Java were forced to stop operations. A total of
seven people died from the eruption of Kelud. The death toll from the disease because of falling buildings and

caused ash recorded volcanic. Kelud has erupted several times, namely in 1586, 1901, 1919, 1951, 1966, and 1990,
2007 and the last erupted on February 13, 2014. Eruption of this mountain in 1586 killed more than 10,000 lives. In
1919, eruption claimed thousands of lives due to cold lava flood swept settlements.
Flood
Floods are natural disasters that are familiar to the Indonesian people and the most common is when the rainy
season arrives. Floods are generally caused by the overflow of river water into the surrounding environment as a
result of heavy rainfall. In addition, in urban areas is also caused by the lack of catchment areas as a result of
widespread development. Almost all parts of Indonesia experienced this disaster and that is often a concern is the
flooding that occurred in Jakarta (capital of Indonesia) that in ten years always happen. According to the Regional
Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) Jakarta in 2014, floods killed of 23 people in Jakarta. The victim died from
washed away, drowning, falls, electric shock, and pain. Meanwhile, the number of refugee reached 38, 079 people
spread over in 150 refugee camps.
Social Conflict
Historically, Indonesia is not social-conflict free nation (Darmawan, 2006). Social conflicts continue to occur
repeatedly and replicate continuously from one place to another with-in such diverse forms throughout Indonesia.
Social conflict seems to have been a part of "routine and everyday" people of Indonesia. Large-scale of social
conflicts with high levels of violence was happen in Poso, Aceh, Maluku, North Maluku, Papua, West Papua and
West Kalimantan in the period 1998-2008. Social conflict is based on racism and separatism. During 2006-2008, the
conflict has killed more than 600 people, 6,000 injuries, and more than 1,900 buildings were destroyed (Barron, et
al., 2009).
Among the six provinces above, Papua is a province with the highest rate of violent incidents and the number of
Maluku province recorded the sharpest rise in the number of violent incidents in recent years. In Aceh province,
separatist violence ended in 2005, but instead the number of incidents related moral issues/offense has increased
and violent peaceful post-Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was concentrated in the central region of
violence. In six provinces, the level, form and impact of violent conflict varies widely between districts. This also
shows the significance of local factors in encouraging violent incidents (Barron, et al., 2009).
DISASTER MANAGEMENT PARADIGM
Disaster is a part of human life. Paradigm in disaster managmenet can be distinguished into the live paradigm that
is free of disasters and paradigm coexists with disaster (living with disaster). Until a decade ago, the ideals of
disaster experts still echoing the slogan 'free of disaster' that is based on the absence of natural hazards (natural
hazard). Recent publications on disaster management, there have been a paradigm shift. For example, in
Bangladesh and Vietnam, especially those who live in the Mekong River Basin, the original dream to be free from
flood, finally decided to live with flood (Soemarno, 2011). Furthermore, the commitment to live together with the
disaster, still guided by a spirit that should a disaster occur but do not lead to disaster victims. In the East region,
especially the Besikama, has a very long life together with flood events. Traditional societies Besikama actually
already know about flood mitigation practices based on their traditional home construction for a long time, the
stage house, which has been very popular because of 'development' teach you all 'modern' things (Soemarno,
2011).
In terms of disaster management policies, Handmer and Dovers (2007) have identified a paradigm shift as shown in
Table 2.

Table 2. Paradigm shift in disaster management policies in Indonesia
Sumber: Handmer & Dovers, 2007
Community-Based Disaster Management (CBDM) in Indonesia
Concept and Purpose of CBDM
The basic concept of community-based disaster management in Indonesia and as well in some countries is an effort
to increase the capacity of communities to prepare for and cope with the result of a disaster. This is because the
government has limited resources including human resources, funding, equipment and logistics. Because of that
disaster management should be universality, involving all stakeholders, including government, private and public.
All three of these components must be able to be equal actors, all must play a major role, not only play a role as
well (Widyastuti, 2005). Coles and Buckle (2004) argued that the recovery from disaster can only be achieved
through full participation of the affected communities.
The goal of community-based disaster management is to increase awareness and community preparedness,
especially in prone areas to natural disasters; strengthen the ability of communities to cope with disasters by
cooperating with relevant parties; developing disaster organization in accordance with local conditions; increase
public knowledge about the education of the disaster; increase public awareness of the importance of maintaining
the possibility of disaster caused by human activity.
The importance of involving the community in disaster management because: Local communities know their
village and the local situation best and no outsider can understand the local opportunities and constraints
as they do; thus, they need to be involved in identifying and resolving disaster vulnerability issues.
Communities have a personal interest in avoiding disasters and are the main source of local resources; thus,
they have the motivation and ability to carry out local activities.

Communities are naturally very concerned with the local affairs on which their survival and well-being
depend, so information should be generated in a manner and language that is understood by the
community. Central level management and response programs often fail to assess the needs of vulnerable
communities, undermine the potential of local resources and capacities, and may, in some cases, even
increase people's vulnerability (Shrestha, et.al. (2008).
INSTITUTIONAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Responsibility
Responsibility for disaster management in Indonesia has been stipulated in Law no. 24 of 2007 which stipulates
that the (central) government has a responsibility in disaster management operations. This responsibility includes:
a. disaster risk reduction (DRR) and the integration of disaster risk reduction into development programs;
b. Protection of society from the impacts of disasters
c. Guarantee the fulfillment of rights and refugee communities affected fairly and in accordance with the
minimum service standards;
d. Recovery from the impact of disasters;
e. Budget allocation of disaster relief funds
f. Adequate budget allocation of disaster management in the State Budget
g. Maintenance of records/documents are authentic and credible threat and impact of disasters
Meanwhile, the responsibilities of the Local Government are as follows:
a. Guarantee the fulfillment of rights and refugee communities affected in accordance with the minimum service
standards
b. Protection of society from the impact of disasters
c. Disaster risk reduction and the integration of disaster risk reduction into development programs; and
d. Allocation of disaster relief funds in the Revenue and Expenditure adequate.
To carry out these responsibilities, the Indonesian Government established National Disaster Management Agency
(BNPB) which has the following tasks:
a. Provide guidance and direction to the disaster relief efforts that include disaster prevention, emergency
response, rehabilitation, and reconstruction in a fair and equitable;
b. Establish standardization and implementation of disaster management needs based on laws and regulations
c. Convey information to the community about disaster management activities
d. Reporting disaster management to the President once a month under normal conditions and at all times in a
state of emergency
e. Use and take responsibility to national/international donations/aids
f. Responsible for the use of funds received from the State Budget
g. Running obligations in accordance with laws and regulations
h. Developing guidelines for the establishment of the Regional Disaster Management Agency
In addition to the three parties mentioned above (Central Government, Local Government, and BNPB), Law no. 24
of 2007 also recognizes the role of the other parties, namely the business institutions and international
organizations. Article 28 of Law no. 24 in 2007 formulates the role of business institutions in disaster management
operations, either individually or jointly with other parties." Furthermore, the business organizations involved in
disaster management operations need to "adjust activities with policy management operations disaster "," submit
a report to the government and / or agencies that are tasked with ... "," heed the principle of humanity ". The role
of the international organizations and foreign non-governmental organizations in disaster management is
guaranteed by Article 30 paragraph (1) of Law no. 24 in 2007. The role procedures in disaster management has
been arranged through the Government Regulation number 23 (2008).

Community Participation
Public participation is a key factor in response to the disaster. In Law number 24 of 2007 on Disaster Management
and Regulation of the National Disaster Management Agency No.13 of 2010 on the National Disaster Management
Plan (Renas-PB) 2010-2014, and the Decree of the Head of the National Agency for Disaster Management No. 5 of
2010 on the National Action Plan for Disaster Risk Reduction (RAN-PRB) of 2010 to 1012 clearly stated the
importance of community participation, NGOs including international community. Implementation of disaster
management based community participation will lead to (Anonymous, 2010):
 Disaster risk reduction with communities in disaster-prone areas independently

 Avoid the emergence of new vulnerabilities and dependency society in disaster-prone areas
 Disaster risk management is an integral part of the development process and management of natural resources
for the survival of life in disaster-prone areas
 Multisectoral approach, multidisciplinary and multicultural
Further stated that the people in the disaster have the rights for: education, training and skills in disaster
management operations; information in writing and / or orally on disaster management policy; participation in the
planning, operation and maintenance program to provide health services including psychosocial support;
participation in decision-making on disaster management, particularly with respect to themselves and the
community; and, supervision in accordance with the mechanism set for the implementation of disaster
management. The communities’ obligations in disaster management include the maintenance of a harmonious
social life, and preservation of the environment, and participation in disaster management activities.
To enhance participation, the Indonesian government has always tried to build awareness in the community that
(1) natural disaster not as a curse but rather be part of the exam given by the God. Through this awareness will
awaken harmonious attitude and harmonious relationship between man and God. Therefore, the disaster must be
addressed wisely through introspection and self-repair in order to be closer to his Lord; (2) natural disasters were
caused by volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, earthquakes must be viewed as a natural process that is universal.
Antropocentris paradigm has to be terminated, because humans also must allow nature to run its natural
processes.
Humans should not destroy nature, and vice versa obliged to maintain, and conserve them sustainable; (3) Disaster
can befall any human being is a disaster that is when and where. This attitude to grow and develop the feeling of
helping others, cooperativeness, kinship, social solidarity that reflects the harmonious relationship between human
beings; (4) the power of society /community is the main base in the response to the disaster victims. Evacuation of
victims in emergency, reconstruction and recovery of victims of natural disasters can not be achieved optimally
without revitalizing community; (5) shift the focus of emergency treatment to be a vital community development
priority attention in disaster management.
If at the time of emergency creativity in the hands of an outsider, then reverse into the reconstruction and recovery
into its owner is the public/community concerned; (6) disaster management should be sustainable. It means that
disaster management is not stop at reconstruction and recovery stages, but more importantly realizing
preparedness of individuals, groups and community to prevent, manage and rehabilitate due to catastrophic
events (Anonymous, Ministry of Social).
LIMITATIONS OF DISASTER MANAGEMENT IN INDONESIA
Indonesia's disaster management weaknesses occur because of several factors. First, the lack of understanding of
disaster management of stakeholders both at the level of decision maker and formal actors in disaster
management become serious issue. It is due to lack of socialization. Society in general lay of the concept. Even if
there are some traditional practices on disaster management, increasingly the understanding and practice is
increasingly faded and was considered not important to be a priority. Although an understanding of the existing
disaster management on a limited level, but this understanding seems to be dominated by the understanding of
conventional disaster management (Paripurno, 2003).

In conventional disaster management, public position of the object as well as its involvement in the understanding
of disaster management is not a necessity. Disaster management models put even this much government as the
main actor who plays a role in disaster management. With such understanding it is natural that the public will not
understand the hazards, disasters, causal factors, and impact on a broad prevention and properly control. So far,
their understanding is based on self-perception. These conditions certainly had an impact on the lack of carrying
capacity for disaster management activities are carried out.
Second, it was found that the lack of formal organization BNPB capacity in disaster management becomes a causal
factor. National Disaster Management Agency is an organization that has a huge task, but with the capacity and
flexibility is very limited. Limitations of capacity (human and financial) and this flexibility can occur due to the
nature of bureaucratic organizations.
The third factor relates to the membership of the organization. This organization consists of officials from the
central government structural position as head of departments and ministries and local officials also serves as head
of the region. This condition would have been an obstacle for the totality of disaster management arrangements,
considering their main duties and responsibilities in a structural position as the official government of course is
very complex. Besides the membership, also allows the difficulty of coordinating the body of National Coordinating
Agency. As an organization that is filled by government officials the task of disaster management was adopting a
more tend to be bureaucratic and compliance inherent hierarchical structure and formal bureaucratic procedures
so that the working flexibility is of very hard to do. Budget considerations and legal guides are often the backrest
base bureaucratic work, appears to be a distinct problem for these organizations to be able to perform the
function as formal actors in disaster management (Sobirin et al.).
Cases
As a country that has always affected by a disaster, the government's has efforts to develop disaster
management. At first, disaster management in Indonesia is government-based in which the government is taking
overall responsibility for the disaster management. Recognizing thatdisaster issue is not a small thing to solve,
and the limitations of resources owned by the government, the disaster management is shifted towards
community-based prevention as much as possible by encouraging the participation of communities, NGOs and
the international community. Below is the cases of community-based disaster management that is implemented
by the Java Reconstruction Fund, an institution established by the Government of Indonesia in tackling the
earthquake struck Yogyakarta and Central Java. This section is taken from the JRF report in 2008 entitled "Two
Years after the Earthquake and Tsunami Java: Implementing Community-Based Reconstruction, Increasing
Transparency."
In mid-2006, the two regions are densely populated Java stricken within two months. On the morning of May 27,
an earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale struck the province of Yogyakarta and Central Java, killing more
than 5,700 people. Preliminary estimates of houses destroyed and damaged more than 350,000. Total damage
and loss of housing, infrastructure and productive sector is estimated at U.S. $ 3.1 billion. Subsequent verification
by central and provincial governments ensures that 280,000 people lost their homes, making this disaster as the
worst disaster in over the last years.
Two months later, on July 17, an undersea earthquake with a 7.7 on the Richter scale struck the southern coast
of Java, causing a tsunami that destroying 29,000 homeless people and killed 650 people. Along the coast of
Ciamis, nearly 6,000 families were left homeless. Overall more than 1,900 homes were destroyed and 51 severely
damaged homes. Under the leadership of the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, Government of
Indonesia established the National Coordination Team by Presidential Decree 9/2006 to effectively respond to
the needs of a recovery in the region. In addition, two teams also were headed by the provincial Governor. In
performing its duties, the National Coordination Team was assisted National Technical Team (TTN). The National
Development Planning Board (BAPPENAS) prepared an Action Plan for the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction of
Areas affected Earthquake in Yogyakarta and Central Java province in June 2006.
In response to this disaster, the European Commission and the Government of the Netherlands, the UK, Canada,
Finland, and Denmark contribute U.S. $ 84 million to the Java Reconstruction Fund (JRF) managed by the World
Bank.

JRF was formed at the request of the Indonesian government to support the reconstruction and rehabilitation of
the central and provincial governments in areas affected by the earthquake and tsunami. Java Reconstruction Fund
has aimed to create a sense of ownership of the reconstruction activity, synergy with the activities and agenda of
the government's reconstruction plan and manage the results.
JRF has established a close working relationship with the Indonesian Government at all levels. More than 71% of
JRF funds managed by government agencies and channeled through the government budget to promote
government ownership. Steering Committee, which is chaired by the representative of the National Coordination
Team, the European Commission and the World Bank as Trustee, is a decision-making body for JRF responsible for:
(i) approve the overall priorities and proposals, (ii) assess the progress of JRF, (iii) ensure the coherence and
collaboration with the Indonesian government works’ plan. In this way, the JRF portfolio strategy and in line with
the National Action Plan for the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction relating to: (i) Recovery of Housing and
Settlements, (ii) Recovery of Public Infrastructure and (iii) Economic Recovery and Regional Communities.
Java Reconstruction Fund seeks to ensure the quality of its portfolio, therefore strived to deliver the results as
effectively and efficiently as possible to beneficiaries. The main focus during the preparation, monitoring and
evaluation of the project is the end result of the project. Project progress and targets are measured periodically to
ensure that critical needs are met and funds are used effectively. During project implementation, the government
and donor agencies participated in a six-monthly surveillance missions for each project to see the progress,
challenges, and lessons learned, and discussion of corrective actions for the future. By ensuring that input is
reflected in the portfolio, the Java Reconstruction Fund further ensures the quality of the results. Two Steering
Committee meetings and technical assessment of ten meetings have been held since the JRF develop permanent
housing projects, as well as assess the critical needs of livelihood rehabilitation in this region and review the
intervention strategies are most effective.
Two years later, the recovery effort, led by the Government of Indonesia, have been relatively smooth. As of
December 2007, approximately 279,000 houses were reconstructed and 97.3% of the population has been re-
occupying the house. Both provinces have taken different approaches to permanent housing recovery: Central Java
evenly distribute housing grants to families affected by the disaster, while the Yogyakarta government gives grants
to community groups to prioritize the distribution of funding among community members. In March 2008,
beneficiaries in Yogyakarta and Central Java have received funds of Rp. 25 million for each province. Recovery of
public infrastructure and facilities that support the recovery of social life and economic activity is another pillar of
the policy of the post-earthquake recovery.
Based on the mid-term evaluation (mid-term) conducted by the National Development Planning Agency
(BAPPENAS), most of the restoration of public infrastructure financed through funds from the sectoral ministries /
institutions (Rp 780 billion) and by donors, NGOs, and governmental organizations (Rp 3.4 trillion). Recovery of
regional economies and communities that have been proposed runs slower than expectations. A survey conducted
by UNDP in April 2007 indicated that 95% of business activities affected entrepreneurs have been resumed;
however, 53 percent of businesses affected by the disaster are still struggling to reach capacity before the
earthquake. The mid-term evaluation was conducted by Bappenas conclude that the lack of funding in the recovery
of the productive sector reached Rp 1 trillion (U.S. $ 106 million) and that the estimate of the total funding required
in this sector is worth Rp. 1.3 trillion (U.S. $ 138 million). Two projects that support livelihood recovery have been
prepared and will be running soon. Both of these projects will focus on the rehabilitation of micro, small and
medium enterprises of those people who affected by the earthquake.

FINAL REMARKS
Disaster is that our lives are always lurking. It is true that there are disasters can be avoided such as fire, social
conflict, but it is also true that there are disaster cannot be avoided. Disaster will affect the large property damage
and even lead to people die. It is imposibble to stop disaster. Therefore, living with disaster paradigm is more
relevant to the paradigm of living without disaster. However, the arrival of every disaster should not be faced with
resignation, but there should be an effort to minimize the disaster effects. Cope with disasters by relying on the
ability of the government alone is no longer effective and popular because of the limitations of the resources
government. Therefore, involvement of the entire community in disaster management is a must. In other words,
in the context of Community-Based Disaster Management (CBDM) is essential.
REFERENCES
Anonim (2010). Proyek Rehabilitasi dan Rekonstruksi Masyarakat dan Pemukiman Berbasis Komunitas. Jakarta:
Kementerian PU, Direktorat Jenderal Cipta Karya (In Indonesian).
Anonim (2008). Dua Tahun Setelah Gempa Bumi Dan Tsunami Jawa: Melaksanakan Rekonstruksi Berbasis
Masyarakat, Meningkatkan Transparansi. Jakarta: JRF (In Indonesian).
Barron, P., Jaffrey, S., Palmer, B., dan Varshney, A., (2009). “Understanding Violent Conflict in Indonesia: A Mixed
Methods Approach. Indonesian Social Development Paper No. 15. Jakarta: World Bank.
Dharmawan, A.H., (2006) “Konflik-Sosial dan Resolusi Konflik: Analisis Sosio-Budaya (Dengan Fokus Perhatian
Kalimantan Barat)” – Seminar PERAGI Pontianak 10-11 Januari 2006). (In Indonesian).
Widyastuti, M., (2005). Manajemen Bencana: Kajian dan Ruang Lingkup. Jurnal Madani Edisi II/Nopember 2005. (In
Indonesian).
Coles, E., Buckle, P., (2004). Developing Community Resilience as a Foundation for Effective Disaster Recovery.
Australian Journal of Emergency Management, Volume 19 Issue 4.
Shrestha, A. B., Shah, S.H., and Karim, R. (2008). Resource Manual on Flash Flood Risk Management
Module 1: Community-based Management. International Centre for Integrated Mountain
Development, Kathmandu.
***

THE COMMUNITY PROBLEMS OF FUKUSHIMA THREE YEARS AFTER NUCLEAR DISASTER
Ryosuke Takaki
Iwaki Meisei University
（r-takaki@iwakimu.ac.jp）
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this paper is to introduce the situation that evacuees and community within the Fukushima Nuclear
Power Plant have been from the accident that happened in the last three years, and the problems in the
reconstruction from radioactive contamination. Three years have passed since the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant
accident. Around 130,000 people were forced to evacuate, which later on created some difficulties in the daily
living among the evacuees including their families, work and education of the children. The homes of the evacuees
have been polluted by the radioactivity, which prevented them from coming back home for a long time. Using
interview and survey data and photos, the problem structure around the evacuees are presented in this paper.
On the other hand, the government’s response to the radioactive contamination has created new problems. The
basic policy of Japanese Government is for the evacuees to go back to their hometown. Therefore, they do
radioactive decontamination of polluted area and reconstruct basic infrastructure. The policy, however, has been
modified recently (nationalization of the around nuclear power plant area). In these situation, how does the policy
of the government created an impact on the evacuees? What have been the problems the policy of the
government have an impact on the evacuees? What have been the problems in the reconstruction of the evacuees
and the communities.
This paper highlights the background of the nuclear accident in Section 2; problems being faced by the evacuees
from the nuclear accident in Section 3. The problems on agriculture, forestry, and fishery brought about by the
Fukushima nuclear accident, and the measures taken to address these problems are discussed n Section 4.
DETAILS OF FUKUSHIMA DAIICHI NUCLEAR PLANT ACCIDENTS
Incidents of the nuclear accident and the dynamic state of

evacuation
Fukushima is the southernmost prefecture in Tohoku. It is

the third largest prefecture in Japan, following Hokkaido
and Iwate. Fukushima Prefecture is a coastal prefecture
and is divided into three regions, namely: Hamadori region,
Nakadori region, and Aizu region (Figure 1).
First, I would like to briefly describe the background of the

nuclear accident (Table 1). On March 11, a magnitude 9.0
earthquake originating off the coast of Miyagi occurred and
the Pacific Ocean coastline was hit by a tsunami of an
average height of 10 meters. Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear
Power Station was also hit by the tsunami and lost power. Figure1: Three area of Fukushima
(Source: Fukushima Prefecture)

Ryosuke Takaki
A vapor explosion occurred at Reactor 1 at 15:36 the next day, which initiated a chain reaction, including hydrogen
explosions at Reactors 2 to 4. Evacuation from nuclear accident was ordered for the residents on the day of the
earthquake and people fled to other areas thinking they would return home soon. However, as the situation
escalated after the first explosion at Reactor 1 on March 12, residents were forced to remain in a state of
evacuation.
On April 22, the area within twenty kilometers from the power station was designated as the Restricted Area,
forcing many people into long-term involuntary evacuation. Additionally, a twenty to thirty km radius was
designated as an Evacuation-prepared Area in Case of Emergency, and areas outside of a thirty km radius with high
-dose radiation were designated as deliberate evacuation areas. There are approximately 130,000 people who fled
these areas, primarily involuntary evacuees, who still continue to live in evacuation today (as of November 2013).
Table 1. Details of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Accident.

Y M D Event
2011 3 11 M9.0 earthquake occurs off the coast of Miyagi Prefecture.
Tsunami measuring roughly 10m strikes Fukushima Daiichi
At 19:03, the Japanese government declares a state of emergency

regarding Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.
At 21:23, people living within a 3km radius of Fukushima Daiichi
Power Station are ordered to evacuate. The area is subsequently
12 A hydrogen explosion occurs at Fukushima Daiichi Reactor 1, and

subsequent malfunctions at Reactors 3, 2 and 4 as chain reaction.
4 22 The government designates the area within 20km radius as the
Restricted Area, the area between 20-30km an Evacuation-
prepared Area in case of Emergency, and areas outside of a 30km
radius with high-dose radiation, including Iitate Village, deliberate
8 5 The Dispute Reconciliation Committee for Nuclear Damage

Compensation announces interim guidelines for compensation
9 30 Evacuation-prepared Area in case of Emergency is lifted.

12 16 Prime Minister Noda declares a “cold shutdown” state.
26 Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters announces its basic
agenda to reevaluate evacuation-ordered areas.
2012 1 31 Kawauchi-mura declares evacuees can return. Services resume on March
2 10 The Reconstruction Agency is formed.
3 16 The Dispute Reconciliation Committee for Nuclear Damage

Compensation announces “The Second Supplement to the Interim
Guidelines” (pertaining to area reclassification and compensation).
4 1 Tamura city and Kawauchi-mura undergo the Restricted Area
6 21 “Act on the Protection and Support for the Children and other Victims of
TEPCO Disaster” is enacted but the applicable regions and scope of
support remain restrictive.
7 13 The Japanese cabinet approves the basic agenda for the reconstruction
20 Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry announces Standards of
23 The Reconstruction Agency expresses its intention to form a review

committee for establishing the “Temporary Town” concept in four towns
(Tomioka, Okuma, Futaba and Namie).
11 28 The governor of Fukushima accepts assessment of the interim storage
facilities.

Ryosuke Takaki
Cont. Table 1.
2013 2 1 Tokyo Headquarters for Fukushima Reconstruction and

Revitalization and Fukushima Headquarters for Fukushima
3 7 “Early return/settlement plan” is announced (Fukushima

Headquarters for Fukushima Reconstruction and
4 9 Assessment for construction of interim storage facilities

begins in Naraha-machi. It is also conducted in Okuma and
5 28 Futaba town is reclassified. The orders about Restricted area

are lifted and the areas are reclassified.
8 8 Kawamata-machi is reclassified. Reclassifying of all areas is
completed.
10 29 Liberal Democratic Party and New Komei Party Headquarters
for Accelerating Reconstruction after the Great East Japan
Earthquake announce and propose to the central
government the “Fukushima reconstruction-acceleration-
measures.” The two parties propose switching from the
existing return plan to encouraging relocation for people
from “Difficult-to-return areas”.
11 22 The government institutes a policy to nationalize the land 15
square km around Fukushima Daiichi Power Station.
2014 4 1 The evacuation order for Miyakoji district, Tamura city is
lifted.
5 29 The mayor of Naraha-machi unfold idea that Naraha
government work on various measures for return in April.
2015.
On the other hand, high doses of radiation were measured in areas outside of those under evacuation orders and
people started voluntarily evacuating from these areas. In particular, people started evacuating from the Nakadori
region, such as the cities of Fukushima and Koriyama, to other prefectures six months after the nuclear accident.
The evacuees were primarily mothers and their children, and at the peak of evacuations, Yamagata Prefecture took
in 13,000 evacuees (January 26, 2012).
The voluntary evacuees received almost no government assistance as compared to involuntary evacuees, who
received housing assistance, and many people have been forced to return to their hometowns due to financial
constraints. In addition to the traffic of voluntary evacuees, there was a trend of involuntary evacuees who fled
from Fukushima Prefecture returning to other areas within the prefecture to rebuild their lives or as a result of the
hardships of living in evacuation sites. However, life in the prefecture was also a life of displacement with many
unresolved issues.
Government measures for nuclear evacuees
Next I would like to go over the Japanese government’s measures for nuclear evacuees. The basic agenda put forth
by the Japanese government up until March 2013 had been a policy of early return to return everyone home after
decontamination. Prime Minister Noda declared a “cold shutdown condition,” a “declaration of containment” of
sorts, in December 16, 2011, which implied that the recurrence of explosive events was extremely unlikely. This led
to the lifting of the Restricted Area and reevaluation of zoning based on the amount of radiation. After the
declaration of containment, the government announced the reclassification of the Restricted Area and deliberate
evacuation areas into three areas according to their amount of radiation. These included: “Area to which
evacuation orders are ready to be lifted” (=up to 20milli-Seiverts per year); “Areas in which residents are not
permitted to live” (=“restricted residence area”, 20 to 50 mSV/y), and; “Areas where it is expected that residents
will face difficulties in returning for a long time” (=” difficult-to-return zone”, over 50mSV/y).

Ryosuke Takaki
The government then proceeded to re-evaluate

zoning through discussions with municipal
governments. However, because the announcement
regarding property compensation guidelines was
made in July 2012, and the compensation guidelines
for land and building. had not yet been established,
there was a steady stream of objections to
subdividing regions in towns such as Namie and
Tomioka for reclassification, which hampered the
zoning review. The zoning review was finally
completed in August 2013 (Yamakiya district,
Kawamata-machi). And in April 2014, the evacuation
order for Miyakoji district, Tamura-shi is lifted (Figure
1).
The direction of reclassification of evacuation areas

presupposes: (1) securing of security and relief in
inhabitants, (2) thorough decontamination and
protection children from radiation, (3) rebuilding of
infrastructure and occupation of inhabitants, and, (4)
compensation for damages. At this starting point,
there is the “return policy” by Japanese Government
that intends evacuees to go back to home town even
if it takes it how many years (Yamashita, Ichimura
Sato, 2013). To put it simply, decontaminating the
polluted area, living in evacuation shelters during
decontamination, and coming back to home if a level
of radiation will fall in the future.
Many problems arose with decontamination, which

Figure2: Evacuee Area (April 1, 2014)
was the basis for the policy to return proposed by (Source: Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry)
the government. There were delays in
decontamination work undertaken by municipalities due to difficulty securing locations for the temporary storage
site of debris generated after decontamination. Moreover, questions were raised about the efficacy of
decontamination and people started to doubt the value of the decontamination work when it became apparent
that some decontamination businesses were cutting corners.
The construction of interim storage facilities that are supposed to store and manage contaminated debris until it is
permanently disposed of by other prefectures was also faced with serious challenges. Under these circumstances,
the central government and the ruling parties retracted the policy to return everyone home as part of their
Fukushima Reconstruction Acceleration Plan in October 2013. They switched to a plan that encouraged residents
from high-radiation areas in which returning home would be difficult to relocate to other areas. Nationalization of
the area around the Daiichi Nuclear Power Station was also introduced to coincide with the new policy. This meant
that decontamination of high-radiation areas had been abandoned before it began. Decontamination work in other
areas in Fukushima associated with the early construction of interim storage facilities in the area around Daiichi
Nuclear Power Station was accelerated.
A problem exists about the compensation for the evacuees. It is that reclassification of the evacuation area is
closely related to computability of the amount of compensation by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO).
Japanese Government had reclassified the Restricted Area and Deliberate Evacuation Area had into three areas,
therefore, new standards of evacuation area indicate the evacuation period and compensation about estates (land
and house) in connection with it. Standard period of evacuation lifting is different from area (difficult-to-return
zone is five year, restricted residence area is three year, and zone in preparation for the lifting of the evacuation
order is two year). Evacuees can have estate compensation only as only as for the period when I evacuated. A
policy until one year is shown in the monthly compensation after evacuation directive lifted.

Ryosuke Takaki
This standard is extremely rational in a meaning to be able to predict the amount of compensation for TEPCO
which is an assailant. Relocation of evacuees are unstable element for TEPCO, so there is the important principle
called return policy to prevent evacuees from relocating to other area. In other words, a framework of such
compensation prescribes a return policy, and the frame called "the nuclear-power disaster" functions as an
ideology to support it. The construction of the compensation standard by the Japanese government plays a role as
the relief of TEPCO as an assailant in this way, but it goes without saying that it does not lead to the relief of the
refugee.
CHALLENGES FOR THE AREAS HIT BY THE NUCLEAR ACCIDENT
How far have revival efforts come in areas affected by the nuclear accident caused by the Great East Japan
Earthquake three and a half years ago? In short, the government’s policies have been ineffective and have created
new problems. Here, I would like to focus on two issues: a) the issue of radioactive waste, and b) the future of the
evacuees and their accompanying challenges.
The problem of nuclear waste
In many municipalities of Fukushima Prefecture, nuclear waste produced by decontamination operations is

deposited in open temporary storage areas. The Ministry of the Environment was planning to build intermediate
storage facilities in Futaba-machi, Ōkuma -machi, and Naraha-machi to deal with this nuclear waste, but due to
delays in planning the government decided to nationalize the land surrounding Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power
Plant in November 2013. In order to pursue this initiative, the government (the Liberal Democratic Party and New
Komeito) drafted a proposal entitled “Toward a Quicker Nuclear Accident Recovery,” which suggested that
evacuees from areas deemed difficult to return to be encouraged to relocate. This represents a shift in a return
policy once premised on “everyone comes home.”
At present, the plan to build intermediate storage facilities in Futaba-machi, Ōkuma -machi, and Naraha-machi is
being pursued, and a public meeting was held by the government in June 2014 to explain the plan to local
residents. These residents - as well as residents from outside of the areas where the facilities are to be built - are
not satisfied with the plan, opposing not only the construction of the facilities themselves, but also voicing
frustrations that the buying price of the land has not yet been proposed.
What is problematic here is that the construction of intermediate storage facilities is deemed to be the first step in
rebuilding Fukushima Prefecture as a whole. Unless facilities are built, local areas in Fukushima Prefecture will
never be able to completely recover from the nuclear accident. The Ministry of the Environment touts the safety of
these intermediate storage facilities, and if that is the case, they could be built anywhere in the prefecture.
However, the plan is to build them in Futaba-gun because the area is seen as “contaminated.” This view is also
internalized by the evacuees, who find it difficult to oppose the construction of these facilities. What we find here
is a structure in which the will of the evacuees and local authorities is suppressed for the sake of a “revival.” This
structure can be widened to include Japan as a whole, and shows the ways in which Japanese society regards
Fukushima Prefecture. The evacuees fear that Futaba-gun might become a nuclear waste dumping ground, which
is a fear shared by the wider population of Fukushima Prefecture. The evacuees find themselves in a situation
where they cannot make their voices heard against the “concentrated gaze” of nuclear waste.
Returning home and relocation
As the disaster evacuation continues, many evacuees are forced to make decisions regarding their future: whether
to go back to their original area (return home), or start a new life in a new area (relocation). According to the
survey carried out by the Reconstruction Agency among residents from areas close to the Fukushima Daiichi
Nuclear Power Plant, 10 to 20 percent of respondents wish to return in the future and 40 to 50 percent have
responded “I do not want to return” (Figure 3). Many evacuees do not think they will return to the areas in which
they lived before the earthquake and have started to prepare for relocation (Naraha-machi is not as close to
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant as other municipalities, and the will to return is relatively high. Still, about
30 percent of respondents there do not think they will return).

Ryosuke Takaki
Many evacuees are still living in temporary housing and privately rented accommodations. So far, data do not show
relocation movement among evacuees. However, interviews with them and local authority officials suggest that
not a small number of people have purchased land elsewhere and are preparing for relocation, although at present
not many have officially registered with other municipalities. They are concerned with what their fellow residents
may think, and do not want it to be known that they have purchased land elsewhere.
Figure 3. Evacuees intending to return home
The government has withdrawn the plan for all evacuees to return home, but is still pursuing policies that
encourage a return to all areas except those deemed unsuitable. However, the government’s return policies are
ineffective, which is demonstrated by delays in the return of residents to areas declared to be “returnable.”
Areas that have been designated as an “Evacuation-Prepared Area in Case of an Emergency,” in particular the
completely evacuated locales of Hirono-machi and Kawauchi-mura, declared they were ready for return in the
spring of 2012 and asked residents to return as soon as they were ready. However, as of January 2014 the return
rate of both municipalities was between 20 and 25 percent, which is rather low. Unsatisfactory living conditions
due to delays in rebuilding infrastructure or in re-opening existing shops are cited as reasons. In addition, many
people hesitate because of the issue of their children’s education and because they have become accustomed to
life in evacuated sites. In fact, many residents of both municipalities are living double-lives: one in their original
community and one in the site to which they evacuated, and are only gradually shifting the focus of life back to
their original communities.
What is important in the Reconstruction Agency’s survey (Figure 2) is that about 40 percent of respondents say
they cannot decide whether or not to return. Many residents still cannot decide whether to return in the future. In
principle, the evacuees want to return to their original communities. However, high levels of radioactivity are a
source of worry, and even if levels are brought down through decontamination, evacuees do not think a return is
possible unless their friends go back as well. In addition, there is a fear that the regions themselves may turn into
nuclear waste in the future.
As shown above, after more than three years since the nuclear accident occurred, evacuees are now finally
deciding whether to return or relocate. However, at present the government’s support for either option is not
enough, and there is not a deep enough understanding of the situation in which the evacuees find themselves.
Evacuees and their conflicts with residents of receiving areas
It is now necessary to recognize that the government’s policies in response to the nuclear accident (i.e.,
decontamination, compensation) are creating a new set of problems. Among them is the conflict between
evacuees and the residents of receiving areas. Iwaki-shi is located in the south of Hamadori region, Fukushima
Prefecture and has a population of about 330,000. It was home to 2,400 evacuees as of April 2014. Graffiti
(“Evacuees, go home”) was found on the wall of Iwaki City Hall in December 2012. In addition, a large number of

Ryosuke Takaki
vandalism incidents in temporary housing areas where evacuees live have been reported, and many evacuees now
refrain from disclosing that they are from evacuated areas.
This should be understood in the context that Iwaki-shi’s coast was damaged by the tsunami, and a large number of
residents were forced to temporarily evacuate due to the nuclear accident. According to the survey carried out by
Iwaki Meisei University among Iwaki residents in January 2014, about half of the residents were forced to evacuate
to other municipalities. In addition, 46.7 percent of respondents were anxious about the effects of radioactivity on
their health. Although Iwaki residents were affected by the nuclear accident, the level of compensation they
received was insufficient compared to that received by those from mandatory evacuation areas. According to the
survey, 74.2 percent of respondents felt that this is unfair, and their frustration is directed not toward the
government, but to the evacuees who live amongst them. In order to address the problems that nuclear accident
evacuees are experiencing, it is of course important to support them, but it is also necessary to devise support
policies for the municipalities receiving the evacuees.
CHALLENGES TO AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY, AND FISHERIES IN FUKUSHIMA PREFECTURE
Lastly, let us review the challenges that agriculture, forestry, and fisheries in Fukushima Prefecture face. What kind
of damage has been inflicted on these sectors by this nuclear accident? What kinds of policies have been
implemented in response? Let us now review these issues.
Summary of damage
Fukushima Prefecture is one of the most important agricultural producers in Japan (it is well-known for rice and
fruit production) and has been supplying food not only to the prefecture itself, but also to the Greater Tokyo area.
In terms of the amount of produce harvested per prefecture, Fukushima ranks fourth in rice production (445,700
tons), second in peach production (28,200 tons), third in Japanese pear production (23,200 tons), and third in
cucumber production (49,400 tons).
However, the accident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant radioactively contaminated parts of Fukushima
Prefecture, in particular the Hamadori and Nakadori regions. The government ordered a suspension of agricultural
produce shipments (i.e., spinach, kakina, and milk) from Fukushima, Ibaragi, Tochigi, and Gunma prefectures on
March 21, 2011. This was followed by a number of restrictions on the shipping of other types of agricultural
produce, as well as anxieties over rising prices of Japanese agricultural produce, not only among the Japanese
people, but also worldwide. Some of the shipping suspensions have been lifted, but other types of produce still
face them, such as outdoor grown mushrooms and wild vegetables from certain areas of Fukushima Prefecture. On
March 17, 2012, the Japanese government published the acceptable levels of radioactive cesium that can be
contained in food: 200 becquerel per kilo for drinking water and milk, and 500 becquerel per kilo for vegetables,
grains, and meat. These new criteria were criticized for being too lenient. In particular, there was mounting worry
over the fact that the same levels were applied to children, who would be more severely affected than adults by
radioactive material. This led to the introduction of new criteria in April 2012 (Table 2).

Ryosuke Takaki
Koyama (2013) of Fukushima University estimated Fukushima’s gross agricultural output as of 2010 to be
250,000,000,000 yen, with an annual loss of 100,000,000,000 yen incurred by the nuclear accident. As elaborated
below, Fukushima Prefecture has tightened its inspection of radioactive substances in agricultural produce and
only that which meets the criteria is shipped to market. However, many consumers continue to avoid agricultural
produce from Fukushima Prefecture due to harmful rumors.
Fukushima’s agriculture and fisheries after the earthquake
Let us review the state of agriculture throughout Fukushima Prefecture using work from Koyama (2013). Although
many localities are still under evacuation, the Hamadori region has focused on horticulture, with horticultural
production corporations employing local people. In addition, the area was engaged with soil improvement projects
and has received agricultural investment in the recent past. This investment has been severely undermined by the
long-term evacuation, and producers are losing interest in reviving agricultural production in these areas.
Abukuma Hills, which separates Hamadori region from Nakadori region, had thriving dairy farms with a planned
branding project, but the nuclear accident has inflicted irreparable damage to it. The Nakadori region practices
much rice cultivation and fruit production, but contains areas with high levels of radioactive contamination as
some farmland has been found to have levels exceeding the cutoff criteria.
The Aizu region produces large amounts of rice and greenhouse vegetables. It is located more than 100 km (62
miles) away from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and is hardly affected by radioactive contamination.
However, the shipping suspension was applied at the prefectural level in the aftermath of the earthquake, and
thus Aizu’s agricultural produce was also subjected to suspension. Although this suspension was reduced to the
municipal level, Aizu region is still a part of Fukushima Prefecture and is affected by harmful rumors.
Let us now look at the fishing industry. Commercial fishing once thrived along the coast of Fukushima Prefecture,
but due to the continued effects of the nuclear accident it has been suspended and is practiced only on a trial
basis. Soma Futaba Fishing began test fishing of octopi and whelks in June 2012 and examined their levels of
contamination. The acceptable level of radioactive cesium in seafood is set at 100 becquerel per kilo. The level of
radioactive material detected in fish is on the whole within the acceptable range, although marbled rockfish
exceeding this was caught in late February (Fukushima Minpo, March 4, 2014). Fishing operations are now carried
out for 33 species of fish, which does not include species affected by radioactive contamination exceeding the
acceptable range. In addition, harmful rumors about commercially caught fish are also circulating; this means that
it will take a lot longer for Fukushima’s fishing industry to recover.
Government’s response
Let us now turn our attention to the measures that are being taken at the governmental level in Fukushima
Prefecture and beyond. Decontamination of contaminated agricultural land is progressing in Fukushima
Prefecture. While decontamination of the evacuated areas has not progressed much, rice paddies and fields show
a completion rate of 77 percent. Unlike Belarus, radioactive waste management is not necessarily taking place at
each individual agricultural plot of land (Koyama and Komatsu, 2013). Fukushima Prefecture currently inspects all
rice bags because it is the prefecture’s main agricultural crop. However, as Koyama (2013) pointed out, the
inspection of all rice bags takes time and incurs a large cost to put a suitable testing system in place. Many
municipalities within Fukushima Prefecture use rice produced within the prefecture in school meals. Initially, there
was parental opposition, but parents are said to feel more at ease now because of the inspections. Other food
from Fukushima, particularly processed food, is not widely used in school meals (Fukushima Minyu, March 8,
2014).
Other food items besides rice are only inspected through sample testing. Although an inspection protocol should
be established after achieving a full comprehension of the patterns of agricultural land contamination and the
transfer rate of agricultural produce, this is not the case. Against this background, consumers’ anxieties remain
nresolved, and distributors tend to avoid agricultural produce from Fukushima (Koyama 2013). What kinds of
measures have been taken in affected areas to combat harmful rumors? Let us now look at the efforts made by
Iwaki-shi. The Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishery Department of Iwaki-shi has been engaged in a project named
“Iwaki Mieru Purojekuto” (See Iwaki Project) in order to counter harmful rumors about Iwaki’s agricultural
produce.

Ryosuke Takaki
This project is focused on “providing material for consumers to judge for themselves whether it is safe and sound”
and communicating the results of radioactive testing in agricultural produce, soil, and water with producers’ help
(Fukushima Minyu, September 6, 2013). More precisely, it is being communicated that Fukushima produce is safe
by publishing the radioactive levels of vegetables, processed foods, and water from Iwaki and by organizing tours
to Iwaki’s farms.
Challenges for Fukushima’s agricultural industry
According to a report by the Fukushima Branch of the Bank of Japan, the volume of main agricultural produce from
Fukushima has not changed since the earthquake. However, in terms of price, it does face difficulties due to
harmful rumors (Fukushima Branch, Bank of Japan, 2013). The road to recovery for Fukushima’s agricultural
industry is a difficult one despite the efforts of Fukushima’s farmers. No doubt the biggest challenge is to solve the
problem of harmful rumors stemming from the nuclear accident. In addition, Fukushima’s agricultural industry still
faces challenges that predate the earthquake, such as the expansion of abandoned agricultural land, aging farmers,
and low agricultural productivity (Fukushima Branch, Bank of Japan, 2013).
However, it is not only harmful rumors that are causing problems. The biggest issue is that the repercussions of the
accident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant are still ongoing. Troubles such as loss of power and the issue of
contaminated water are still occurring at the Nuclear Power Plant, and each time a new problem emerges the price
of agricultural produce from Fukushima drops, undermining farmers’ motivation. It also appears that we are too
reliant on decontamination technology, which has not yet been fully established. The government appears to trust
in this technology too heavily, while the citizenry does not trust the government in turn. In other words,
decontamination has not led to a recovery in the demand for Fukushima’s agricultural produce, nor has it led to the
resolution of the problems of harmful rumors.
The most important issue is that the social foundations associated with agriculture that were fostered in
Fukushima Prefecture have been lost. In the words of Koyama and Komatsu:
Our blind spot is damage done to social capital. Social capital includes the historical formation of the idea
of the product’s origin; investment in and efforts toward regional branding; the development of human
resources, which serves as the basis of community building in rural areas; network building; maintenance
of the community; and the formation of cultural capital. Various kinds of social capital in various forms
that constitute the community have become severely damaged (Koyama and Komatsu, 2013).
This is the case in every area, and agriculture, forestry, and commercial fishing operations in Fukushima Prefecture
have been supported by a society that was built by our ancestors over many generations. However, the nuclear
accident has divided us in various ways. Unless we resolve these divisions, agriculture, forestry, and the fishing
industry of Fukushima will never revive.
CONCLUSION
In Section 3, I was confirmed that various problems have come up in the reconstruction process from the
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. Even though three years have passed since the evacuation, life reconstruction
of evacuees not been able to. It is because the government adopt the return policy basically, on the other hand,
many evacuees would not go home. Even if evacuees would like to return, they have the problems that are the
construction of radioactive waste, the inconvenience of living in the neighborhood after lifting evacuation order
and the sense of fear about radiation, many people cannot decide whether to return or not in troth. In addition,
the decision is becoming difficult by the conflict among evacuees and people where evacuees lives in.
Difficulty of livelihood rehabilitation of the evacuees is associated with the reconstruction of occupation about
whole Fukushima prefecture as well as damaged area. Reconstruction of livelihood is putting a heavy burden on
the victims while they cannot expect the future. We have uncertainty about the future not only in agriculture, but
also in every industry in general, and not limiting in damaged area, but spreading Fukushima prefecture. Certainly,
now there are many jobs about reconstruction in Fukushima, but it is also will not last long. In that many people
are evacuating in other prefecture, ordinary economy in Fukushima is moving towards shrinking surely.

Ryosuke Takaki
It is called into question that the entire Fukushima Prefecture as well as evacuation area are doing reconstruction in
the true sense of the word after reconstruction projects has been completed. In agriculture, it is more important
that the social capital in the each area had collapsed than that the land have been polluted by the nuclear accident.
Of course, trust in all over the relationships in Fukushima prefecture――between consumers and producers,
between producers――have collapsed. With an eye on reconstruction of agriculture in Fukushima Prefecture, it is
now that the harmful rumors have been discouraged agricultural workers from losing zeal of production more and
more. In particular, it is important that troubles with the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear plant (water pollution, loss of
power) often occurs and affects agricultural production in Fukushima prefecture.
REFERENCES
Koyama, Ryota & Komatsu, Tomomi, 2013, ‘Nou no saisei to Syoku no anzen’(Reborn of agriculture and Security of
Food) Shin Nihon Syupansya.
Koyama, Ryota, 2013, “Rebulding of Agriculture and Forestry Fishery from Harmful Rumor” Journal of Rural
Planning Association, Vol 31(4).
Fukushima branch, Bank of Japan, 2013, “Fukushimaken ni Okeru Nougyou no Genjyo to Kadai (Report of Current
Trends and Issues of Agriculture in Fukushima Prefecture)” Boj Reports & Research Paper.
Takaki, Ryosuke, 2014, “Problems in Regional and Community Studies for Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant
Accidents and Evacuees”, Annuals of Regional and Community Studies (Japan Association of Regional and
Community Studies), Vol 26.
Yusuke Yamashita, Takashi Ichimura & Akihiko Sato, 2013, ‘Ningen naki fukkou (Reconstruction without humans)’
Akashi Shoten.

Panel 2. Changes in Rural Policy and the New Concept of
Community in Korean Rural Society in the Period of
Neo-Liberal Era

THE LONG-TERM VISION OF KOREAN RURAL SOCIETY AND ITS DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
- INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL SOCIETY THROUGH AN ENDOGENOUS
DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
Park, Jindo
Professor of Economics
Chungnam National University
ABSTRACT
Korean rural society has been facing serious problems, like becoming desolate due to - national projects which put high
economic growth as the supreme aim of economic policies. The Korean government has invested substantially in trying to
rebuild rural areas. This effort, however, has not met with the expected results, because the policies were not based on a lo ng-
term vision and were not appropriate strategies to develop Korean rural society. This paper stresses the need for both a
change in peoples' consciousness and in rural development strategies in order to revive Korean rural society. Peoples' needs in
rural society are expanding, not only as regards food but also places of abode, varied economic activities, and unfolding
environmental issues. Based on endogenous strategies, we need integrated development of rural areas and reform of local
governance. Particularly the fostering of local leaders, who are responsible for rural development, is very important.
INTRODUCTION
The rural population of our country,18.5 million people (58.8% of the total population) in 1970, decreased to 8.6
million (18.1%) in 2010, and the ratio of population aged 65 and over increased from 4.2% of the rural population
to 20.9% in the same period. Rapid migration and aging of Korea’s rural population has been caused by the fact
that overall life environments (political, economical, and sociocultural) of rural areas have remained poor
compared to cities and this gap has continued to widen. Rapid adjustment in agricultural structures has been
another cause. The ratio of the agriculture-and-forestry fishing industry in GDP declined from 37.6% in 1965 to
2.4% in 2010, and its ratio of the working force declined from 58.5% to 6.9% in the same period.
'Petty's law', which shows the changing process of the industrial structure, cannot explain the collapse of Korean
rural communities. This is a product of national projects: the growth strategies, which focused on export-driven,
uneven industrialization and large conglomerates (Chaebal) and metropolitan cities with policies of globalization
and market liberalization, and competitive power supremacy in agricultural policies. In the process of such a
national project, Korean agriculture and farm villages lost their equitable position in the national economy, and
were dismissed as a scapegoat for high speed growth. This means that Korean agriculture and rural areas were
forced into a role of just supplying cheap agricultural products, cheap labor, cheap farmland and water resources in
this authoritarian development period, and were perceived as an obstacle to growth at a time of vast globalization.
In the meantime, the Korean government did not abandon agriculture and rural communities. Several times did it
implement big projects for agriculture and rural areas. It failed, however, to obtain the reliance of rural people and
prevent the breakdown of rural communities. This is because the agricultural policies were not formulated in terms
of rural people. They seem to have been contrived merely to mitigate the rural problems caused by the economic
policies of growth supremacy. They were forged on exogenous growth strategies, which leave the fate of rural
society to the state and external capital. This paper suggests that rural development strategies should be
transformed from exogenous growth to endogenous development which emphasizes the importance of self-reliant
endeavors led by the driving forces within rural communities and an autonomous relationship with extra-local
powers. For this purpose, this paper deals with the realities and prospects of rural societies, a long-term vision of
rural areas based on peoples' needs, and emphasizes the empowerment of rural people.
THE REALITIES AND LONG-TERM VISION OF KOREAN RURAL SOCIETY
Realities of Rural Society, and Prospects of Long-term Changes
The rural areas of our country are faced with the following problems nowadays. First of all, the vitality of local
economies is seriously deteriorating due to the decline of primary industry caused by shortages of employment

Park, Jindo
opportunities and income, which is mainly the result of the aggrandizement of agricultural product markets. And
sociocultural vitalities are also being degraded due to problems like unemployment and underemployment,
poverty and social exclusion, lack of social services, collapse of communal care, etc. On the other hand, local
environments and landscapes have become severely eroded because of intensive cultivation and violent
development of land under a “dignified name” of agricultural modernization and community development.
Moreover, politically, the excessive dependence on and lack of independency from central government, with its
bureaucratic abuses, are big problems. In a word, ‘the rural residents who have lost hope, and the rural
communities which have lost vigor’ are a symbolic expression of Korea’s rural problems.
Let’s examine the prospects of rural areas in the next 10 or 20 years from several viewpoints. First of all, how will
the position of agriculture in the national economy change? According to the estimates of the Korea Rural
Economy Institute, agriculture-and-forestry fishing will fall to the level of some 1.5% of GDP and 2-3% of the total
workforce in 2020, from 2.4% of GDP and 6.9% of total workers in 2010. This is a similar level to today’s major
advanced countries. However, the reduction is not only expected to be confined to agriculture-and-forestry fishing
but on an overall and absolute scale as well.
Secondly, how many people will live in rural areas? In 2010, Korea's rural population was 8,630,000 people (18.1%
of the total population), and those aged 65 and older accounted for 20.9% of the population. The Korea Rural
Economy Institute estimated that the rural population would decrease to 6.5 million (13% of the total population)
in 2020, while the proportion of the elderly population will increase to 30% of rural people. However, there are
also bright aspects. Although rural society will in general lose its vitality due to a reduction of population and an
increase in aging, on the other hand the ‘pro-active’ people, who evaluate positively the predominance (safety,
health, amenities, solidarity, etc.) of rural life, will increase and they will become leading groups in rural
communities.
Thirdly, how will the industrial structure of rural areas change? The percentage of the farming population was only
35.5% of rural residents in 2005. By the way, it is expected that the quota of the farming population will fall to
25.9% of the total rural population in 2020. As the ratio of farming workers among rural workers is today less than
10% in most developed countries, farming workers will become a minority in rural employment.
Fourthly, how will the living environments of rural villages change? Rural areas are disadvantageous in job
opportunities, and there exists a big disparity in social overhead capital (housing, roads, water and sewage,
transportation, information and communication, etc.), and social services (education, medical treatment, welfare,
culture, etc.) compared with cities. By the way, as the reduction of rural populations will decrease, the supply of
social overhead capital and social services on a commercial basis will decrease, and the living environments of
rural residents will deteriorate even further. On the other hand, the peoples’ needs in rural areas can be
diversified, and also the differences between rural areas can be expanded.
Finally, how will people's food lifestyle change? In 2011 Korea’s total grain self-sufficiency rate was only 22.6% of
total consumption. Moreover, externalization of peoples’ eating habits is also developing quickly. Consequently, a
healthy food lifestyle along with food safety has become seriously threatened. Consumers’ concerns about food
safety are growing, caused by the frequent occurrence of food safety related incidents and accidents, etc.
Therefore the food system (local food system), which contributes to a proper diet, and environment, and
communal life, should expand along with an increase in incomes and greater life expectancy.
Long-term Vision of Rural Society based on change of peoples’ needs in agriculture and rural society
Agriculture and rural areas have been recognized as contributors to the growth of the national economy as
markets for industrial products and suppliers of a cheap labor force. While the rate of agriculture in the national
economy has fallen to a level of 2%, and the food self-sufficiency rate has fallen to a level of 22%, farm villages
themselves are suffering from a shortage of labor. While they cannot expect things to revert to what they were in
the past, some growth-biased people nonetheless, consider agriculture and farm villages as fetters of growth.
Although it is a universal phenomenon that the relative share in the national economy becomes smaller, it can be
said that the intrinsic value and importance of the agricultural sector increases rather than decreases. The value
and role only require changes in the process of societal development.

Park, Jindo
In developed countries, today's agriculture rate mainly accounts only 1-2 % of gross national product. But the value
of agriculture, as the stable supply of safe food, its offering of viable jobs, maintenance of rural areas, preservation
of lands and environments, and the succession of traditions and culture, is highly appraised in everyday life, and
such value is not acquired through international trade. In other words, the plural roles (functions) of rural areas, as
the spaces for living, economic activities, environment and landscape, and culture and education, are becoming
greater and greater.
THE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY OF KOREAN RURAL SOCIETY AND THE CAPACITY-BUILDING OF

LOCAL ACTORS
Endogenous development strategy of rural society
In order to develop rural societies as places for living, working and relaxation, the integrated development of rural
areas in terms of economy, socio-culture, and environment is necessary. For that purpose, development strategies
of rural society should change from exogenous to endogenous models. Exogenous models considered rural areas
to be ‘backward’ technically, economically, and culturally compared to the cities. They mainly focused on economic
development of rural areas through the attraction of central government subsidies or external capital, in order to
reduce such gaps between rural and urban areas. However, such exogenous development strategies have not only
failed to reduce the gap between rural and urban areas, but also have been blamed as having caused only
dependent, distorted and destructive development, that is totally out of balance within the given rural areas
(Ken-ichi Miyamoto 2009).
Endogenous development ideas draw on four sources (Baldock et al 2001: 13-14). “First was the recognition that
during the 1970s and 1980s certain regions, previously unrecognized internal dynamism, had achieved remarkable
progress - ‘Third Italy’ was the most celebrated example. A second source was regionalist movements and agencies
seeking to overcome previous policy failures by promoting forms of local development less dependent on external
capital and the encouragement of local initiative and enterprise. The third source was the debate about rural
sustainability. The sustainability concept embraces the vitality of localities and communities on which the
maintenance of both the environment and economic activity ultimately depend. The fourth source of ideas came
from notions of self-reliance promoted by two groups- radical greens and development activists working with
particularly marginalized groups.”
The evolution from exogenous to endogenous rural development models began in the European Union in the
1980s. “In the past, the broad parameters of what constituted ‘rural development’ were easier to agree and
tended to be defined in terms of ‘modernizing’ agriculture and rural services in order to catch up with the
standards of urban areas. Nevertheless, in recent years it is increasingly agreed that the development of rural areas
should build upon and conserve their intrinsic qualities and assets. So what may be required in one rural locality
may differ sharply from prevailing needs and opportunities in another” (ibid 12). In 1988 the European
Commission set out a historical re-think of its rural policy entitled The Future of Rural Society which stressed the
need for an approach that stimulates development from within. The Commission explained that “a rural
development of this kind must reflect very fully local needs and initiatives, particularly in respect of small and
medium sized firms, and lay heaviest emphasis on maximizing indigenous potential” (European Communities 1988:
8).
On the other hand, the EU led the ‘Cork Declaration’ in 1996 which advocated the target of rural development
policy by 'sustainable integrated rural development'. The ‘Cork Declaration’ announced a ten-point rural
development for the European Union: Point 1- Rural Preference, Point 2 – Integrated Approach, Point 3-
Diversification, Point 4- Sustainability, Point 5- Subsidiarity, Point 6- Simplification, Point 7 – Programming, Point 8 –
Finance, Point 9- Management, Point 10- Evaluation and Research. Point 2- Integrated Approach stressed that
“rural development policy must be multi-disciplinary in concept, and multi-sectoral in application, with a clear
territorial dimension. ... It must be based on an integrated approach, encompassing within the same legal and
policy framework: agricultural adjustment and development, economic diversification, the management of natural
resources, the enlargement of environmental functions, and the promotion of culture, tourism and recreation.”
Point 4- Sustainability emphasized that “policies should promote rural development which sustain the quality and

Park, Jindo
amenity of Europe’s rural landscapes (natural resources, biodiversity and cultural identity). From the mid-1990s
onwards, this endogenous approach has gradually influenced EU structural and rural policies.
Thus, an endogenous development strategy pursues the sustainable and integrated rural development of
economic, social and environmental objectives, and seeks the energy for rural development driven from within.
However, it does not ignore or exclude the interface with the outside world, but only stresses the local initiative in
that interface. It emphasizes the bottom-up approach, local participation and co-operation, and local autonomy
while the local actors like residents, enterprises, local government, research institutes, NGOs and NPOs initiate the
development process, not placing responsibility on central government and outside think-tanks.
However, because the local competences are usually not enough to solve their problems by themselves, the
partnership and network among central government, local government and local private actors is very important.
The endogenous (or neo-endogenous) model stimulates links between territorial institutions through intra and
inter-territorial co-operation among both rural areas themselves and with non-rural areas (Tolón-Becerra 2009). It
is thought as important to utilize local resources (natural, material, human, cultural, and environmental) to the
utmost in the process of development, and to maximize the local share of development. And the ultimate target of
development is put on the capacity-building of local actors which can pursue autonomous development of their
areas (Park 2005).
Shaping local actors
1) Endogenous development of rural society and roles of local actors
Local residents
Since the endogenous development of a rural area is directly linked with rural people’s lives, the most important
actors of endogenous development are local residents. In the endogenous development approach, not only the
results of development and but also its processes are very important: how local residents participate actively and
how much the capabilities of people are cultivated in the development process. In such a sense, endogenous
development is a process of establishing local residents as the core actors of rural development.
NGOs and the network of endogenous development

Local residents have to form organizations where they do not have to work individually even though they are the
core actors of endogenous development. Therefore, various civil society organizations (NGOs) with their various
purposes exist. While there are NGOs which try hard in order to solve the problems of specific fields (welfare,
children, women, human rights, education, culture, environment, etc.), the organizations which deal with the
problems of any given area synthetically also exist. While civil society organizations are active nationwide in Korea,
the activities of civil society in rural areas are very weak.
Social economy: social enterprises/cooperatives/workers’ collectives

Social economy is the autonomous and nonprofit civil society sector (the third sector) which does not belong to
either the public sector (the 1st sector) or the market profit sector (the 2nd sector). Social economy consists of
social enterprise, co-operatives, associations, mutual benefit societies, NPOs, worker’s collectives, etc... The
principles of social economy are as follows. “1. placing service to its members or to the community ahead of profit:
2. autonomous management; 3. a democratic decision-making process; 4. the primacy of people and work over
capital in the distribution of revenues.” (Defourny,J. and Develtere, P 1999: 16):
Local governments
A self-governing body carries out the important function which establishes and executes the synthetic
development plan of the area. Presenting the vision of local development, it can stimulate residents'
consciousness and active efforts. Additionally, it can mobilize peoples’ creativity and energy.
Others
Crucial roles can also be played by various farm workers organizations, residents autonomy centers, self-support
centers, female agricultural centers, small libraries, welfare centers, and the organizations which public sectors
manage in cooperation with private sectors.

Park, Jindo
2) Establishment of local governance
While each local actor carries out a respectively original role for the endogenous development of the area, a
system for cooperation between these various actors needs to be established. That is, the local governance of the
area certainly needs to be established as an endogenous development. Governance means the mechanism in
which various interest groups participate collectively, decide autonomously and promote cooperatively. Therefore,
local governance means the measure which promotes interaction, deliberations, and agreement towards
achievement of the socioeconomic purpose of the area among the various interest groups who hold the resources
of local development.
3) The strengthening measure of the capacity-building of local actors for endogenous development
While various programs have been introduced towards strengthening the capabilities of local actors since the
middle 1980s in advanced nations, they can be roughly divided into two kinds. One is a series of programs which
put a focus on education and training: the leadership development programs of communities within Australia, the
U.S., and the village schools of local leaders in Japan, etc. The other is the LEADER programs of the EU, and
communities-based plans of Kentucky (USA), and the Canadian Rural Partnership, which cultivate residents'
problem-solving capabilities through small-scale pilot businesses. This is not mere training and education, but
“learning by doing programs”, a hands-on approach, where the people practice business and learn for themselves.
CONCLUSION
How do we protect the collapse of rural societies which is occurring at an alarming rate? Rural residents say that
the central government should offer much more support to them. Is it possible to really revitalize rural societies
through increasing government expenditure? This paper began from such a doubt. Since the 1990s in Korea, huge
budgets were thrown into rural areas. However, the effect was small and it could not prevent the collapse of rural
society. Rural society cannot be revitalized by present development strategies. Central governments' projects,
which are mostly engineering and construction of social overhead capital, are being conducted without the
autonomy of local government or the participation of rural residents. They have not contributed to rural
development, but have brought about tax waste, environmental destruction, and corruption by reckless
developments. The exogenous development which left the fate of the rural areas to the government and external
capital is not an effective system (and never has been). The possibilities that major companies invest in rural areas
are becoming less and less because of economic globalization, and central government's subsidies to rural areas
cannot but diminish, due to rapidly increasing budget deficits.
We have to transfer the development strategies of rural areas to the endogenous development models in which
rural residents determine their fate by themselves through direct participation and creativity, as soon as possible.
Since the autonomy of local government and capabilities of rural people are not still developed, there are limits in
carrying out endogenous development models overall, but we have to progress one step at a time respectively
through the strengthening of residents' capabilities.

Park, Jindo
REFERENCES
Baldock,D. and Dwyer, J. and Lowe,P. and Peterson,J. and Ward,N.(2001). The Nature of Rural Development:
Towards A Sustainable Integrated Rural Plicy in Europe. IEEP: London
Defourny,J. and Develtere, P (1999). ‘The social economy: the worldwide making of a third sector’, In Defourny,J.,
Develtere,P. and Fonteneau,B (eds.), L’économie sociale au Nord et au Sud. (pp 1.-35), Center D’Economie
Sociale
Dwyer,J. Baldock,D. and Beaufoy,G. and Bennett,H. and Lowe,P. and Ward,N.(2002). Europe’s Rural Futures: The
Nature of Rural DevelopmentⅡ. IEEP: London
European Communities (1996). Cork Declaration
European Communities (1998), The Future of Rural Society.
European Communities (2006). Fact Sheet: The EU Rural Development Policy 2007-2013
Korean Rural Economy Institute (2006). Korea’ Rural Future- Rural Space 2020. Seoul.
Lowe, P. (2004). Concepts and Methods in European Rural Development Policy. Paper presented at Rural
Development International Conference by FARP in 2004. Seoul. Korea,
Miyamoto,K. (2009). ‘Sustainable Society and Endogenous Development’. Paper presented at the 5th Anniversary
of Korea Regional Development Foundation. Seoul, Korea
Park, J (2005). The System of WTO and Rural Policy Reform. Hanul Press. Seoul.
Park, J. (2011). Local Communities Based on Circulation and Co-existence. Kyou Press. Seoul
Ray, C. (2003) ‘Governance and the neo-endogenous approach to rural development’, Paper Presented at the ESRC
Research Seminar: Rural Social Exclusion and Governance. February 2003. London, England.
Tolon, A. and Lastra, X (2009). ‘Planning and Neo-Endogenous Model for a Sustainable Development in Spanish
Rural Areas’. INRA SFER CIRAD. Montpelier

Panel 3. The Making and Unmaking of “Green
Revolution: From Asian and African Perspectives

GREEN REVOLUTION FROM COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE:
BETWEEN ASIAN AND AFRICAN EXPERIENCES
Tadasu Tsuruta
Faculty of Agriculture, Kinki University
E-mail: tadasutsuruta@hotmail.com
ABSTRACT
This paper offers a critical review of the past and ongoing “Green Revolution” in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, by comparing
divergent experiences in the two regions. While the modernization of rice farming in post-war Asia succeeded in increasing the
yield dramatically, glaring failures in updating African agriculture exhibits a striking contrast to the Asian success. At the same
time, behind success stories of “miracle rice” in Asia, one can find a number of negative consequences of a headlong
modernization of rice farming, namely, environmental degradation, genetic erosion, over-dependence on costly chemical
inputs, and social stratification in rural areas. This dark side of the story also warns us of the consequences of the emerging
“second Green Revolution” focusing on the genetically modified crops and other state-of-the-art technologies created by
multinational biotechnology companies. Drawing up the pros and cons of the Green Revolution, this paper examines the past
African and Asian experiences to highlight the historical differences between two regions, and at the same time provides a
critical perspective on the ongoing technological innovation in Asia and Africa.
Keywords: Green Revolution, agrarian society, Asia, Africa
INTRODUCTION
Despite statistical economic growth in recent years, the welfare and living standard of ordinary African people in
general has not improved very much. The stagnation in agricultural sector, which is the source of living for majority
of Africans, is particularly serious and significant. Indeed there is a burgeoning sector of commercialized agriculture
across the continent, but there also are a multitude of subsistent peasants existing side by side with capitalistic
farmers. To cope with the increased penetration of market economy, peasant families are increasingly dependent
on off-farm incomes, by either conducting small businesses or migrating towards cities, which leads in part to the
overall abandonment of agriculture and village life (Bryceson et. al. eds. 1997). As a result, many African countries
failed to produce enough food for their population. In general, the effort to modernize African subsistence
agriculture has not been successful.
Though there is a strident advocacy of “Green Revolution” in sub-Saharan Africa nowadays, the region seems to be
rejecting it. Thirty years ago, Goran Hyden called our attention to “uncaptured peasantry,” a term which briefly
explains the situation in which both state and market failed to involve African peasants into modernization
projects. He further argued that “the economy of affection” embedded in peasants’ lives was the main cause of
underdevelopment in rural Africa (Hyden 1980). In the 1980s, there was a heated debate on Hyden’s thesis, which
drew polemical attacks from Marxian economists who were optimistic about modernizing African agriculture. A
quarter century later, however, Hyden had to state again that the African peasantry still remained
“uncaptured” (Hyden 2004: p. 2).
In contrast, modernization of agriculture in Asian countries has been very successful. Japan and its former colonies
(Korea and Taiwan) achieved a better productivity in rice production by the early 20th century. From the 1970s
onwards, “Green Revolution” took place in rice-growing countries in South and Southeast Asia, achieving a great
success in increasing yield of food grains. At the same time, it often contributed to the degradation of environment
and increasing gap between the rich and the poor in rural areas, endangering socio-economic and environmental
stability. In fact, dominant model of agricultural development has not always been successful in eradicating
poverty and achieving food security in each local area. It is in this context that we have to reconsider implications
of the past and upcoming Green Revolution in Asia and Africa.
This paper first tries to make a criticism of Green Revolution as a political ideology based on technocracy. It then
provides an outline of historical Green Revolution in South and Southeast Asia, especially focusing on its negative
impacts on the existing social, farming, and ecological systems. It then attempts to make a comparison between
agricultural innovation in Africa and Asia, by drawing a historical uniqueness of African peasantry and its farming
systems.
Tadasu Tsuruta
GREEN REVOLUTION AS AN IDEOLOGY
Green Revolution refers at once to technical transfer, social phenomena, and historical and political trajectories.
From the viewpoint of technology, it is based on the creation of seeds of HYVs (high-yielding varieties) of food
grains such as wheat, rice and maize, accompanied by the introduction of a “package” of technological innovations
on the use of agrochemicals and machines, irrigation, and even rural credit and marketing schemes. At the same
time, even a cursory look at its history reveals that it is more than a mere matter of technological transfer.
Green Revolution has been advocated passionately on the humanitarian ground that it would dramatically reduce
the risk of famine. At the same time, we have to note that it was originally promoted as a geopolitical strategy of
USA, in response to the threat of communism. Small farmers were targeted in order to reduce grass-roots hunger
and poverty, as well as to eliminate the risk of social upheaval emerging from rural Asia. US-based Rockefeller and
Ford Foundations played a central role in financing the research projects particularly on fertilizer-responsive HYVs
of cereal grains (Cullather 2010).
Though Green Revolution was implemented by each nation state in Asia with technical and financial support from
the US, many private companies producing chemical fertilizer, pesticides, and power tillers benefitted
tremendously from this modernizing project. Djurfeldt (et al. eds. 2005: 3) defines the Green Revolution as follows:
Green Revolution (in Asia) was “a state-driven, market-mediated and small-farmer based strategy to increase the
national self-sufficiency in food grains.” Though the earlier Green Revolution was a largely publicly funded
initiative, the upcoming new Green Revolution (its key technology is genetic engineering) is a mainly privately
funded initiative, as seen in the extensive involvement of multinational seed companies in a number of project to
update agriculture in the developing countries (McMichael 2010; Scoones and Thompson 2011).
Green Revolution was also based on a modernist ideology that traditional production systems (in this case food
production) have to be re-organized by science and technology under the control of technocrats. As Kloppenburg
(2004: 158) aptly described, early Green Revolution was characterized by “volatile mix of business, philanthropy,
science, and politics”. It is a part of a wider project to modernize modes of production worldwide, driven by
powerful combination of state and capitalism, along with international research institutions such as those under
the umbrella of CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research) among others.
Academicians are split sharply on the socio-economic (as well as ecological) impacts of Green Revolution over
farming households. It certainly contributed greatly to the dramatic increase of grain production, thereby reducing
risk of famine. Nevertheless, many argue that it also brought about new and intractable problems among farming
communities in the developing countries. To name a few, soil degradation, outbreaks of new pests and diseases
which may eventually lead to the decline of long-term productivity, and loss of bio-diversity which had hitherto
secured farmers’ livelihood. Increased cost of production resulted in debt problem of small farmers, which also led
to their displacement and depopulation in rural areas. These harsh facts have thrown into bold relief the
limitations of technocratic control based on technological idealism.
BEHIND “SUCCESS STORIES” OF ASIAN GREEN REVOLUTION
East and Southeast Asia
Modern agricultural innovation in Asia was pioneered by Japan, predating the post-war Green Revolution for many
years. To achieve self-sufficiency in food grains, Japan and its former colonies (Taiwan and Korea) had introduced
high-yielding varieties and other modern technologies of growing rice in as early as the 1920s and 1930s. The role
of state in East Asian agricultural development was crucial, as marked by state intervention on irrigation schemes,
rural infrastructure, and research and extension system. Fertilizer industry was also expanded with state
investment. The success was attributable to some pre-conditions, one of which was a uni-modal agrarian structure
based on small scale family farms as operational units, which was in place before the agricultural modernization
took place (Djurfeldt et al. eds. 2005: 25-41).
In Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia, improved varieties of rice (IR
varieties developed by IRRI: Rockefeller-funded International Rice Research Institute) were introduced from the
late 1960s onwards.

Tadasu Tsuruta
Alongside new breeds of high-yielding rice, chemical fertilizer, pesticides, and machineries came to be used
extensively in these countries. Such a promotion was made on a strong state initiative under authoritarian regimes
in each country. Networks of irrigation and roads were improved everywhere, with increasing control and
influence of the central government on villagers’ livelihood (Elson 1997: 63-72, 93-6).
Both the Philippines and Indonesia were rice-importing countries in the 1960s. Besides introducing the
aforementioned technology (with a great help from the US government), both countries (along with India)
abandoned low-price policies for food grains and instead introduced agricultural policies focusing on small farmers.
One of the policy measures was to give remunerative prices to farmers as an incentive to increase rice production.
Production of rice was increased dramatically (yield per acre was doubled) and became stable. Rice came to be
provided at a reasonable price to urban residents (Djurfeldt et al. eds. 2005: 43-63).
While making a dramatic success thanks to the “miracle rice,” Green Revolution also had a number of negative
impacts on rural ecology and society. Notably, monoculture of HYVs (IR strains) reduced genetic diversity (loss of
landraces of rice) and increased the risk of new pests and diseases. In Northeast Thailand, for example, there were
countless varieties of glutinous rice, but most farmers now plant only one improved variety called RD6.
Monoculture combined with a heavy use of pesticide especially has triggered outbreaks of blown plant-hoppers in
Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and China. Pesticide (and herbicide) use also led to the decline of fish population and
edible weeds used as green vegetables that formerly coexisted in rice paddies. Fertilizer and other chemical inputs
has imposed a heavy financial burden on farming households. The gap between rich and poor farmers has
widened; especially between those benefitted from irrigation facilities and those dependent on rain-fed
agriculture.
Negative consequence of chemical and commercialized agriculture made a number of farmers to seek alternative
ways of production and marketing. In Northeast Thailand, the central government promoted modern technology in
rice farming from the mid-1970s by providing farmers with a loan to get chemical fertilizer through local “Farmers’
Group.” In the mid-1980s, however, some farmers came to realize the negative consequences of continuous usage
of chemical fertilizer (and other chemical inputs), that is, soil degradation and debt problem. At the same time, a
number of Farmers’ Groups went into bankruptcy, due to a cumulative outstanding debt. That is why organic
farming and self-reliance emerged as one of the viable alternatives for smallholders in the Northeast, where
organic jasmine rice production for fair-trade flourishes nowadays (Tsuruta and Chanachai, 2014). Organic
agriculture is rapidly gaining ground in Southeast Asia, where producers’ concerns over soil degradation and health
problem coincide with consumers’ concerns over safe foods.
A Case of Punjab, India
Punjab was the first state where Indian government started to modernize wheat and rice cultivation, and was once
a showcase of the success of Green Revolution in the country. However, according to Vandana Shiva, a famous
environmental activist, Green Revolution in Punjab not only proved to be both unsustainable and non-profitable,
but also brought violence (instead of prosperity) into the region. In her famous book, Shiva (1991) analyzes Punjab
crisis in the late 1980s, claiming that what apparently seemed a purely ethnic/ religious conflict was in fact
originated from the social breakup caused by rapid agricultural transformation.
Green Revolution replaced diverse mixed crops and rotational cropping patterns of cereals, pulses and oilseeds
(produced primarily for self-consumption) with monocultures of introduced wheat and rice varieties produced for
market. This process was accompanied by the substitution of internal resources of the farm with purchased inputs
of seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, energy, etc. High cost of inputs and labor-displacing mechanization led to income
gaps between the rich and the poor. Resulting class conflict, cultural erosion, and moral crisis eventually led to the
religious revivalism and extremism (Sikh separatism).
The crux of Shiva’s argument seems to be that Green Revolution is not only related to control over nature, but also
to control over people. Green Revolution caused the atomization of farmers in Punjub, who came to confront (as
individuals) directly with state and capitalism (ibid.: 171). Disintegration of existing communities coincided with the
increasing influence of these powerful institutions over rural livelihood.

Tadasu Tsuruta
Africa’s Unique Path of Agricultural Development
Historical Uniqueness of Sub-Saharan Africa
Most arguments on African food production begin with a gloomy statistics and a bleak prospect on increasing
agricultural productivity. According to a Japanese economist Katsuki Hirano (2013), for example, on average, grain
productivity in sub-Saharan Africa remains one-third of world average (one-third in maize, half in rice, less than
one-third in wheat). At the same time, many economists often impute this failure in agricultural intensification to
the inability of the African governments which have failed to implement necessary measures. However, such kinds
of arguments may be misleading, in that they are implicitly based on a doubtful assumption that rural societies in
the south of the Sahara are as much “agrarian” as any other societies.
There are, in fact, many features in rural Africa that is different from other agrarian societies. Rural societies in
modern Africa were made up of relatively dispersed, isolated, and self-sufficient communities, which were not
always specialized in agriculture. Landlordism or landed class was non-existent. It is in sharp contrast to Asian rural
societies (with a greater population density) based on settled agriculture (rice-growing) with a high degree of
incorporation into the higher administrative authorities, which has its origin in as early as 8th to 13th century. On
the other hand, in pre-colonial Africa, neither sedentary and stratified agricultural communities nor centralized
state institutions existed. Such a type of social formation may be epitomized in a single word: “pre-agrarian.”
Agrarian stage is a pre-modern epoch common to most of the societies. Whether feudalism or despotism, agrarian
societies were characterized by effective state control of peasant’s products, and were based on stratified and
sedentary farming communities characterized by mono-cropping of cereal grain (notably wheat and rice).
Agricultural Revolution is important as demarcating a major social epoch of transition from pre-agrarian society to
agrarian society, as the Industrial Revolution marks the transition from agrarian society to industrial society.
Ancient agricultural revolution, characterized by a large scale irrigation agriculture and mass-production of cereals,
took place for the first time around 4,000 B.C., leading to the rise of ancient civilization typically in Mesopotamia.
This landmark development in production system was accompanied by the emergence of a multi-layered social
structure, which eventually led to the emergence of states.
Most parts of the world made a transition from a pre-agrarian (or natural) society to an agrarian society in the
early stage of history. However, Africa appears to be an exception to this general pattern in other agrarian
societies. One of the hallmarks of African rural society is its great mobility. Social mobility of rural dwellers has a
close relation with their flexibility in choosing means of subsistence such as hunting, gathering, pastoralism, and
shifting cultivation (or combination of any of them), to accommodate themselves to the given circumstances. They
often practice a mixed economy as a survival strategy, combining agriculture and other means of subsistence
including livestock-keeping, hunting, and gathering. That is why Kakeya (1986) regarded the African cultivators as
the “generalists” of utilizing natural environment, rather than the “specialists” of agriculture.
This presents a striking contrast to Asian rice-growing communities which have been bound to land over many
centuries, and tightly incorporated into the system of hierarchy. As a matter of course, the generalists are normally
unwilling to specialize solely in one sector (for instance agriculture) to expand its production and enhance its
productivity. In this sense, rural Africa has never been an “agrarian society,” unlike Asian societies where settled
agriculture (wet-rice cultivation) was predominant, and political structures had developed firmly on the basis of
sedentary farming communities (Tsuruta 2011). Kakeya (1986) further argues that African cultivator’s way of
production is characterized by its “extensiveness,” in contrast to other agrarian societies that is marked by
specialization and intensification in farming. Extensiveness as well as great mobility of African cultivators may be
related to their propensity to adapt themselves to the local, heterogeneous environment, rather than to control it
by, for instance, irrigation works. Extensiveness is also displayed in a remarkable diversity of food staples in rural
Africa, ranging from sorghum and millet to various root crops. Lack of uniformity characterizes African agriculture
in every aspect, and this is considered to be a major obstacle to modernization.
There have been repeated attempts to modernize African agriculture both in colonial and post-colonial times, but
many of these efforts were doomed to bear no fruits. What colonialists and post-colonial governments found in
rural Africa were elusive, dispersed, and self-sufficient communities of cultivators, pastoralists, agro-pastoralists,
and hunters-and-gatherers, who were frequently moving from one place to another. That is why the majority of

Tadasu Tsuruta
African peasantry has long remained “uncaptured,” to borrow a term coined by Goran Hyden. Though African
villagers can be more easily “captured” recently, modernization projects based on the uni-modal model of farming
system in agrarian societies have not worked out very well.
Modern varieties (the key technology of the earlier Green Revolution in Asia) of grains, cassava, and other crops
are mostly accepted by farmers as a strategy to minimize risks rather than to maximize production. Improved
varieties of maize are now widespread across Africa even among ordinary farmers, but the productivity remains
low as they cannot afford to buy expensive chemical fertilizers as well as new hybrid seeds every year (Melinda et
al. eds. 2011). In many cases, promotion of modern agriculture was only partially successful among pockets of
European and rich African farmers. For example, Zambia is the only African country where has a surplus in grain
trade (maize and wheat) recently, mainly because of white farmers who had fled from neighboring Zimbabwe,
where President Mugabe had encouraged violent seizures of white land. Zambian government welcomed these
skillful white farmers, providing them with free access to land and a loan without mortgage (Hirano 2013: 143-4).
Indigenous Innovation of African Agriculture
The above argument is not to claim that there was no indigenous agricultural innovation in pre-colonial (or post-
colonial) Africa. On the contrary, there were a variety of pre-industrial methods of intensification such as fallowing,
crop rotation, use of nitrogen-fixing crops, manuring, composting and small-scale irrigation (Djurfeld et al. eds.
2005: 10-1). But these innovations were largely ad-hoc and piecemeal, and have never been integrated into a
standardized “farming system,” because of heterogeneity of natural environment in each locality. As historian John
Iliffe points out, in contrast to standardized Green Revolution technology, “African peasant farming was a skilled
craft producing numerous crops adapted to small variations of soil and climate” (Iliffe 1995: 268).
Paul Richards (1985) made an important observation to illuminate the characteristics of indigenous agricultural
innovation in Africa, from the viewpoint of agro-ecology. He begins his argument by pointing out some anomalies
of African rural societies, including low population density, and great adaptability to the existing environment.
Based on his field research in tropical rainforest in West Africa, Richards stresses an amazing diversity of
agricultural practices, which stem from the fact that farmers accommodated their technique to the diversified
environment, instead of creating a uniform environment favorable for farming (such as making terraced field or
irrigation facilities). Such a great adaptability to the existing environment was based on each farmer’s ecological
knowledge that was local and specific.
African farmers developed various unique techniques according to ever-changing environmental condition. For
example, there were an abundant variety of techniques to cope with unstable rainfall; spreading cropping season,
mulching, using draught-tolerant varieties, and employing a method to delay germinating. One of the most
widespread strategies to cope with unreliable rainfall was combining rain-fed and wetland fields. Rain-fed fields in
West Africa was marked by shifting cultivation, which was made up of a variety of individual skills and should be
regarded as a rich tool kit especially for soil management (i.e. control of fertility and conservation of physical
character of soil). Wetland agriculture is another genre that demonstrated great versatility of African farmers.
There were a variety of simple “irrigation” systems designed to lead water to lower wetland, instead of structured
irrigation systems (large barrages and reservoirs) as seen in rice-growing regions in Asia. At the same time, a
number of different varieties of rice were adopted to make the maximum use of all types of wetland.
One of the most unique and popular cropping strategies in Africa is mixed cropping. According to Richards, around
80% of farmland in West Africa was under mixed cropping of different kinds of crops. There were countless
varieties of combination of crops, though mixture of main grains and nitrogen-fixing crops was a typical and good
combination of crops. The merits of mixed cropping (as compared to mono-cropping) included; (1) yield was larger
and more stable than mono-cropping, (2) labor was not concentrated in one peak season, (3) it was easier to
control pest, weeds, and diseases, (4) it provided a variety of crops to meet diversified needs of a family. Mixed
cropping was especially effective in poor soil and was also an effective way to use limited land.
Thus, peasants in West Africa already have established the base for indigenous agricultural revolution. Shifting
cultivation is not something to be overcome, but is a rich repository of knowledge and experience (as a result of
longtime trial and error). Mixed cropping and wet land agriculture have advanced ahead of formal agricultural
science. Especially mixed cropping is one of the promising ways to alternative agricultural revolution. These

Tadasu Tsuruta
techniques are not merely traditional, but also dynamic and inventive. Richards also suggests the potential of
combining modern technology and indigenous techniques. A popular improved variety of upland rice in Sierra
Leone and Liberia (though not a “miracle rice”) was derived originally from local farmers’ selection. Grass-hopper
in southern Nigeria would be effectively treated by using detailed ecological knowledge of farmers.
Richards further claims that ignoring such indigenous initiatives was the main cause of food crisis occurring in
Africa. Uniform application of chemical fertilizer so far failed to bring results, because this type of modernization
ignored the diversity of agricultural practices on the ground. In order to avoid such repeated failures to introduce
modern technology from above, agricultural scientists and extension workers have to pay special heed to
“people’s science” from below. It is interesting to note, in passing, that Richards also argues that ecological
knowledge (of African peasants) is a common knowledge that can be shared by all, and is also politically neutral, in
contrast to the scientific knowledge applied in the earlier Green Revolution.
CONCLUSION
Rice-growing Asian countries have succeeded in the Green Revolution, in which the improved, national variety
seeds along with massive agrochemical inputs made a great success in increasing rice yield. At the same time, it
often had negative impacts in terms of environmental sustainability and human health. Furthermore, as a
consequence of monoculture specialization, most Asian farmers have found themselves threatened by poor prices
of crops and high credit charges. Given the unstable and fragile character of international market, current
globalization and liberalization never promise a bright future for peasant agriculture in Asia. We have to,
therefore, seek alternative views of rural development in Asia, Africa, and in other parts of the world, so that the
farmers can conserve self-reliance and ecological integrity, while reaching food security, without depending too
much on external institutions such as market and state.
Most formulas of agricultural intensification are based on the experiences in ex-agrarian societies, which cannot be
applied directly to sub-Saharan Africa. For rural Africa, we have to seek an alternative and sustainable way of
development, which is based on the ‘non-agrarian’ features of its people, such as frequent relocation of
settlement and ‘extensive’ way of production. There are now renewed attempts to intensify African agriculture by
introducing state-of-the-art technologies including genetically-modified crops. However, the negative effects of
the earlier Green Revolution in Asia have turned our attention towards the importance of traditional farming
systems in terms of environmental conservation and long-term economic security of communities. As Paul
Richards had demonstrated, African small-holders’ environmental management is dynamic and innovative, not
only adaptive to the given environment. The potential of “indigenous agricultural revolution” should not be
underestimated.
Unlike the top-down approach of Asian Green Revolution characterized by standardized technological package
based on formal science, African indigenous agricultural innovations are based on farmers’ ingenuity and
experience, indigenous knowledge on diversity of ecology, and multi-centric process of dissemination. These
technologies developed by farmers are likely to be piecemeal, spontaneous, and haphazard, but they may fit well
into diversified rural livelihoods as well as heterogeneous natural environments. Unlike the earlier Green
Revolution, indigenous agricultural revolution is not a straightforward way to the intensification, but it may be
more sustainable and resilient than blind application of modern science and technology.

Tadasu Tsuruta
REFERENCES
Bryceson, D.F., and Jamal Vali eds. 1997. Farewell to Farms : De-agrarianisation and Employment in Africa.
Aldershot: Ashgate.
Cullather, N. 2010. The Hungry World: America’s Cold War Battle Against Poverty in Asia. Harvard University Press.
Djurfeldt, G et al. eds. 2005. The African Food Crisis: Lessons from the Asian Green Revolution. CABI Publishing.
Elson, R E. 1997. The End of the Peasantry in Southeast Asia: A Social and Economic History of Peasant Livelihood,
1800s-1990s. London: Macmillan.
Hirano, K. 2013. Keizai Tairiku Afirca (An Economic Continent Africa). Tokyo: Chuo-koron Publisher.
Hyden, G. 1980. Beyond Ujamaa in Tanzania: Underdevelopment and an Uncaptured Peasantry. Berkeley and Los
Angeles: University of California Press.
― . 2004. “Informal Institutions, Economy of Affection, and Rural Development in Africa.” Tanzanian Journal of
Population Studies and Development, 11-2 (Special Issue: African Economy of Affection), pp. 1-20.
Iliffe, J. 1995. Africans: The History of a Continent. Cambridge University Press.
Kakeya, M. 1986. “Dentotôki nômin no seikatsu kôzô (Livelihood Structure of Traditional Peasants: A Case of the
Tongwe).” In (Itani, J. and J. Tanaka eds.) Shizenshakai no Jinruigaku (Anthropology of Natural Society). Kyoto:
Academia Publishers, pp. 218-48.
Kloppenburg, J. R. 2004. First the Seed (second edition). The University of Wisconsin Press.
McMichael, P. 2010. “Food Sovereignty in Movement: Addressing the Triple Crisis.” in Hannah Wittman et al. eds.
Food Sovereignty: Reconnecting Food, Nature and Community. Oxford: Pambazuka Press.
Melinda, S., D. Byerlee, and T. Jayne. 2011. Maize revolutions in Sub-Saharan Africa. Policy Research Working Paper
5659, World Bank.
Richards, P. 1985. Indigenous Agricultural Revolution: Ecology and Food Production in West Africa. London: Unwin
Hyman.
Scoones, I. and J. Thompson. 2011. “The Politics of Seed in Africa’s Green Revolution: Alternative Narratives and
Competing Pathways,” IDS Bulletin, 42-4: 1-23.
Shiva, V. 1991. The Violence of the Green Revolution: Third World Agriculture, Ecology, and Politics. London: Zed
Books.
Tsuruta, T. 2011. “Africa and Southeast Asia: From the Viewpoint of Comparative Study of Civilization.” In
(Magimbi, S. et al. eds.) Comparative Perspectives on Moral Economy: African and Southeast Asia. Dar es Salaam
University Press, pp. 91-105.
Tsuruta, T. and S. Chanachai. 2014. “Fair Trade of Organic Jasmine Rice in Surin Province, Northeastern Thailand.”
in K. Ikegami et al. eds. Poverty Alleviation and Rural Development through Alternative Socio-economic Regimes:
Fair Trade Movement and Economy of Virtue. Bangkok: Kasetsart University.

FROM GREEN REVOLUTION TO GREEN ECONOMY IN AFRICA
Kenta Sakanashi
Doshisha University･JSPS Research Fellow
E-mail: mokkosu81@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
African countries have so far attempted to introduce various technologies to increase agricultural productivity, following the
model of Asian countries, which had achieved a dramatic success in modernizing agriculture through the“Green Revolution.”
Sub-Saharan Africa, however, have been making very poor progress both in agriculture and other sectors of the economy. Why
didn’t the Green Revolution produce any significant results in rural Africa? This paper first examines general character of
agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa and the history of failed attempts to modernize its agriculture. Secondly, it explores the
paradox created in current African rural development, in which both advocates of the Green Revolution and the “Green
Economy” are forging ahead with their plan of transforming rural Africa in the opposite direction.Various types of pre-modern
agricultural technique such as shifting cultivation and mix cropping have characterized African agriculture, each with a close
relation with indigenous knowledge of people and the natural environment. Such indigenous knowledge and practice of local
people are appreciated as sustainable and eco-friendly by the advocates of the Green Economy, a concept that combines
development and environmental conservation. While the Green Revolution is designed to modernize a whole system of
agricultural production, the Green Economy requires local people to maintain their “traditional” mode of production, which
may lead not only to the sustainable use of environmental resources, but also to creating a new economic value. In point of
fact, however, local people do not always receive the benefits from this kind of green economy. Green economy may not be an
alternative to the green revolution; both concepts bear some resemblance, in that, in many cases, they tend to lead to one-
sided imposition of Western-derived ideas and technologies, instead of encouraging local initiatives.
Keywords: Green Economy, cacao agroforestry, hybrid seeds, Africa
INTRODUCTION
In Sub-Saharan Africa, about 70% of the population engages in agriculture, which accounted for one-third of the
region’s economic growth from 1990 to 2005 (Scoones and Thompson 2011, Tsusaka and Otsuka 2013). The
economic growth of Africa is considered to have been stagnant as compared to that of Asia, where the Green
Revolution—the development and use of new seeds and fertilizers to increase crop production—has succeeded
dramatically. On the other hand, Sub-Saharan Africa has failed to implement the Green Revolution because of its
diverse climatic conditions, lack of labor force, and scant human resource for science-based development (Ejeta
2010, Tsusaka and Otsuka 2013). In the 1960s, the Green Revolution in Asia focused on production of rice, which
was a minor crop in Africa at that time. Today, however, as technology has advanced, production of important
staple crops for Africans—such as sorghum, millets, maize, and cassava—came to be benefitted from scientific
research. For example, the biological control technique of major insect pests of cassava, rice varieties developed
specifically for Africa, and drought- and parasitic-weed-resistant sorghum varieties have been created through
collaborations between African scientists and foreign agencies (Ejeta 2010).
At the same time, the use of modern technology only to increase agricultural production have always been
accompanied by the neglect of their influence on the natural environment. The Green Revolution posed risks not
only to the natural environment but also to the genetic diversity of indigenous varieties as Vandana Shiva noted
(1992). It is often argued that there is a difference between the earlier Green Revolution in the 1960-70s and the
new Green Revolution as of today. The former was mainly a state-driven project and was associated with the
anticommunist policy of the West during the Cold War. The latter is driven by international organizations and
private sectors, diffusing genetic engineering technology and focusing on individuals and environment (Scoones
and Thompson 2011, Patel 2013). We mainly focus on this new Green Revolution in Africa in this paper.
Today, attention has been focused on environmental preservation in Africa, especially after the implementation of
structural adjustment programme, which included the agricultural development policies not unlike to the Green

Kenta Sakanashi
Revolution, and was criticized as destroying nature. International organizations, particularly the World Bank,
attempted to associate development with environmental conservation. This represented a new developmental
regime based on two different principles: developmentalism and environmental preservationism (Goldman 2005).
This new trend of development programme has been variously called the “Green Economy” or “Green New Deal”
programme and it is now widely supported for promoting employment and increasing local incomes while
encouraging environmental conservation. At the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20),
20 years after the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development was held in 1992, a proposal
to combining economic growth and natural conservation was adopted.
The main themes of the conference were (1) a green economy in the context of sustainable development and
poverty eradication and (2) an institutional framework for sustainable development. Currently, governments and
international organizations aggressively and positively accept green economy initiatives. On the other hand, there
are various criticisms toward the Green Economy.
Goldman (2005) argues that it is a structure of hegemony and a form of political discourse, critically calling it
“green neoliberalism”. Mbolo (2012) fiercely criticized the current project of community forests in Cameroon as
new colonialism. Fairhead et al. (2012) illustrated cases in which local people were robbed of their land on the
pretext of fostering a green economy. They called it “the economy of repair.” It is the repair of a damaged nature,
and efforts to price the down side of growth, that have brought into being and enhanced the value of commodities
such as carbon, biofuels, and offsets of all kinds (whether biodiversity, species or climate). The economy of repair
has been smuggled in within the rubric of ‘sustainability’, but its logic is clear: that unsustainable use ‘here’ can be
repaired by sustainable practices ‘there’, with on nature subordinated to the other” (Fairhead et al. 2012: 242).
This paper tries to examine not only the differences but also similarities between the new Green Revolution and
the Green Economy. First, we outline the general ecological character of agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa and the
history of failed attempts to modernize its agriculture. Second, we move to cacao production areas in tropical
Africa and examine the impact of the new Green Revolution and the Green Economy on local people’s livelihood.
AFRICAN VEGETATION AND AGRICULTURE
African vegetation zones are situated in a concentric fashion round the Congo Bain, the tropical rainforest center of
the Congo. Local forms of agriculture are generally compatible with each local vegetation. North Africa, for
instance, consists of extratropical and desert areas. North African countries such as Tunisia and Morocco import a
variety of agricultural products, although wheat and many other vegetables are planted in their extratropical areas.
Tunisia exports olive oil and dates and Morocco focuses on the export of fishes and seafoods to obtain foreign
currency (FAO STAT). These countries are richer than Sub-Saharan African countries so they can buy in staple crops
from overseas. North Africa is geopolitically and economically important area for not only developed countries but
also global corporations. For example, Tunisia received aid of the introduction of irrigation systems and new seeds
to improve agricultural productivity. Morocco also attracts foreign investment to modernize agricultural sector and
fishery industry (Védie 2013). We can see clearly the influence of the new Green Revolution in these countries.
Dry savanna areas often experience food shortages because of the climate effect. Thus, hybrid seeds of maize and
rice, critical crops in the area, have been introduced to increase crop productivity and to promote the Green
Revolution in Africa. For example, New Rice for Africa (NERICA), a drought-resistant upland rice crossbred from
Asian rice and African rice, has spread in West, East, and Southern Africa. Farmers have to put fertilizer and use
more labor than other corps in savanna. Though NERICA is drought-tolerant rice, it requires a large amount of
water (Kijima and Otsuka 2013). So the irrigation systems are needed. Behind widespread adoption of NERICA lies a
similar logic to the earlier Green Revolution in terms of focusing on input to increase yields of major grain crops.
In tropical area such as humid savanna, savanna woodlands, subtropical rainforest, and tropical rainforest, various
food crops are produced several times each year. Most locals in these areas practice shifting cultivation of multiple
crops. Mix cropping prevents damage from pests and climate changes because different crops are planted together
in the same field, as noted by P. Richards in his research in Sierra Leone (Richards 1985). In Congo basin, various
crops are cultivated in various ways (Miracle 1967). M. Kakeya (1986) pointed out that agriculture of small-scale
farmers in tropical Africa may be called an extensive farming method, which is marked by multiplicity of crops and

Kenta Sakanashi
high labor productivity as compared to intensive farming methods characterized by monocropping and a higher
land productivity in advanced countries. He also evaluated the potential of indigenous agriculture of the humid
savanna area in Tanzania and insisted that it might lead to alternative forms of development in Africa (Kakeya
2011), unlike the new Green Revolution brought by the developed countries. For example Oyama (2002) examine
a case in that local farmers consumed maize originally introduced as a cash crop, after the price decline. It implies
their subsistence-oriented attitude and their flexibility against the uncertain economic situation. These viewpoints
may respond to arguments that one of factors of the stagnation of tropical African economy is small-scale
agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa.
As African agriculture is characterized by diversity it is difficult to bring change in Africa’s entire agricultural system
solely through introducing standardized technologies. The expansion of the new Green Revolution that mainly
aims at diffusion of hybrid seeds depends on areas. These seeds seem to be aggressively introduced to areas
where food shortages often occur or cash crops are not produced very well.
THE GREEN ECONOMY IN A TROPICAL AREA
Food shortages are generally less common in tropical areas of Africa, where local people can produce sufficient
staple crops to sustain themselves. Environmental conservation is given more priority than the pursuit of
increasing agricultural productivity, because these areas are heavily forested. Shifting cultivation—including
activities of slashing and burning forest— and diffusion of cash crops, especially perennial tree crops are
considered to be one of the major causes of deforestation. From different perspectives, it can be argued that
these agricultural activities—by local populations—maintain and expand forest biodiversity provided they have
large areas of land and a low population density (Fairhead and Leach 1996, Shikata 2007). This led to the
introduction of community-based forestry by various actors such as the state, international organizations and
NGO. For example, the community forest project of southern Cameroon was introduced by a collaboration of
several NGOs. The aims are sustainable development, maintenance of community, promotion of agriculture and
livestock with managing local forests. This is a typical form of Green Economy.
One of the key practices in community-based forestry in Africa is agroforestry, which is defined as “the
combination of forest trees with crops, or with domestic animals, or both” (Combe 1982). Some studies have
reported that the practice of agroforestry will help combat deforestation (Asare 2006, Ruf and Zadi 1998, Sonwa
2007). Agroforestry leads to an increase in, or maintenance of agricultural yields while protecting forests.
Traditional agroforestry was “discovered” during the colonial era. For example, the British Empire used the
Taungya system established by the Karen people of Burma to manage teak plantations (King 1987). The system
spread to other parts of the British colonial Empire, such as South Africa and India.
Today, farming systems based on local customs—such as community-based forestry and agroforestry— are
“rediscovered” by international organizations and scientific research after independence, and are linked with the
Green Economy that tries to balance environmental conservation and economic development. The traditional
method is emphasized to conserve forests in areas bountiful forests are seen and is introduced to promote forest
conservation in areas with a problem of deforestation.
The Green Economy may have the potential to replace the Green Revolution in tropical areas if local people secure
sufficient food and money from tree crops and gain profits through forest conservation, such as selling non-timber
forest products and receiving a part of carbon dioxide emission trading. In reality, however, the Green Economy
also has problems.
RACE BETWEEN THE NEW GREEN REVOLUTION AND THE GREEN ECONOMY
In this section we focus on the expansion of the new Green Revolution and the Green Economy in cacao
production areas. Traditional cacao production in southern and southeastern Cameroon is highly evaluated in
terms of cacao agroforestry. Many big trees have been left in cacao fields, because indigenous cacao trees are
vulnerable to excessive sunlight. Thus, forest resources have been preserved. Moreover, indigenous cacao trees
continue to produce fruits for over 50 years (Ruf and Zadi 1998).

Kenta Sakanashi
International aid agencies and chocolate companies have helped a number of countries to promote cacao-based
agroforestry in tropical areas (Asare 2006). One such area in southern Cameroon can be seen as an “ideal model.”
In fact, this area is rich in wildlife and bountiful forests, thus attracting worldwide attention. For example, the Dja
Faunal Reserve, in the South Province, was established in 1982 and designated as a World Heritage Site in 1987.
Furthermore, facing pressure from international societies to protect the environment, the government of
Cameroon revised a national forestry law, which included restrictions on timber exports, development of forest
management plans, and creation of community forests. In other words, the government was asked to establish
national parks, preservation areas, and community forests in exchange for financial aid. The Congo Basin Forest
Partnership also promotes forest conservation in the Congo basin, including southern Cameroon, with the support
from many developed countries and international organizations (CBFP HP).
Cacao agroforestry is considered as an ideal model of the Green Economy at work. However, it unduly focuses on
only cacao production and forest conservation, overlooking other local activities. For example, hunting is
economically important to locals and is intimately connected with their cacao production (Sakanashi 2009). Bush
meat is used to obtain labor, because it is difficult for the local farmers to harvest cacao without outside workers.
Cacao harvesting is extremely laborious, and bush meat obtained by hunting is important in bringing people
together to break the cacao pods. The breaking of the pods must be completed in one day to dry it and to protect
the cacao from thieves. Thus, cacao farmers ask for help from other farmers and inhabitants in the same or nearby
villages. Afterward, clients treat all the participants with a meal including bush meat. In the research area, there are
usually approximately 20–40 people available to help this kind of farm work. In addition, selling bush meat is also
an important source of cash income for local people.
Especially after the cacao harvest season bush meat becomes an integral part of their earnings. As many
households quickly spend the money made from their cacao, they have to rely on selling bush meat and
agricultural crops such as cassava and plantain banana. Bush meat is more expensive than staple foods and is easily
caught in a large amount at one time if they use a shotgun. As a consequence, bush meat is sold when local people
need quick cash, e.g., for school fees and medical expenses. Bush meat is also very important for young people
who returned to their home villages after living in urban centers. As they do not have initial capital to begin cacao
production, some of them try to earn money by selling bush meat in the first stage of the creation of a cacao field.
Hunting, however, is only allowed for subsistence because of the pressure from international organizations and
Cameroon’s forest law. Thus, the Green Economy programme is facing some problems in controlling local people’s
livelihood.
In certain cacao production areas, such as southern Cameroon, agroforestry for forest conservation has been
promoted. In other areas such as Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, new seed technology has been promoted by
governments and international agencies to increase cacao production. The new hybrid seed allows to grow cacao
with a shorter ripening period than the conventional seed, although it needs pesticides to avoid pests and chemical
fertilizers to maximize yields. Furthermore, plants grown from the seeds are tolerant of sunlight, and thus farmers
can easily slash down forests to expand their cacao fields. This cycle easily leads to deforestation (Ruf and Schoroth
2004). The promotion of the new technology closely resembles the process of the first Green Revolution that we
had experienced in Southeastern Asia. Ruf (2011) noted that most smallholders in western Ghana consider cacao
agroforestry as a thing of the past because of the diffusion of the new seeds and increasing land shortage caused
by migration flow from other areas. This case implies that the Green Revolution may conflict with the Green
Economy programs such as cacao agroforestry once the new technology spreads to forest areas in tropical Africa.
In southern Cameroon, attempts were also made to introduce hybrid seeds of cacao. Some urban residents utilized
these seeds to plant cacao in their home villages. Because this type of production requires more effort and lands,
they had to ask local farmers to care hybrid seeds on behalf of them. Some locals knew the seed’s drawbacks (for
instance, the requirement of more water and fertilizer for hybrid seeds than for the local cultivars) and were
reluctant to adopt it. The influence of the government of Cameroon is weaker than that of Ghana with regard to
diffusion of hybrid seeds. Local people’s experience and knowledge about cacao production and the political
influence thus constrain the spread of hybrid seeds in Cameroon.

Kenta Sakanashi
CONCLUSION
It is said that one of the characters of the new Green Revolution is that it is driven mainly by private companies as
well as international organizations such as World Bank. However, in the case of Ghana, like the earlier Green
Revolution, the state still plays an important role in developing and diffusing hybrid seeds that require more
fertilizer and pesticide than domestic species, which may eventually lead deforestation. As the emerging new
Green Revolution inherits some elements of the first Green Revolution, it is difficult to distinguish the new from
the old from the viewpoint of individual factors such as adoption of hybrid seeds, focus on smallholders and state/
private initiatives.
Scott (1998) notes that the state uses the function of “heroic simplification,” which means simplifying complicated
facts to govern and control people and the environment. Currently, the state and international organizations seem
to use “simplification” strategy to conserve the environment and at the same time to develop rural areas. On the
other hand, it must be stressed that the new Green Revolution may vary greatly in practice according to various
actors in various areas, each with complicated goals.
The new Green Economy is advocated to cope with environment problems that have partly been caused by the
past Green Revolution. The new Green Economy that is mainly driven by private companies, along with
international organizations and NGOs, has succeeded in inducing governments in developing countries to establish
certain laws to protect environment. In addition, the Green Economy also depends on fictitious markets such as
carbon market. The community forest project that aims toward conservation and development relies on forest
management by local people, and this is based on an implicit assumption that traditional life has been closely
associated with the forest in a harmonious way. It means that local people are forced to provide “unpaid work” for
the project, at the expense of their ordinary livelihood. Establishing a community forest may contribute to earning
a worldwide reputation, but it is unclear whether local people can obtain some benefit in return for management.
Thus, the Green Economy depends on local people’s “traditional” livelihood that is often associated with
sustainable environmental management from the viewpoint of international organizations and researchers. The
Green Economy tries to preserve and pursue “traditional” livelihood of local people, and eventually control it. For
example, in southern Cameroon, cacao agroforestry as “traditional” cacao production system has been promoted
by various actors, but their hunting activity that is a “traditional” activity and necessary for local people to obtain
labor force in cacao production is restricted under the forest law to conserve eco-systems.
In sum, the Green Revolution has focused on food and cash crop production in local people’s livelihood to increase
yields. On the other hand the Green Economy has tried to keep their “traditional” livelihood including agriculture
and other dairy activities to pursue environmental conservation. Thus the Green Economy seems to move local
agriculture in the opposite direction of the Green Revolution. Both programmes, however, spread in the same area
in this case where we can find both hybrid seeds and cacao agroforestry. For example, a hybrid seed was brought
to the research area by a city dweller, whereas cacao agroforestry has already been practiced in the area and local
people are unwilling to accept the seeds, judging from their personal experiences.
Discussing the relationship between hybrid seeds and cacao agroforestry in Ghana, Ruf (2011) expects that timber
trees may be readopted by cocoa farmers under the form of “light agroforests” and/or in other areas, forming a
mosaic type landscape with separate cocoa farms and timer stands if a clear change occurs in public policies and
timber companies’ attitudes towards smallholders and eco-market. This argument reveals the possibility of
interaction between the Green Revolution and the Green Economy. In fact, local people have no other options but
to confront both the Green Economy and the Green Revolution, though each programme has a different purpose.
One of reasons is that these programmes are based on the same political structure: governments and international
organizations have the right to decide and give instructions to local people focusing on their food production and
livelihood itself.
Various projects and policies, which are sometimes conflicting, such as conservation and development, tend to
assume that local people always ask for help and accept the proposed solution. To response a question raised by
Scoons et al. (2011) of who wins and who profits in the Green Economy projects, the answer is clear that the
governments and international companies and organizations in many areas are the ones who win and gain profit.

Kenta Sakanashi
Are local people subordinate to the Green Revolution and the Green Economy projects? Of course a situation in
which promotion and regulation coexist is a everyday affair for local population, as they often quote a saying; “a
big fish (government and international companies) eats a small fish (the local population) without a reason.” But a
project based on either the Green Revolution or the Green Economy that tries to develop local livelihoods is only
one of many options for local people’s life. Especially local people in tropical rain forest conduct various activities
to survive. They may be able to reject monoculture systems that the Green Revolution tries to introduce. They can
also get free from the “traditional” livelihood that the Green Economy assumes. They have a right to deny these
top-down programmes.
Many projects planners and staff often argue that the local people only ask for money and do not try to sustain pro-
jects for a long time. Of course, they need money for their life and family, but beyond their economic problems, the
difficulties of sustaining projects imply their criticism that projects are not attractive options for them and they have
the option to refuse the projects. Thus promoters of programmes have to be aware of the criticism and redirect the
project for the sake of local people. Policy makers have to understand that the cooperation of small-scale farmers is
sine qua non for implementing projects. And we as academics need to provide many case studies that show the
potential of local population to cope with various projects, and have to consider in which condition that local peo-
ple may be able to utilize each programme for their livelihood.
ENDNOTES
1
This study uses the term “Green Economy” including its positive and negative meanings, although there are controversial ar-
guments.
2
The community forest project was planned by Ministère de la Fôret et de la Faune au Camweroun (MINFOF). Some officers
visited each village in Dja et Lobo Prefecture in 2006 to hold the explanatory meeting and explain the significance of communi-
ty forests to the village people. However, the project was slow to initiate.
3
For example, Shikata (2007) reported the average number of tree species in cacao plantation is 84 species/ha in southeastern
Cameroon. On the other hand, Ruf and Schroth (2004) found 37 species /ha in Côte d’Ivoire.
REFERENCES
Asare, R. 2006. A Review on Cocoa Agroforestry as a Means for Biodiversity Conservation. Brussels: Paper present-
ed in World Cocoa Foundation Partnership Conference.
Combe, J. 1982. “Agroforestry techniques in tropical countries: Potential and limitations.” Agroforestry System, 1: 13
-27.
Ejeta, G. 2010. “African green revolution needn’t be a mirage.” Science, 327: 831-832.
Fairhead , J. and M. Leach 1996. Misreading the Africa Landscape: Society and Ecology in a Forest-Savanna Mosaic.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Farihead, J., M. Leach and I. Scoones 2012. “Green Grabbing: a new appropriation of nature?” The Journal of Peas-
ant Studies, 39-2: 237-261.
Goldman, M. 2005. Imperial Nature: The World Bank and Struggles of Social Justice in the Age of Globalization. New
Haven :Yale University Press.
Kakeya, M and J. Itani (eds.) 2011. African Area Studies and Rural Development (in Japanese). Kyoto: Kyoto Universi-
ty Press.
King, K.F.S. 1987. “The History of Agroforestry.” In (H.A. Steppler and P.K.R. Nair eds.) Agroforestry: A Decade of De-
velopment. Nairobi: International Council for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF), pp.3-11.

Kenta Sakanashi
Kijima, Y and K. Otsuka 2013. “Causes and Consequences of NERICA Adopting Uganda.” In (Otsuka, K. and D.F. Lar-
son eds.) An African Green Revolution: Finding Ways to Boost Productivity on Small Farms. Dordrecht: Spring-
er, pp.123-141.
Mbolo, Y.M. 2012. “The Colonial heritage and post-Colonial influence, entanglements and implications of the con-
cept of community forestry by the example of Cameroon.” Forest Policy and Economics, 15: 70-77.
Miracle, M.P. 1967. Agriculture in the Congo Basin, Tradition and Change in African Rural Economies. The Universi-
ty of Wisconsin Press, Madison.
Oyama, S. 2002. “Market Economy and Transformation of swidden agricultural society—A Case Study of Bemba
Society in Northern Zambia.” In (Kakeya, M. eds.) World of African Cultivators. Kyoto University Press (in Japa-
nese), pp. 3-49.
Patel, R. 2013. “The Long Green Revolution.” The Journal of Peasant Studies, 40-1: 1-63.
Richards, P. 1985. Indigenous Agricultural Revolution: Ecology and Food Production in West Africa. London:
Hutchinson.
Ruf, F. 2011. “The myth of complex cocoa agroforests: The case of Ghana.” Human Ecology, 39: 373-388.
Ruf, F. and G. Schroth 2004. “Chocolate forests and monocultures: A historical review of cocoa growing and its con-
flicting role in tropical deforestation and forest conservation.” In (G. Schroth, G.A.B. Fonseca, C.A. Harvey, H.L.
Vasconcelos, C. Gascon and A.M.N. Izac eds.) Agroforestry and Biodiversity Conservation in Tropical Land-
scapes. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, pp. 107-134.
Ruf, F. and H. Zadi 1998. Cocoa: From Deforestation to Reforestation, Paper from Workshop on Shade Grown Cocoa
held in Panama, 3/30-4/2, 1998. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.
Sakanashi, K. 2009. “Agriculture and Hunting of the Fang in Southern Cameroon.” Journal of African Studies, 74: 37
-50.
Scoones, I. and J. Thompson 2011. “The Politics of Seed in Africa’s Green Revolution: Alternative Narratives and
Competing Pathways.” IDS Bulletin, 42-4: 1-23.
Scott, J.C. 1998, Seeing like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed, Yale Uni-
versity Press.
Shikata, K. 2007. “Change and Continuity in the Introduction of Cacao Growing into the Shifting Cutivation System
in the Tropical Rainforests of Southern Cameroon (in Japanese).” Asian and African Area Studies, 6-2: 257-278.
Sonwa, D. J., B. A. Nkongmeneck, S. F. Weise, M. Tchatat, A. Adesina and M. J. J. Janssens 2007. “Diversity of plants
in cocoa agroforests in the humid forest zone of southern Cameroon.” Biodiversity and Conservation, 16-8:
2385-2427.
Shiva, V. 1991. The Violence of the Green Revolution: Third World Agriculture, Ecology, and Politics. London: Zed
Books.
Tsusaka, T. and K. Otsuka 2013. “The impact of technological change on crop yields in Sub-Saharan Africa, 1967-
2004.” In (Otsuka, K. and D.F. Larson eds.) An African Green Revolution: Finding Ways to Boost Productivity on
Small Farms. Dordrecht: Springer, pp.95-120.
Védie, H.L. 2013. “Une économie, émergente et résiliente.” In (Saint-Prot, C. and F. Rouvillois eds.) L’Eception Ma-
rocaine. Ellipses, pp. 167-185.
CBFP http://pfbc-cbfp.org/home.html (Accessed 15 June, 2014).
Rio+20. United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development http://www.uncsd2012.org/

(Accessed 10 April, 2013).

ORGANIC RICE FARMING PROMOTION IN NORTHEASTERN THAILAND:
AN EXPLORATION OF SOME FACTORS AFFECTING FARMERS’ OUTLOOKS,
PERSPECTIVES AND SATISFACTIONS
Seksak Chouichom
Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research (TISTR)
35 Moo 3, Klong Ha, Khlong Luang, Pathum Thani, 12120, Thailand
Email address: seksak@tistr.or.th / joys-tistr@hotmail.com
ABSTRACT
Rice is one of the major economic crops for Thailand and South East Asia (SEA) agricultural sector. In addition, global rice
consumers are concerned about chemical residue in rice recently. Organic rice products then are the new alternative choice fo r
world consumers who have concern about health and food consumption. This study, therefore, examines farmers’ socio-
economic data, to investigate outlook and satisfaction of farmers toward organic rice farming promotion system, to identify
some factors affecting the organic rice promotion, and analyze various obstacles that will affect the organic rice farming
promotion. The data were gathered from 60 farmer households in Surin province, northeastern Thailand during November –
December 2013 through interviewing and group discussion. Structured and semi-structured questionnaires were utilized in the
field survey. The Likerts’ scale was used to indicate the farmers’ opinions and attitudes in these interviews respectively.
Pearson’s correlation coefficient statistic was employed to investigate the correlation between independent and dependent
variable. The results of this study showed that most rice farmers had a positive perspective and satisfaction towards organic
rice farming promotion and socio-economic data including educational background, rice farm experiences, and extension
officer contact effect to the farmers’ perspectives towards organic rice farming promotion in northeastern Thailand. The new
packaging of organic rice product was still in need of rice farmers in the study area. The lack of water resource was the second
rank of farmers’ obstacle for organic rice farming. This study recommended that organic rice market and packaging should be
arranged and implemented to promote and encourage the organic rice farming today.
Keywords: Organic rice farming, Thai farmers, Point of view, Approval, Northeastern Thailand
INTRODUCTION
In Thailand as well as in other Asian countries, rice is more than just a food commodity. It has become the
cornerstone of the overall food system, language, and culture (Chouicom and Yamao, 2012). Thailand is one of
the world’s leading countries in terms of rice production with organic rice promoted as an integral part of the Thai
sustainable agriculture (Chouichom et al., 2010b and Chouicom and Yamao, 2012). In 2013, Thailand exported
6,611,619.533 tons of total rice valued at 133,839,712,971 Million Baht (US$1=Thai Baht 32.73, June 7, 2014), and
exported 195190.456 tons of total jasmine rice valued 59,479,988,478 Million Baht (OAE, 2014). Rice exports
contributed to the country’s foreign exchange in no small way while exerting a major influence on the national
agricultural economy (Chouicom and Yamao, 2012).
During the Asian financial crisis of 1997, Thailand faced a sharp decline in agricultural productivity. To counter this
trend, farmers increased the use of inorganic fertilizers and agricultural chemicals (Chouichom and Yamao, 2012).
In 2012, the importation of chemical fertilizer continuously increased and reached a peak of 5,583,276 tons (valued
at 83,947 Million Baht) and also pesticide and insecticide increased to 134480 tons (valued at 19,379 Million Baht)
in order to fulfill an ever-increasing domestic demand (DOA, 2014). As synthetic chemicals involved additional
capital outlay, farming costs rose sharply and at the same time caused soil, environment, atmosphere degradation
and poor farmers’ health (Chouichom et al., 2010b).
Jasmine rice of Thailand is one famous variety of rice developed in recent years, or occasionally, known as Thai
fragrant rice which is long grained, aromatic and not so sticky – attributes that contributed to its wide popularity
(Chouicom and Yamao, 2013). Discovered more than 50 years ago, jasmine rice has primarily been cultivated in
northeastern Thailand, particularly in Surin province and nearby. Since the 1980s, the Thai government has
adopted an organic agricultural policy and strategy to promote organic rice production targeting jasmine rice for
export. In 1998, Surin province has announced an agricultural policy as “Surin: City of Organic Rice City”. Also Thai
government has promoted Surin province as the pilot province of organic agriculture (DOAE of Surin, 2014).

Seksak Chouichom
The government launched a flagship program of organic jasmine rice farming termed Khao Hom Mali Intree, or the
new organic rice farm production. Almost fifteen years into the program, Khao Hom Mali Intree (Organic Jasmine
Rice) became accepted and famous among the farmers. This study is made more relevant because the latest
comparative study of Thai jasmine rice (KDML 105) has found those from Surin as having the most desirable
physico-chemical grain properties most sought after by consumers (Pitiphunphong and Suwannaporn, 2009). This
study therefore examine farmers’ socio-economic data, to investigate outlook and satisfaction of farmers toward
organic rice farming promotion system, to identify some factors affecting the organic rice promotion, and analyze
various obstacles that will be affecting the organic rice farming promotion.
METHODOLOGY
Study area
This study was conducted in Surin province where having a history of community based organic farming. Surin also
has largest organic jasmine rice farms amounting to around 120,000 rai (1 rai = 0.16 ha). In 1999, Surin was
selected by the Thai government to be a provincial model for organic rice farming to reduce dependency on
agricultural inputs such as chemical pesticides and fertilizer. Out of the total land area of 5,077,500 rai, about
71.52% or 3,631.428 rai has been classified as agricultural land with rice planted on 3,172,132 rai or 87.35% of the
total farmed area. Surin has been ranked the 10th largest population among the 77 Thai provinces with 1,388,194
inhabitants according to the 2013 population census. Its population density is also ranked the 12 th in the country.
The province is divided into 17 districts with 158 sub-districts consisting of 2,119 villages. The number of farming
households was estimated to be 222,294 in 2013. About 92.8% of the total population lives in the rural area, most
of who are engaged in rice farming (DOAE of Surin province, 2013).
Data collection
The research was carried out during November – December 2013 following the pretest having been conducted one
month earlier. The sample size in this study was 60 farmers who were engaged in rice cultivation and selected by
random sampling. The study employed a semi-structured and structured questionnaire. In order to complement
both quantitative and qualitative data, more information was collected through focused group discussion. The
analysis used population-based survey to determine the opinions and satisfactions of farmers about organic rice
farming. Interviews were conducted in the farm site or in the farmers’ households. The interview schedules were
composed of open-ended and closed questions, but some questions elicited quantitative data. The received
responses were scored on a five-point Likert’s scale ranging (1932) from “strongly agree (5)” to “strongly disagree
(1)”. Furthermore, the participants who were interviewed had trained in organic rice farming production, according
to the organic rice farming promotion program of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DOAE).
Data analysis
The data were analyzed with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) for Windows. Descriptive
statistics were applied to analyze percentage, arithmetic mean and standard deviation. Pearson’s correlation
coefficient statistics were computed to analyze the variables in this study. A significance of p < 0.05 was set for
statistical analyses.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Demographic characteristic of rice farmers
As shown in Table 1, the big portion of farmers included in this study was female (58.30 %) with an average age of
55.80 years old and an average number of family members of 3.58 persons. Most of them were married. All
farmers were able to read and also sign their names, even though their educational background was a primary
school (76.70%). Farmers stated that economic reasons was a cause making them could hardly attain a higher
education level, as well as the inconvenient location of schools and no more subsidy.

Seksak Chouichom
Similarly, Chouichom and Yamao (2011a) reported that the average educational background and age of farmers in
Thailand were granted primary school and 49.26 years old, respectively. Average family number was 4.91 persons.
The distance from the school was cited as the major problem preventing them from attending school.
Besides, most of the interviewed farmers was the member of the organic rice farming association (90%) and the
average total farm size of studied farmers (n = 60 rice farmers) was 29.37 rai. Their total agricultural income
was 10,621.67 ThB/month. (US$1=33.79 Baht: March, 2014), whereas, in Nepal, the average of farm size was only
1.81 hectare (Abdulia and Regmi, 2000) where was a quite different area of farms. Likewise, the study of Baconguis
and Cruz (2005) showed about the same average gross annual income of the rice farmers in the Philippines in the
amount of 114,684.41 Peso/household (US$1=43.80 Peso: June, 2014) in the case of alternative farmers. This
showed the comparable income among Thailand and the Philippines which shares similar income.
The interviewed farmers had an accumulated experience in rice farming for 28.54 years on average. They contact-
ed the agricultural extension officers for absorbing the agricultural knowledge on the average of 3.86 times a
month. Also, they mostly received agricultural information from the television at about 3.14 times a week in order
to develop their knowledge and their farming skills. Moreover, the rice farmers in this study typically contacted rice
farm neighbors at around 4.25 times a week for exchanging the new organic rice farming information. Thus, the
number of times that the farmers were visited by extension agents to provided them a new information was the
most important mean to access new agricultural information and to develop their farming skills (Wubeneh and
Sanders, 2006 and Chouichom and Yamao, 2011b).
Table 1. Socio-economic information of farmers.

Statements Frequency Percentage Mean S.D.
1.Gender
Male 25 41.70
Female 35 58.30
Total 60 100.00 0.497
2. Age (Years)
Less than 30 1 1.70
31-40 13 21.70
41-50 15 25.00
51-60 14 23.30
More than 61 17 28.30
Total 60 100.00 55.80 1.151
3. Status
Single 6 10.00
Married 48 80.00
Divorce 4 6.67
Widow 2 3.33
Total 60 100.0 0.487
4. Group Member
Group Committee 4 6.66
Group Member 54 90.00
Village Head 1 1.67
Sub district Headman 1 1.67
Total 60 100.00 0.390
5. Family Member (Person)
1-2 18 30.00
3-4 35 58.34
5-6 5 8.33
More than 6 2 3.33
Total 60 100.00 3.58 0.253

Seksak Chouichom
Cont. Table 1.
6. Educational Background
Primary School 46 76.70
Junior High School 5 8.30
Senior High School 5 8.30
Vocational Certificate 1 1.70
High Vocational Certificate 2 3.30
Bachelor 1 1.70
Total 60 100.00 1.127
7.Main Occupation
Government Officer 1 1.70
Rice Farmer 56 93.30
Seller 2 3.30
Missing Data 1 1.70
Total 60 100.00 0.680
8. Income (Thai Baht/month)
0-10,000 40 66.60
10,001-20,000 8 13.40
20,001-30,000 6 10.00
30,001-40,000 3 5.00
40,001-50,000 3 5.00
Total 60 100.00 10,621.67 14,914.84
9. Rice Farm Size (Rai)
< 15 9 15.00
15 – 25 15 25.00
>25 36 60.00
Total 60 100.00 29.37 23.47
10. Rice Farm Experiences (Years)
10-20 9 15.00
20-25 13 21.67
25-30 16 26.66
More than 30 22 36.66
Total 60 100.00 28.54 22.15
11. Extension Officer Contact (Time/
1-2 27 45.00
3-4 19 31.67
5-6 11 18.33
More than 6 3 5.00
Total 60 100.00 3.86 2.13
12. Agricultural Information Percep-
1-2 19 31.67
3-4 27 45.00
5-6 9 15.00
More than 6 5 8.33
Total 60 100.00 3.14 1.87
13. Farm neighbor contact (Time/
1-2 7 11.67
3-4 15 25.00
5-6 17 28.33
More than 6 21 35.00
Total 60 100.00 4.25 3.14

Seksak Chouichom
Farmers’ outlooks and perspectives towards the organic rice farming promotion
The information in Table 2 illustrated the economic aspect of organic rice farming benefits found that most of the
farmers agreed with organic rice farming activities with a belief that they could drive more empowerment of rural
community and group combination (66.70%). The farmers also pointed their views towards the organic rice
farming that it could increase the income of farm (65%). Big portion of the farmers (60%) pointed out that the rice
productivities had increased and more product varieties. Additionally, rice product quality had more developed and
high quality, farmers mentioned (56.70).
Majority of farmers had increased income from organic rice product of the average 550 Kg/Rai (1 Rai = 1,600 m 2)
and they earned the average of income around 13,958.33 ThB/crop that was higher profits and benefits of ordinary
rice income. Organic rice products could be sold directly to supermarket in big cities when farmers fetch a higher
price (Chouichom and Yamao, 2010). In addition, Pimentel et al. (2005) corroborated that organic foods get higher
prices in the market, with the net profitable return per hectare regularly equal to or greater than that of the
conventional farms’ crops.
In case of the environmental aspect, the farmers explained their point of view that 66.60 % of farmers agreed with
doing organic rice farming since it reduced the community waste. Moreover, they (45.00%) showed their common
idea that organic rice farming could produce the renewable energy of the community as well as saving community
energy (43.30%). Chouichom (2014) also stated that the environment of rice farms was better after doing organic
rice farming and there were more useful beneficial insects are surrounding the farms. Furthermore, sometimes
farmers could organize and convert the agricultural waste of farm to alternative energy to reduce farm energy
usage.
Organic rice farmers believed that they could enhance their farm soil quality by shifting to organic farming, a belief
shared by the rice farmers in southern Philippines (Baconguis and Cruz, 2005). Chouichom and Yamao (2010)
mentioned that organic rice farming farmers considered that adopting organic farming would convey better soil
conditions to their rice farms. Also, they could conserve water resource around their farms and maintain a well
environment by decreasing chemical fertilizer and pesticide application. Utilizing organic fertilizer of the farmers
could reduce weeds and insects in the farm (Chouichom and Yamao, 2011b).
In terms of social the aspect, farmers (60.00%) mentioned and agreed that organic rice farming could bring better
farmers’ life quality in the community and self efficiency of sustainable community (63.30%). Furthermore, farmers
agreed with organic rice farming more than rural indigenous promotion (53.40%). The farmers clarified their
opinions that organic rice farming knowledge could apply in the rural community well (53.30%). Besides, most of
farmers gave more details that organic rice farming contributed better health for farmers in community (51.70%)
correspondingly. Narttaya (2012) illustrated that the farmers who applied organic fertilizer to rice farm could be
self reliant and supported well. Additionally, the rice communities would be more lively societies. Chouichom
(2014) pointed out that doing organic rice farming could promote more indigenous knowledge of organic rice
farming of agrarian in the communities.
On the issue of participation in the community, the farmers finally agreed together with the awareness in organic
rice farming and the organic rice farming promoted by government organization (70% and 75.00%). McCann et al.
(1997) cited that organic farmers would have a better awareness of and concern for environmental difficulties
associated with agricultural than conventional farmers.

Seksak Chouichom
Table 2. Farmers’ outlooks and perspectives towards the advantages of organic rice farming .
Outlooks and Perspectives Levels
Statements Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Total Mean S.D.

Strongly
Disagree
Agree (%) (%) (%) (%)
Economic Aspect 13 39 1 0 7 60
3.85 1.132
Increasing Income (21.70) (65.00) (1.70) (0.00) (11.60) (100.00)
Farm processing development 13 31 9 0 7 60
3.72 1.166
(21.70) (51.70) (15.00) (0.00) (11.60) (100.00)
Rice product quality develoment 14 34 5 1 6 60
(23.30) 3.82 1.127
(56.70) (8.30) (1.70) (10.00) (100.00)
Increasing rice product and more 7 36 9 2 6 60
3.60 1.077
variety (11.70) (60.00) (15.00) (3.30) (10.00) (100.0)
More market channels and 7 33 13 1 6 60
(100.00) 3.57 1.064
marketing extension (11.60) (55.00) (21.70) (1.70) (10.00)
Empowerment of rural 0 0
16 40 4 60
community and group (100.00) 4.20 0.546
(26.60) (66.70) (6.70) (0.00) (0.00)
combination
2. Environmental Aspect 40 10 9 1 0 60
(100.00) 4.53 0.751
Diminished community wastes (66.60) (16.70) (15.00) (1.70) (0.00)
Renewable community energy 1 14 7 27 11 60
(100.00) 2.45 1.096
(1.70) (23.30) (11.70) (45.00) (18.30)
Saved community energy 5 12 6 26 11 60
(100.00) 2.57 1.240
(8.30) (20.0) (10.00) (43.30) (18.40)
3. Social Aspect 1 0
24 32 3 60
Organic rice farming knowledge (100.00) 4.36 0.580
(40.00) (53.30) (5.00) (1.70) (0.00)
for rural community application
Rural indigenous promotion 26 32 2 0 0 60
(100.00) 4.40 0.558
(43.30) (53.40) (3.30) (0.00) (0.00)
Rural community lecturer 19 34 7 0 0 60
(100.00) 4.20 0.632
generating (31.70) (56.70) (11.60) (0.00) (0.00)
Community knowledge center 17 34 9 0 0 60
(100.00) 4.13 0.650
(28.30) (56.70) (15.00) (0.00) (0.00)
Learning together process of 13 40 7 0 0 60
(100.00) 4.10 0.573
community (21.70) (66.70) (11.60) (0.00) (0.00)
Sustainable self efficiency of 18 38 4 0 0 60
(100.00) 4.23 0.563
community (30.00) (63.30) (6.70) (0.00) (0.00)
Better farmers’ health in 29 31 0 0 0 60
(100.00) 4.48 0.504
community (48.30) (51.70) (0.00) (0.00) (0.00)
Better farmers’ life quality in 21 36 3 0 0 60
(100.00) 4.32 0.539
community (35.00) (60.00) (5.00) (0.00) (0.00)
Rural development plan 4 39 17 0 0 60
(100.00) 3.78 0.555
promotion (6.70) (65.00) (28.30) (0.00) (0.00)
4. Participation in the
community 8 42 7 3 0 0
3.92 0.671
Awareness in organic rice (13.30) (70.00) (11.70) (5.00) (0.00) (0.00)
farming
General agree with organic rice 8 28 22 2 0 0
3.70 0.743
farming (13.30) (46.70) (36.70) (3.30) (0.00) (0.00)
Organic rice farming promotion 8 45 4 3 0 0
3.97 0.637
by government organization (13.30) (75.00) (6.70) (5.00) (0.00) (0.00)

Seksak Chouichom
Satisfaction of farmers towards organic rice farming knowledge adoption
The data in table 3 indicated that the farmers (73.30 %) had strong satisfaction in the organic rice farming
knowledge of transferors as the expert in organic rice farming. In addition, farmers (70.00 %) had strong satisfac-
tion in the organic rice farming knowledge which has been clarified. Also they had strong satisfaction in organic rice
farming knowledge that could apply in the reality (68.30%). Moreover, they had strong satisfaction (63.30 %) in
local agricultural officers participated and worked together with the farmers in organic rice farming knowledge.
Besides, the farmers thought that new organic rice knowledge could generate more income and drive more sus-
tainable agriculture recently (60.00 %). The organic rice farming system was not complicated since they received
more training, knowledge, and practices in organic farming. Additionally, organic rice farmers had more approach
to join special training programs and organic rice activities promotion. All these programs and activities had been
conducted by governmental agencies and NGOs in the forms of field trips, seminars, trade fairs, and exhibitions
outside the community. Consequently, they could obtain farming know-how to better organize and harvest organic
rice products through their enhanced farming knowledge (Chouichom and Yamao, 2010).
Table 3. Farmers’ satisfactions towards organic rice farming knowledge adoption.
Satisfaction Levels
Strongly Strongly
Statements Agree Neutral Disagree Total Mean S.D.
Agree Disagree
(%) (%) (%) (%)
1.Organic rice farming 37 19 4 0 0 60

knowledge related to the 4.55 0.622
farmers’ requirement (61.70) (31.60) (6.70) (0.00) (0.00) (100.00)
2. Organic rice farming 41 17 2 0 0 60
knowledge can apply in 4.65 0.547
real farm (68.30) (28.40) (3.30) (0.00) (0.00) (100.00)
3. Knowledge transferors 44 10 6 0 0 60
are the expert in organic 4.63 0.663
rice farming (73.30) (16.70) (10.00) (0.00) (0.00) (100.00)
4. Knowledge is easy and 42
clear to understand for 13 5 0 0 60
(70.00) 4.62 0.640
rice farmers (21.70) (8.30) (0.00) (0.00) (100.00)
5. Appropriate demon- 31 20 9 0 0 60
stration of organic rice 4.37 0.736
farming system (51.70) (33.30) (15.00) (0.00) (0.00) (100.00)
6. Transferring organic
26 22 12 0 0 60
rice farming knowledge
4.23 0.767
time is match with farm- (43.30) (36.70) (20.00) (0.00) (0.00) (100.00)
7. New organic rice 24 28 7 1 0 60

knowledge can enhance 4.25 0.728
organic rice products (40.00) (46.70) (11.60) (1.70) (0.00) (100.00)
8. Organic rice 29 24 6 1 0 60
knowledge can make 4.35 0.732
more social strangeness (48.30) (40.00) (10.00) (1.70) (0.00) (100.00)
9. New organic rice 36 19 4 1 0 60
knowledge can make 4.50 0.701
more income today (60.00) (31.60) (6.70) (1.70) (0.00) (100.00)
10. Local agricultural
offices have participated
and worked together 38 16 6 0 0 60
4.53 0.676
with the farmers in or- (63.30) (26.70) (10.00) (0.00) (0.00) (100.00)
ganic rice farming
knowledge
11. Organic rice
34 20 6 0 0 60
knowledge can be more
4.47 0.676
sustainable agriculture (56.70) (33.30) (10.00) (0.00) (0.00) (100.00)

Seksak Chouichom
The correlation between some farmers’ personal data and their outlooks and satisfactions
The statistical results in Table 4 illustrated that farmer’ educational background, rice farm experiences and
extension officer contact were strongly correlated to and influenced their outlooks and satisfactions of organic rice
farming promotion at 5% level. The statistic results showed that the educational level of farmers was significantly
correlated to their participation at the 5% level, indicating that farmers who had higher education tend to have a
positive participation and possess more joining the various kinds of agricultural promotion to develop and improve
their knowledge. Cao et al. (2009) mentioned that the program was considered successful and a significantly higher
level of support for the project was expressed by the better-educated respondents (p < 0.05). In addition, as
important as formal education; useful education in the form of utilizing specialist consulting and training services
also increase the agricultural productivity and income of farmers (Chouichom, 2013 and Orawan et al. 2012). The
results of Omman and Chizari (2009) exhibited that farmers’ educational level affected their participation in rice
production activities also. The more education farmers had, the more rice farms developed.
Besides, in this research, the extension worker contact was significantly correlated to the farmers’ attitudes and
satisfactions at the 5% level, meaning that farmers who received more organic rice farming information through
the extension workers gained more knowledge to improve rice quality and quantity. Naturally, extension service
access could significantly influence the intensity of promotion of different components of conservation farming
technology at the 5% level (Mazvimavi and Twomlow, 2009). Similarly, extension service was vital in making
available information illustrating the basics of organic fertilizer utilization for supporting organic farming (Ouma et
al., 2002).
Moreover, rice farm experience of farmers was significantly correlated to their outlooks and satisfactions at the 5%
level, meaning that farmers who had more organic rice farming experience gained more organic rice farming
knowledge and productivities. Also, farmers who had more farming experience tend to be more interested in
organic farming, particularly organic rice. Taweekul et al. (2005) revealed that experiences of rice farmers in
organic rice farming played a vital role in developing their knowledge and farm productivities.
Table 4. The correlation between some farmers’ factors and their outlooks and satisfactions.
Correlation Coefficient (r)
Some Personal Data
Gender 0.15
Age 0.13
Status 0.18
Family member 0.15
Educational background 0.30*
Occupation 0.22
Group member 0.19
Income 0.23
Increasing income 0.15
Rice farm experiences 0.28*
Extension officer contact 0.29*
Agricultural information perception 0.21
Farm neighbor contact 0.17
* P < 0.05

Seksak Chouichom
Constraints of farmers toward organic rice farming application
Table 5 shows some of the farmers’ constraints towards organic rice application in the study area. Majority of
farmers (85.00 %) pointed the rice product packaging development as a major problem. They expressed that they
still needed the support to improve of rice packaging from the government agricultural agencies. Furthermore, the
lack of water supply and organic rice marketing channels were problems out of many obstacles for the farmers
(81.67 %) for organic rice farming application in the study area. Rahman et al. (2009) observed that increasing the
access to irrigation boosted the application of organic rice technology in Thailand as well as pushed up rice
productivity. Likewise, approximately 71.67 % of rice farmers required the rice seed spreading machine and the
modern organic rice farming knowledge. More new informative campaign from extension workers and agricultural
organizations might help these farmers overcome their fears and to address these different constraints.
Table 5 . Some constrains of rice farmers towards organic rice promotion in northern Thailand
Constraints Yes (%) No (%) Total

1.Suitable time 36 (60.00) 24 (40.00) 60 (100.00)
2. Lacking of water resource 49 (81.67) 11 (18.33) 60 (100.00)
3. New organic rice knowledge 43 (71.67) 17 (28.33) 60 (100.00)
4. Rice pest disturbing 24 (40.00) 36 (60.00) 60 (100.00)
5. Organic rice marketing channel 49 (81.67) 11 (18.33) 60 (100.00)
6. Rice seed separation machine 43 (71.67) 17 (28.33) 60 (100.00)
7. New organic fertilizer knowledge 33 (55.00) 27 (45.00) 60 (100.00)
8. Rice products packaging 51 (85.00) 9 (15.00) 60 (100.00)
9. Organic rice farm visiting / 35 (58.33) 25 (41.67) 60 (100.00)
CONCLUSIONS
This study, rice farmers expressed favorable and positive outlooks and satisfactions towards organic rice farming
promotion to develop the organic rice farming knowledge base and technical know-how. The most important
knowledge that they needed from Thai agricultural sectors to develop their farm was the standard of rice quality
development. Farmers gained more knowledge after getting training in organic rice farming. Also their income has
increased after they have done more organic rice farming. Moreover, farmers have positive satisfaction towards
organic rice farming knowledge adoption. Also, the statistical results illustrated that farmers’ education, extension
workers contact and rice farm experiences were strongly correlated to and influenced their outlooks and
satisfactions of organic rice farming promotion. Nevertheless, there were several causes mentioned that
prevented some farmers from organic rice farming promotion without any conceivable support from the Thai
government. Farmers pointed out the lack of nice and good quality packaging which can be promoted organic rice
products. The marketing channel of organic rice farming product was the major priority of the farmers’ needed
also. The support of fine water resources for organic rice farming was the way to boost farm productivity.
REFERENCES
Abdulia, A. and Regmi, P.P. 2000. “Estimating Labor Supply of Farm Households under Nonseparability: Empirical
Evidence from Nepal.” Agricultural Economics. Vol. 22. pp. 309-320.
Baconguis, R.T. and Cruz, F.A. 2005. “Paradigmatic outlook of alternative and conventional rice farmers in
Southern Philippines.” Philippine Scientist. Vol. 42. pp.15-39.
Cao, S., Xu, C., Chen, L. and Wang, X. 2009. “Attitudes of farmers in China’s Northern Shaanxi province towards the
land-use changes required under the Grain for Green Project, and implications for the project’s success.”
Land Use Policy. Vol. 26. pp. 1182–1194.

Seksak Chouichom
Chouichom, S. and Masahiro, Y. 2010. “Comparing opinions and attitudes of organic and non-organic farmers
towards organic rice farming system in northeastern Thailand.” Journal of Organic Systems. Vol.5. No.1. pp.
25-34.
Chouichom, S. and Masahiro, Y. and Liao, L.M. 2010. “Factors Affecting Farmers’ Participation of Organic Rice
Farming Promotion in Surin Province, Northeast Thailand”. The 16th Asian Agricultural Symposium (AAS) and
1st International Symposium on Agricultural Technology (ISAT) “Sufficiency Agriculture”, at King Mongkut’s
Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL), Bangkok, Thailand. pp. 251-255.
Chouichom, S. and Masahiro, Y. 2011a. “Factors Affecting Farmers’ Adoption of Green Manure Utilization in
Northeastern Thailand: A Case Study in Surin Province.” Journal of Rural Economics. Special Issue 2010. pp.
409-416.
Chouichom, S. and Masahiro, Y. 2011b. “Organic Fertilizer Use in Northeastern Thailand: An Analysis of Some
Factors Affecting Farmers’ Attitudes.” Sustainable Agricultural Development: Recent Approaches in
Resources Management and Environmentally-Balanced Production Enhancement. New York, Springer,
pp.185-196.
Chouichom, S. and Masahiro, Y. 2012. “Organic Rice Farming in Northeastern Thailand: An Assessment of Farmers’
Practices.” Journal of the Philippines Scientist. Vol. 49. pp. 43 - 66.
Chouichom, S. 2013. “Some Socio-Economic Factors Affecting Farmers’ Participation of Agricultural Extension
Education Efforts: case Study in northeastern Thailand.” Agriculture Face to Recent Change and Dynamics:
Pathways to Sustainability; Part I, Sustainable Agricultural Development Face to Environment, Economic and
Social Dynamic. New York, Springer, pp. 47-60.
Chouichom, S. 2014. “Farmers’ Satisfactions towards Organic Fertilizer Utilization in Northeastern Thailand.” The
52th Kasetsart University Annual Conference, Agricultural Science: Leading Thailand to World Class
Standards. pp. 373-380.
DOAE of Surin province, 2013. Agricultural Information of Surin 2013. Department of Agricultural Extension (DOAE),
Surin Province, Thailand.
Likert, R. 1932. A Technique for Measurement of Attitudes. Archives of Psychology 140, New York.
Mazvimavi, K. and Twomlow, S. 2009. “Socioeconomic and institutional factors influencing adoption of
conservation farming by vulnerable households in Zimbabwe.” Journal of Agricultural Systems. Vol.101. pp.
20-29.
Narttaya, K. 2012. “Opinion of farmers towards Economic Structure Adjustment Policy in Agricultural Sector for
Organic Fertilizer Utilization in Nong Makamong sub district, Danchang district, Supanburi province.” The 9th
National Meeting, Kasetsart University, Kapangsean, Nakorn Pathom, Thailand.
OAE. 2014. Rice Exportation Statistic of Thai Rice. Office of Agricultural Economics (OAE), Department of
Agriculture (DOA), Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperative, Bangkok, Thailand.
OAE. 2014. Value and quantity of monthly fertilizer import in Thailand. Office of Agricultural Economics (OAE),
Department of Agriculture (DOA), Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperative, Bangkok, Thailand.
Omman, A.R. and Chizari, M. 2009. “Analysis of the Training Needs of Agricultural Extension Experts Associated
with Environmental Security in Agriculture.” Research Journal of Environmental Sciences. Vol.3. pp.594-
598.
Orawan C., Kittisak W., Rada I., and Srisakul, K. 2012. “Factors Related to Consumption Behavior of People in
Bangkok and its Vicinity with Regard to Organic Jasmine Rice.” Kasetsart Journal (Social Science). Vol.33.
pp. 67-78.

Seksak Chouichom
Ouma, J.O, Murithi, M.F, Mwangi, W. Verkuijl, H., Macharia, G., Groote, H.D. 2002. “Adoption of Maize Seed and
Fertilizer Technology in Embu District, Kenya.” Mexico. D.F.:CIMMYT. pp.1-2
Pimentel, D., Hepperly, P., Hanson, J., Douds, D., Seidel, R. 2005. “Environmental, energetic, and economic compar-
isons of organic and conventional farming systems.” BioScience Journal. Vol.55. No.7. pp. 573-582.
Pitiphunphong, S. and Suwannaporn, P. 2009. “Physicochemical properties of KDML 105 rice cultivar from different
cultivated locations in Thailand.” Journal of Science Food Agriculture. Vol. 89. pp. 2186-2190.
Rahman, S., Wiboonpongse, A., Sriboonchitta, S. and Chaovanapoonphol, Y. 2009. “Production efficiency of jasmine
rice producers in northern and north-eastern Thailand,” Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol. 60. pp. 419-
435.
Taweekul, T., Pholthani, A., Boonchan, S. and Taweekul, S. 2005. “A Study on Organic Rice Production Adoption of
Farmers and Extension of Organic with Sustainable Methods.” Khonkean University, Khonkean, Thailand.
Wubeneh, N.G. and Sanders, J.H. 2006. “Farm-level Adoption of Sorghum Technologies in Tigray, Ethiopia.” Journal
of Agricultural Systems. Vol.91. pp. 122-134.

CREATING UNIQUE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS FOR EMERGING ASEAN ECONOMIC
COMMUNITY: A CASE STUDY OF A GLUTINOUS RICE PRODUCTION,
NORTHERN THAILAND
Kanokon Seemanon
Department of Bioresource Sciences, Graduate School of Biospehere Science
Hiroshima University, Japan (a.kanhokon@yahoo.com)
Masahiro Yamao
Professor, Department of Bioresource Sciences
Graduate School of Biosphere, Hiroshima University
Vijitsri Sanguanwongse
Associate Professor, Faculty of Economics, Kasetsart University
Boonjit Titapiwatanakun
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Economics, Kasetsart University
Prapinwadee Sirisupluxana
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Economics, Kasetsart University
Pornprapa Kikuchi
Faculty of Econoomics, Kasetsart University
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study is to examine the unique agricultural product which was chosen to promote by Marketing
Organization for Farmers (MOF) in preparation for the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) to be launched in 2015. It also
explores possible methods to develop its integrated trade on a basis of contract farming system. Kiaw Ngu Glutinous Rice
native variety (GS. No. 8974), which has a distinct flavor different from other glutinous rice, was selected as the unique
agricultural product by MOF to create a new market opportunity for agricultural products from Thailand in the integrated
market of AEC. At the same time, as this kind of indigenous rice had gradually disappeared from the local farms, the selection
of GS. No. 8974 could also contribute to the conservation of the Chiang Rai province’s landrace cultivar of rice. The paper
argues that MOF choose the contract farming model to promote GS. No. 8974 in its supply chain. One of the reasons is that the
consumers’ behaviors changed to be much more focused on high-quality food made by the food safety guarantee cultivation
procedure. The contract farming could improve not only the efficiency of production, but also quality and standards to
appropriately prepare the final products according to the needs of the consumers. In the near future, the MOF is expected to
expand the market for Kiaw Ngu Glutinous Rice both domestically and overseas especially in the neighboring countries such as
Laos and Myanmar.
Keywords: MOF, AEC, Kiaw Ngu Glutinous Rice, integrated trade, contract farming
INTRODUCTION
In 2015, ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) will be established, which consists of Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia,
the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. Integration of AEC may bring both
advantage and disadvantage to Thailand. However, many agencies in Thailand should capitalize this opportunity to
enhance economic development of the country. Quality-product markets and services to ASEAN will be expanded
greatly especially for agricultural products such as rice, rubber, vegetables, fresh fruits as well as processed
agricultural products like instant foods. Kulreangsub (2 0 1 2 ) argues that there will be a golden opportunity for
Thailand's agricultural export and investment in Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam due to the fact that these
countries already have a high purchasing power and are expected to expand foreign trade in future.
At the same time, some agricultural products from other countries in ASEAN will be imported to Thailand in a
great number. They will have advantage over Thailand in terms of lower price; for example, rice from Vietnam,
palm oil from Malaysia, coffee from Vietnam and Indonesia, tea from Indonesia, and coconuts from the
Philippines. Furthermore, people in ASEAN also have a great resemblance in culture and consumption pattern. For
this reason, both public and private agencies, including state enterprises in Thailand, have to cope with the stiff
competition in the new AEC market not only by increasing quality of products but also by creating some unique
agricultural products, which may not be available in domestic market in each member country.

Kanakon Seemanon et al
The Marketing Organization for Farmers (MOF) is, as a state enterprise, assigned the role regarding strengthen
food security in the ASEAN region, etc. by the State Enterprise Policy Office of Ministry of Finance (State
Enterprise Policy Office, 2012). Furthermore, the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MOAC) has policies to
prepare for the AEC in terms of promoting agricultural production such as organic or other value-added products,
for example, organic rice products (MOAC, 2012).
The MOF is a state enterprise which was originally established by the MOAC. The main objectives of MOF are 1) to
encourage the farmers on agricultural marketing, 2) to provide and distribute the agricultural inputs with quality
and fair price according to the requirement of farmers, and 3) to serve the farmers and farmers’ groups in
distribution, marketing and storing of agricultural products. The MOF has many provincial branches, which
manages fresh food markets, distribute agricultural products and operate warehouses. Moreover, they also play
an important role in implementing various government policies, for example, Rice-Pledging project and
preparation for the AEC (MOF, 2012).
One of the MOAC’s policies is related with increasing the quality of agricultural products. In order to achieve this,
the MOF will use contract farming system (CF) in the integrated production process, which is supposed to control
product quality from production through marketing. The CF can reduce fluctuation of product price in market and
farmers can secure the market to accept all of their products for sure. Furthermore, it will easier to control of the
quality of products to meet the buyer's requirement. (FAO, 2012; Glakuy, 2012). Thailand’s government policy
supports that private agencies should play multiple roles in contract farming system through arranging capital and
preparing factors of production; for example, seeds and fertilizers (Singh, 2005; Limnirunkul, et al., 2006).
Therefore, the MOF will start the implementation of CF system by collaborating with other agencies. It will be an
enormous challenge for them if it is to be applied to the agricultural products to make a difference and at the
same time increase product quality in preparation for the AEC market. Some questions now arise; what is the
suitable agricultural product to make a difference in AEC for the MOF? What kind of preparation is needed for the
marketing of the agricultural product? The present study tries to answer these questions which revolves around
two subjects. The first subject explores the unique agricultural product for the MOF to make a difference in the
AEC, and the second is related to the marketing channel of the product to prepare for the AEC market through the
integrated production.
METHODOLOGY
This study utilizes the data that were derived from documents, as well as in-depth interviews and focus group
discussion at concerned agencies in Chiang Rai province in the northern region. It has MOF’s provincial branch is
close to borders of three countries namely Thailand, Laos and Myanmar, a place popularly known as the Golden
Triangle. Moreover, Chiang Rai Province is considered to become the AEC trading and distribution center of
products in the future. In the year 2012, Chiang Rai province’s border trade with neighboring countries (Southern
China, Myanmar and Laos) increased 6.7 percent in value.
As these adjacent areas are located far away from their capital, they must buy products from Thailand where a
variety of commodities are available (Office of Commercial Affairs Chiangrai, 2014). Chiang Rai’s major agricultural
product is rice, and some traditional rice varieties are conserved and developed in Chiang Rai Rice Research
Center such as Kiaw Ngu Glutinous Rice native species (Tangkongkreat, 2013). Consequently, rice was chosen as a
beginning point for business operations of the MOF in preparation for the emerging AEC markets.
The data of this study were collected from state organization’s experts and specialists who were selected to in-
depth interviews and focus group discussion. The interviewees include staff of Chiang Rai Rice Research Center,
Department of Rice, Department of Agricultural Extension, Chiang Rai Cooperative Office, MOF’s provincial
branches, as well as other sectors namely rice mills and farmers. The data were examined through qualitative
analysis.

The unique agricultural product for the MOF
The interviewees in focus group all agreed that the MOF should select the featured agricultural products as a
starting point to make a unique difference for the preparation for the AEC. In order that, they proposed Kiaw Ngu
glutinous rice which was native rice variety in Chiang Rai province. Using seed originally from the Gene Bank, the
Chiang Rai Rice Research Center studied this rice for about 6 years. This longtime experiment finally led to the
birth of GS.No.8974 variety, which looked the best and most appropriate for planting. In the past, Kiaw Ngu native
rice was cultivated in the Northern Thailand especially Mae Chan district, Chiang Rai province. Nowadays, this
native rice is gradually disappearing from the local farms because farmers in the Northern Thailand including
Chiang Rai province cultivated other high-yielding glutinous rice varieties certificated by the state such as Niaw-
San-Pah-Tawng and RD6. By the way, rice mills modified other glutinous rice by increasing the times of whitening
and polishing which result in a shape of grain like Kiaw Ngu native variety. Therefore, native variety should be
conserved in Chiang Rai province.
The GS.No.8974 variety had a distinct feature and quality different from other glutinous rice as follows; 1) rice
grain is smaller and more slender, looking like a canine tooth of snake, 2) once cooked, rice skin is white, sticky,
shiny, soft and fragrant, 3) it is suitable for organic farming because it is not so responsive to chemical fertilizer
and it is also resistant to plant disease and insect, 4) it has high protein, total dietary fiber and antioxidants in
vitamin E form, and 5) it can be local-specific variety which can apply the Geographical Indications (GI).
In addition, the Chiang Rai Rice Research Center evaluated the satisfaction of farmers and rice traders. The result
found that they satisfied more with GS.No 8974 variety than other varieties especially in making sticky rice with
coconut cream, because of the aforementioned characteristics in its flavor. Therefore, the Chiang Rai Rice
Research Center agreed that the MOF will promote Kiaw Ngu native variety among farmers. At the same time, the
MOF should also develop production system, beginning with Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) and then to making
organic rice and GI in the future.
Moreover, the MOF should establish cooperation with many agencies for successful implementation of this
project; Department of Rice produces rice seeds of this variety, Department of Agricultural Extension promotes
knowledge about planting and maintaining, and Agricultural Cooperatives and private rice mills in collecting rice.
Thus Kiaw Ngu native variety (GS.No. 8974) was selected as the unique agricultural product for the MOF to
prepare for marketing in the AEC and at the same time to preserve this native rice. Moreover, Chiang Rai province
will promote this native rice as the provincial product in the future.
The marketing channel of Kiaw Ngu native species (GS.No. 8974)
In preparation for the AEC market, the MOF’s marketing channel on Kiaw Ngu native variety (GS.No. 8974) should
include the contract farming system, because integrated production and marketing may contribute to achieve
high efficiency, and the buyers also can get quality products on time. Moreover, consumers’ behavior may also
change, in that they are going to consider the quality and safety of the food, rather than focusing on the price of
the commodity. Nowadays, farmers in Chiang Rai province already implement contract farming directly with
companies dealing with Japanese rice, bush beans, and soybeans. These top grade products have a great potential
to expand the market for “specialty” products, in which the MOF may be able to find a way to create a new
product, by coordinating producers (farmers) and business sector. Government agencies, private rice mills and
farmers agreed with this idea.
Furthermore, Kiaw Ngu native variety is seldom found in market nowadays. It is a good chance for the MOF to
create a new market for this unique product. In the future, the MOF’ project will expand the market for Kiaw Ngu
native variety in the neighboring countries such as Laos and Myanmar.
At the initial stage, the introduction of a new rice variety may be difficult because farmers have not seen any
benefit to produce it. However, they may accept it by considering the income gained from their products and
their potential in future market. According to the survey of Sriboonchitta and Wiboonpoongse (20 08 ), farmers’

main reasons for participating in contract farming were as follows; market certainty (52 % of respondents) and
price stability (4 6 % of respondents). According to another paper (Delforge, 2007), farmers participated in the
contract farming because the company guaranteed to buy their products.
However, the implementation of contract farming also have some problems as follows; 1) dishonest farmers may
sell their products to merchants who gave a better price, so that the contractor buyer is unable to collect the
necessary amount according to the order, and 2) the companies may lack administrative capacity to coordinate
production among different individual farmers. Glover (1 9 8 7 ) found similar problems of the contract farming
implementation namely 1) growers may lack allegiance to company instructions, 2) the companies don’t have
managerial capacity, and 3) unpredictable weather which may affect the yields.
The MOF’s contract farming model is as follows; the MOF made the contract with the rice mill or cooperative,
Department of Agricultural Extension and Department of Rice. The rice mill or cooperative made the contract
farming with farmers in target areas. The MOF’s contract farming system associated with several agencies which
each agency took responsibilities for each designated role. Finally, the MOF distributed products for both
domestic and ASEAN markets (see Figure 1).
The MOF will not make the contract farming directly with farmers because farmers distrust the government
policies that change frequently. Nevertheless, farmers may agree with the cooperative or someone in the area
who have a close relationship with farmers in collecting products. However, the detail of contract farming (such
as condition and measure) is still unclear.
Department of Rice
Control & Keep breed
Kiaw Ngu seed
Factor of Production Kiaw Ngu seed

MOF
Rice
Kiaw Ngu seed
Contract farm-
Rice mill or Cooperative
Control & Collect product
Rice Kiaw Ngu seed

Rice
Farmers in Target Area
Producers
Production &
Processing
Department of Agricultur-
al Extension
Marketing & Domestic & ASEAN

Product Distribution Markets
Figure 1. The structure of integrated trade of unique agricultural product (Kiaw Ngu
native rice variety).

CONCLUSION
Thailand is a major producer and exporter of rice in the world. However, Thailand is not the only country in ASEAN
that has the potential to produce rice for domestic consumption and export. There are a number of neighboring
countries as both competitors and partners of Thailand, namely Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia,
Philippines and Cambodia. At the same time, as these countries grow rice by themselves, Thailand’s rice export to
ASEAN is expected to decrease. The MOF should create some integrated products for niche market (top grade
market) with less competition. Kiaw Ngu native rice (GS. No. 8974) was selected as a product that has a potential to
makes a difference in AEC market. The MOF could choose the contract farming model to promote this native rice
in its supply chain which it is possible methods to develop its integrated trade. According to the research, the MOF
can take advantage from marketing channel of Kiaw Ngu native rice. Therefore, the MOF should implement the
project “The integrated trade of unique agricultural product: Kiaw Ngu native rice”. However, this project will
succeed only when personnel of the MOF have strong intention and determination to continue this project.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This paper was a part of project “Study on the marketing of the Marketing Organization for Farmers (MOF) to
prepare into the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC)” which this project was supported financial by the MOF. By the
way, the MOF permitted researchers to publish the research findings.
REFERENCES
Delforge, I. 2007. “Contract farming in Thailand: A view from the farm.” Thailand.
FAO. 2012. “Guiding principles for responsible contract farming operations.” Italy.
Glakuy, M. 2012. “Contract Farming : Concept, Principle and Practice.” Thailand.
Glover, David J. 1987. “Increasing the Benefits to Smallholders from Contract Farming: Problems for Farmers'
Organizations and Policy Makers.” World Development, Vol.15. No.4. pp. 441-448.
Kulreangsub, N. 2012. “CLMV freshman in AEC has interesting to Thailand's agricultural investment.” Journal of
Agricultural Economics. Vol.59. No.2. pp. 2-3.
Limnirunkul, B, Y. Pruek, M. Chophaka, and K. Pratantip. 2006. “Contract Farming with Development Opportunities
of Small Farmers.” Thailand.
Marketing Organization for Farmers. 2012. “The review of MOF’ role plan in 2013-2015.” Thailand.
Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives. 2012. “Policies and guidelines of the Ministry of Agriculture and
Cooperatives.” Thailand.
Office of Commercial Affairs Chiangrai. 2014. “Border trade of Chiang Rai Province year 2012 increased 6.7
percent.” Thailand.
Singh, S. 2005. “Role of the State in Contract Farming in Thailand.” Journal of ASEAN Economic Bulletin. Vol.22. No.2.
pp. 217-228.
Sriboonchitta, S. and W. Aree. 2008. “Overview of Contract Farming in Thailand: Lessons learned.” ADBI
Discussion Paper 112. Tokyo: Asian Development Bank Institute. http://www.adbi.org/discussion-
paper/2008/07/16/2660.contract.farming.thailand/
State Enterprise Policy Office, Ministry of Finance. 2012. “Study to establish a clear role in state enterprises under
the ASEAN Economic Community: AEC.” Thailand.
Tangkongkreat, C. 2013, May 16. The survey information in Chiang Rai Province. (V. Sanguanwongse, B.
Titapiwatanakun, P. Sirisupluxana, P. Kikuchi, & K. Seemanon, Interviewers)

Panel 3. Future of Asian Rural Society

PROPOSING AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO VISIONING NŌSANSON
Shuji Kurimoto1, Yukari Fuchigami1, Michinori Uwasu1

1
Center for Environmental Innovation Design for Sustainability, Osaka University
ABSTRACT
This paper proposes an approach to visioning the future rural society in an Asian context. We first provide an overview about
the Japanese agricultural history and then demonstrate interview survey of individual’s life history. We analyze the individuals’
life history with the macro trends of agricultural policy, arguing that Japanese policy might have hindered the efforts and
attempts of the farmers in the periphery of the Japanese agricultural policy. Integrating both views of the top-down and bottom
-up research will bring us to establish a co-practice research methodology for visioning rural communities addressing dynamic
process and interactions among researchers and different stakeholders.
INTRODUCTION
Including grassland, pastureland, and fields, the total amount of land used for agriculture and forestry is
approximately 80% in Japan, indicating that agriculture and forestry are important sectors for the country (MLITT,
2013). Moreover, Japan is a mountainous country. People residing in villages at the foot of or halfway up
mountains sustain by acquiring food from arable land on gently sloped surfaces, alluvial fans, and river terraces.
These settlements, referred to as Nōsanson (rural farming and mountain villages), are located throughout Japan,
including in peri-urban areas. Until the 1960s, Nōsanson residents cultivated crops on arable land while they
depended on the mountains for many of their daily necessities. From historical documents, it is possible to infer
that people followed diverse lifestyles as per their environments (e.g., Board of Ai Local History, 1998; Totsukawa
Board of Education, 1961).
However, populations in agricultural villages are decreasing, and the inhabitants are aging, particularly in
Nōsanson. These villages no longer function well as cooperative bodies, and there is concern around the
destruction of local capitals and the collapse of foundations for stable living. Studies in economic sciences
addressed the need for restructuring the Japanese agriculture with their importance exclusively on economic
efficiency (e.g., Hayami and Godo, 2002). Field research on the other hand has addressed the theme of dismantling
and reorganizing the cooperatives of these villages, as well as the relationships between regional resources and
cooperation (e.g., JARS, 1998; Hayashi, 1992). Even though the collapse of foundations for stable living is the target
of concerns, the authors intend to provide a platform for considering new ways to construct future visions for rural
society. In particular, this paper examined 1) the history of rice policies and related measures with a top-down
approach, and 2) the transformation of livelihoods and local people’s views through the field study in Nōsanson as
a bottom-up approach. We argue that integrating the both approaches is essential to make future vision of
Nōsanson.
Policy implemented by central and local governments may play crucial roles to vision a desirable society and solve
problems on the site toward a vision. Yet, policy brings various impacts on the society through the interactions
between the policy targets, policy makers and other stakeholders. The focus should be placed on the enhancement
of residents’ wellbeing and thus it is necessary to understand those interactions.
Policy analysis can reveal the macro trends of economic and social situations. The main data sources of this
approach are macro-economic and societal statistics and its main focus is generally on production/consumption,
industry, and culture. Its view is from the authority and elites, technically looking at the average people in the
society. So, this approach uncovers policy impacts on individuals. Field work on the other hand looks into specific
individuals and places and shed light on the impacts of the socio-economic transformation and policies to them.
The field research approach can cover the periphery for policy makers such as specific farmers in suburban of
urban areas and in remote mountainous places, addressing the way of livelihood and life history.

Shuji Kurimoto et al
While we acknowledge the necessity of policy, the bottom-up approach provides useful lessons for the top-down
approach and policy making (GRIPS, 1998). However, we argue that it is necessary to integrate these top-down and
bottom-up approaches for problem solving and visioning (Table 1). Local people in Nōsanson have more knowledge
on the local resources. Policy makers of central/local governments understand macro trends of economy and
possess more access to financial and human resources. But these two do not interact when solutions and visions
are individually proposed. Therefore, it is necessary to integrate these two to implement pilot projects, creation of
role models, participatory workshop, and social design, all of which involve dynamic process and interactions
among different stakeholders.
Table 1: Approach to problem solving and visioning for rural society
Approach/Method Subject and focus Objective

Top-down Central, majority and main stream Understanding the whole
and trends
Simulation Elites, Average people
Statistical analysis Production, consumption in industry
Policy analysis Culture
Integration Interchange Deriving implications for
problem solving and
Pilot project Coexistence
visioning
Modeling Dynamic process
Participatory workshop Co-practice
Social design
Bottom-up Local, periphery and minority Understanding individuals
and diversity
Field research Remote section
Ethnography Specific ordinary people
Life history Livelihood and life
Customs
HISTORY OF RICE POLICY
Transition of challenge in Nōsanson and agricultural policies
This section overviews the history of rice policy in Japan. During World War II, the Japanese government controlled
the resource allocation to assure the sufficient food production and Staple Food Control Act established in 1942
was one of the measures. After the war, Japan severely suffered from chronic rice shortage due to devastation of
agricultural infrastructure and lack of human resources. Under the Staple Food Control Act, the government
purchased rice crops directly from farmers and sold them to people (referred to as the wholesale purchase
system). This way was indeed effective to manage the demand and supply of rice, a staple food in Japan, and thus
was kept being demonstrated after the war. The Fundamental Law of Agriculture, established in 1961 promoted
modernization of agricultural production system. The guarantee by the government to purchase all the rice
products induced incremental investments and agricultural production substantially increased.
Meanwhile, rapid economic growth in Japan diversified peoples’ food preferences and hence rice consumption
started to decline in the mid 1960’s. Rice stock under the Staple Food Act surged to the early 70’s and it became
difficult to maintain the wholesale purchase system. Moreover, oil shock struck the world economy in 1973 and US
announced embargo of soybean products. Japanese government turned to address food security, promoting crop
shift from rice to soybean and wheat in an attempt to raise food self-sufficiency rate.
The 80’s was the evolution of Japanese industrial sectors and exports of Japanese manufactured products had
risen. The increasing pressure from foreign countries hence made Japan to agree to Uruguay round GATT Uruguay

subsidies and trade barriers. In effective, Japan opened the market of most agricultural commodities and products
such as beef and orange (except for rice) in 1995. Accordingly, the Staple Food Control Act was replaced by Act on
Stabilization of Supply, Demand and Prices of Staple Food. This new act caused significant shift in rice policies.
The government in principle no longer purchased rice products from farmers and rice distributions went through
markets. Also, local famers were now allowed to participate in the process of production adjustments so that
motivated farmers could continue rice production. After the abolishment of the Fundamental Agricultural Law in
1999, Food, Agriculture and Rural Areas Basic Act was launched. It followed a series of land-aggregation agriculture
measures through integration of rice paddy fields to raise productivity. These measures include production of
soybean, wheat, and rice for livestock using abandoned arable land in response to decrease in rice consumption
(MAFF, 2007).
Table 2: Transitions of challenges in Nōsanson and agricultural and policies/countermeasures
Development stage Challenges in rural society and Major policy and countermeasure
(period in Japan) agriculture
Less developed Eradication of poverty Land redistribution
(mid 1940’s to mid stable food supply Staple Food Control (Governmental
50’s) purchase of rice)
Transitory I Food security Establishment of fundamental Law of
(mid 50’s through Reduction of income gap between Agricultural and cooperatives
70’s ) rural and urban areas (Minimum-pricing standard)
Agricultural productivity growth Investment in infrastructure
Import taxes and quotes
Transitory II Excessive agricultural production Trade liberalization (beef, orange)
(1980’s through 90’s) Structural adjustment (trade problem) through participation in GATT
Stabilization of Supply, Demand and
Prices of Staple Food (reducing the
rice acreage policy)
Developed Aging and depopulation of rural Land aggregation policy
(00’s to present) communities (sustainable rural Program-oriented policy
community) (Free trade association, Land and
Budget deficit institutional reforms, open to
Strengthening agricultural agricultural firms)
competitiveness
Agricultural Promotion Awards as another approach of Japanese agricultural policies
One of the roles of agricultural policy is to establish a desirable agricultural production system in response to time
and environmental changes, by adjusting land size, institutions, and the crop selection. A unique approach taken in
Japan is the Award Program started in 1962 to select role models for desirable agricultural production system. In
2004, 510 cases were awarded as Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries commendation. Among the
commendation, three cases are selected to receive one of the three awards - the Emperor Cup, Prime Minister
Award, and Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Promotion Award, which began in 1962.
The National Library possesses the record of the past winners of the three awards. We reviewed the reports from
1965 to 2010 and analyzed the characteristics of the winners by their production system. Table 1 reports the
results of the winners every five years. The number of the winners is 30, of which 10 cases are rice producing
farmers. 10 cases are warded due to non-rice farming while producing rice, and 4 cases of the 10 awarded cases
did not involve rice production at all. In particular, no cases involving in rice production were selected in years in
which production adjustment started (1970) and oil shock trigger the dispute of food security (1973). Soy-paste
producers were frequently awarded in these years maybe because the government intended to promote soybean

production. As for ownership, 15 cases are household farmers and 15 were collective farmers. Among the 27
winners (except for Soy-paste producers), 23 were compound farmers – only 4 cases were farmers who produced
single crop or rice-wheat.
Japan is by no means a rice country – rice paddy fields are seen every part of Japanese land and substantial
proportion of farmers pursue rice production. But as far as the Agricultural Promotion Award is concerned, only
one case was awarded to rice production and most cases were compound farmers. The reality is however that the
food self-sufficient rate has recently been only around 40% while rice self-sufficiency rate has been 100%. This
means that farmers have exclusively focused on rice production in Japan and hence large gaps exist between
agricultural policy (that aims at compound production) and agricultural management. We posit that the regime
under the Staple Food Control Act created this gap.
The governmental direct purchase of rice for higher prices than those in the market continued until 1995. Even
households whose main incomes come from employment were encouraged to pursue rice production and had no
incentive to shift the crop. In the 50’s the imperative challenge was to the increase of staple food and in the 60’s
Japan faced increasing income gaps between urban residents and rural residents. The Liberal Democratic Party,
then the administration, kept the feed-in-tariff system to receive collective support from farmers. Yet, this gap
created large deficit to maintain rice stock while strong pressure for trade liberalization continued, which led to the
stop of the feed-in-tariff policy.
FIELD RESEARCH: ORAL HISTORY OF INDIVIDUAL FARMERS IN PERIPHERY NŌSANSON
Meaning of field research
Japanese Nōsanson is often referred to as non-Densely-Inhabited-District, and categorized into the peri-urban
community, the plain community, intermediate community, and mountain community, depending on the location
and geographic features (MLITT, 2013). The urban community is located in the suburban of urban areas, with a high
proportion of non-farming households. The plain community is most suitable for farming practices because of its
abundant land resources and the Japanese government assumes a role model for Japanese agriculture in the plain
community. The mountain community is the smallest in both population size and agricultural production due to its
geographical characteristics, but accounts for 50 percent of Japanese land (MIAC, 2012).
Social population decrease and aging population has caused marginalization of mountainous communities, where
people abandoned farming lands and forest maintenance. In the meantime, a large proportion of farmers in the
peri-urban have also disappeared during the process of urban development. It is natural that country’s
demographic change and urbanization caused these losses and transformation but the uniform (rice-focused)
Japanese agricultural polices probably reinforced the effects. In particular, the Japanese policy has exclusively
focused on the agricultural majority in the plain and intermediate communities. But we believe that even the
peripheries of Nōsanson (i.e., peri-urban and mountainous communities) have agricultural diversity and potentials
to develop and so the marginalization of communities means the loss of agricultural and cultural diversity
throughout Japan.
When it comes to visioning the future of a rural society, this aspect should be considered. If we apply only the
reasoning of economical rationality, those peripheries would be the first candidate communities to be abandoned.
We posit that the derived lessons and knowledge are essential for visioning the future of rural society. Once the
diverse communities go extinct, recovery of them is impossible or extremely costly. This indicates the need to
understand the individuals’ experiences and views and the diversity of rural society in Japan through field work in
two research fields of Nōsanson periphery. In this paper, we conducted interview survey in two peripheries and
report the summary of the oral-history survey.
Oral history
Figure 1 and Table 3 present the location and information of the two research fields, respectively. Kannogawa
District in Totsukawa village represents a mountainous community. Kannogawa is a mountainous and small hamlet
located in the vast village located in the southern part of Nara Prefecture, Japan. 95 % of the land in Kannogawa is

mountain with very limited arable

land, habituating 33 households.
We carried out an interview
survey in February 2014 and the
total number of interviewees is 19
at Kannogawa. As of February,
2014, the district has 33
households with 63 people. In the
past, they pursued agriculture
and were hired in the forestry
industry and because of the
demand for labor the district
received people as labor force
from outside in the 50’s. After
decline of the forestry industry,
many households were engaged
Figure 1. Location of the research field sites
in construction or hired outside the
district (ex. bus driver, public officials, etc.).
Table 3: Survey field information
Kannogawa District Ai District

Location Totsukawa village, Nara Ibaraki city, Osaka
Community type Mountainous Peri-urban
# of interviewees 19 3
Date of interview February, 2014 March, 2014
At present, the national pension is the main income sources for most people and cultivating farming lands for self-
consumption helps make ends meet. Most children and young generations of the households live outside the
district and only in the three households children and parents live together. However, we learned through the
interview that the residents come to realize the value of their life styles and customs through interactions with
those young visitors from cities. For example, running lodges is effective to revalue the capitals buried in the
landscape. Many of the interviewees expressed their home royalty and life satisfaction. It becomes evident that
construction of a system that capitalizes buried local resources can possibly lead to vitalization of the community.
Ai district is a peri-urban community, located in the suburb of Ibaraki city, Osaka Prefecture. The district was a
center of poppy production in Japan with more than hundreds farmers back in the early 1900’s. After the World
War II, rapid economic growth in Japan brought large amount of construction of housing and factories in the
suburban areas and many houses, apartments, plants, and schools were built by transforming rice paddies and
forests. Still, farming is intensively demonstrated in the district compared to other suburban areas in Osaka
Prefecture and the district has preserved a landscape of rice paddy. We interviewed with three persons, one in his
60’s and the other two in their 80’s. All they were retired from agricultural management as main income sources
but still farm for self-consumption.
Albeit the difference in their generations, we found characteristics in common in their life and views over farming.
The main reason of their carrier selection (agriculture) was the attractiveness of agriculture and they like the rice
paddy land scape in the district, addressing the difference that neighboring district have lost landscape of this
kind. They stated in the interview that they devised means to make ends meet and all they have demonstrated
compound agriculture producing rice and variety of vegetables. They claimed that rice is by far the most
important crop because rice can be stored for long time and used to make cash when necessary.

DISCUSSION
This paper first overviewed the history of agricultural policy through socioeconomic transitions in Japan. While
agricultural development should be the center of the policy for the long term, policy highlights the challenges such
in order as; 1) eradication of poverty in rural areas, 2) security of food supply, 3) structural adjustment of
agricultural production, and 4) establishment of sustainable rural society. Yet, the Japanese agricultural policy has
exclusively focused on rice production. The policy including the feed-in-tariff and minimum-rice price standard and
assumed farmers in the plain region as a role model, who supposedly have relatively large arable land for rice
paddy are assumed. However, it was unfortunate that farmers with side jobs became the majority in the
agricultural sector even in the plain communities in Japan; lack of successors of a farm has become more and more
serious in the entire Nōsanson and agriculture in the plain region did not increase competitiveness. Meanwhile,
the agricultural management of the three farmers award implies the desirable that the Ministry of Agriculture,
Forestry, and Fishery. Particularly, the awarded farmers attempt to maximize their potential, pursuing compound
agriculture. But the implemented agricultural policies are incompatible with the direction of the awarded
agricultural management.
The interview survey in Kannogawa District of Totsukawa village and Ai district of Ibaraki city addressed individual
life history in the two Nōsanson peripheries in terms of the focus of Japanese agricultural policy. It is important to
notice that full-time farmers in the peri-urban and mountain communities face with inflexible constraint of arable
land and much less support from governments. Our interview and analyses however revealed that individual
farmers attempt to maximize their knowledge and available resources to maintain their agricultural production
regardless of the degree of the agriculture as income sources or regardless of the location. Individual farmers in
the peripheries possess strong attachment and affection to the local while they responded to the changing
environment and came to find the ways to make ends meet.
The problem is that Japanese agricultural policies have been in general uniform in the set-up target and standard
such as raising self-food-supply sufficiency and high rice prices. Thus one important lesson is how policy and other
measures address the diversity of agriculture. In a society that face aging and shrinking population, economic
efficiency becomes the first criterion for decision making due to increasing budget pressure and other factors
tends to be ignored. But, diversity in agricultural systems and landscape should be considered as an important
indicator for sustainable society. In the research context, collaboration among researchers to demonstrate co-
practice and social design will be essential to make visioning and implementation of feasible measures.
REFERENCES
Board of Ai Local History. 1998. History of Ai (in Japanese)

National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS). 1998. Oral History as Policy Studies, Chuo Koron-sha, Tokyo,
Japan (in Japanese)
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishery (MAFF). 2010. Agricultural Census. http://www.e-stat.go.jp/SG1/
estat/List.do?bid=000001047529&cycode=0
Hayami Y. and Godo H. 2002. Agricultural Economics, Iwanami Shoten (in Japanese)
Hayashi H. 1991. Totsukawa Village History Exploration, Totsukawa Village Board Education (in Japanese)
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishery, Japan (MAFF). 2007. FY2007 Annual Report on Food, Agriculture and
Rural Areas in Japan
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan (MIAC). 2012. White Paper on Information and
Communications 2012
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan (MLITT). 2013. Summary Paper on White Paper on
Land 2013. http://tochi.mlit.go.jp/english/white-paper/land-white-paper
The Japanese Association for Rural Studies (JARS). 1998. Annual Bulletin of Rural Studies Vol. 34, Nobunkyo
Totsukawa Board of Education1961. Totsukawa Cultural Records (in Japanese)

MANAGING REGIONAL NATURAL RESOURCES IN THE CONTEXT OF RURAL-URBAN
PARTNERSHIPS: CASE STUDIES OF LOCAL AREAS IN JAPAN
Keishiro Hara1), Terukazu Kumazawa2), Kazutoshi Tsuda3) and Michinori Kimura4)

Center for Environmental Innovation Design for Sustainability, Osaka University
Research Institute for Humanity and Nature
Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University
Lake Biwa Environmental Research Institute
Email: hara@ceids.osaka-u.ac.jp
ABSTRACT
Japan recently faces serious problems such as an increase in abandoned arable areas and failure in effective management of
natural resources due to aging and shrinking population in rural areas. Under such circumstances, instead of demarcating
urban and rural areas, it is becoming increasingly important to explore the possibility of rural–urban partnerships which would
allow a better use and management of natural resources. In this paper we aim to discuss regional resources management in
rural areas through rural-urban partnership. We first address relevant policies and possible forms of partnership between rural
and urban areas, and their merits. We then look into a practice carried out in local municipality in Japan where opportunities of
defining and managing local resources were pursued through partnerships. Referring to these practices and recent arguments
about rural-urban partnerships, we discuss how better we are able to manage local resources.
INTRODUCTION
Japan faces critical challenges such as low-birth rate and aging demography. Outflow of labor from the rural to
urban regions and an aging demography of individuals engaged in agricultural activities are, among others, serious
problems (Tsuda et al. 2014). These situations resulted in an increase in abandoned arable areas and failure in
effectively managing natural resources. For instance, Satoyama-Satoumi in Japan has been changed significantly
over the past 50 years and resilience of socio-ecological production systems which provide ecosystem services has
declined.
The degradation of Satoyama-Satoumi is mainly attributed to 1) the increase in imported foods and materials
driven by globalization, 2) de-population (or low-birth rate and aging population), and 3) expansion of urban areas
(JSSA, 2010). Meanwhile, natural resources and ecosystems, that are often rich in rural areas, draw attention in the
recent sustainability discussions. In fact, the relationship between ecosystem and human well-being has been
increasingly studied (Díaz 2006) and the importance of maintaining ecosystems has been highlighted. Moreover,
other forms of resources, such as local knowledge, cultural heritages and social capitals, are also increasingly
recognized as essential components of sustainability of a society. It is becoming highly essential to re-value these
resources that exist in local areas, including natural resources, and to come up with the way in which such
resources are conserved in a sustainable manner.
While the disparity between urban and rural areas in terms of the number of residents and economic activities is
widening, benefits and the possibilities of cooperation between urban and rural areas is also being re-assessed.
One such argument is an effective utilization of biomasses in rural areas, such as woods, livestock manures, etc., in
pursuit of establishing a low-carbon society through rural-urban partnerships (Ren et al, 2010; Tsuda et al, 2010).
As an example, local models that effectively maintain the forestry in Takatsuki city of Osaka prefecture, while
utilizing woody biomass from the forestry as the carbon neutral fuel in urban areas, have been reported
(Fuchigami et al, 2013). This model demonstrates a win-win situation attained through the cooperation and
partnership between rural and urban areas. We argue that the cooperation between rural and urban areas,
instead of demarcating them, shall create more opportunities and capacities to be able to utilize and manage
precious local resources.
In this paper we address the possibility of managing local natural resources in the context of rural-urban
partnerships. We first briefly review how urbanization historically took place in Japan and then describe relevant
policies and possible forms of rural-urban partnership. We also look into Kizugawa city of Kyoto prefecture as a
form of rural-urban partnership which allows effective understanding and flexible management of local resources.

Keishiro Hara et al
Referring to these cases, we discuss how better to manage local resources by exploring a comprehensive
framework for local resources management in which a series of processes, such as discovery, externalization,
utilization, management and evaluation of local resources, are demonstrated.
PROSPECTS OF RURAL-URBAN PARTNERSHIP
Urbanization in Japan
Since the 20th century, there have been numerous arguments made for the coexistence of urban and rural areas,
focusing primarily on their complementarities, i.e., the way that they each make up for the shortcomings of the
other. The common motive behind these arguments is a critical awareness about the increasing various types of
disparities existing between urban and rural areas, primarily in view of the expansion in consumption and
population concentration in cities, the resulting influx of people from the countryside to cities, and the resulting
decline in rural population (Tsuda 2011).
In the early Showa period which started in 1926, the relative importance of industry exceeded that of agriculture in
terms of net national product. That is, the influence of industry and agriculture reversed. In addition, urban policy
gradually extended from the big cities to regional centers, leading to the formation of cities throughout the
country. In the high economic growth period of the postwar era, the expansion of Japan’s cities was nearly
unprecedented in its magnitude. In this time period, human health problems caused by industrial pollution, such as
Minamata diseases (mercury poisoning), became a very serious social issue. Since a large part of the urban
population increase was the result of the influx of young people from rural areas, this led to rapid population
decline in rural areas, as well as to an imbalance in the age structure of rural communities. Additionally, urban
sprawl, centering in the large cities, developed as the outskirts of the cities expanded and contact between cities
and countryside became greater than ever before. Accordingly, a district and zone system was introduced for cities
based on the “New City Planning Law”. Meanwhile, on the rural side, a policy aimed at guiding land utilization and
population distribution was tried by means of zoning in accordance with the “Act on Establishment of Agricultural
Promotion Areas”. Additionally, from the viewpoint of a national land use plan, the “National Comprehensive
Development Plan” was enacted in 1962, with the aim of ensuring balanced development between regions. In the
50 years since that time, a total of five such national plans have been created.
After the late 1970s, a phenomenon occurred whereby rural areas close to the outskirts of regional cities were
suddenly urbanized through a process of change, in which the living conditions of the young people who had
migrated to the cities during the period of high economic growth found themselves drawn into residential
complexes or purchasing their own homes outside city centers. Some of the problems with this sprawling of
suburbanization were the hollowing out of city centers, the decline in cropland and woodlands on the outskirts of
cities, and the growth in energy consumption due to increasing travel distances. During 1980s, the population flow
pattern, in which people moved from regional areas to the big cities in times of economic growth, crumbled, and a
structural shift took place.
Policies and possible forms of rural-urban partnerships
Here, we touch briefly on some related policies that can be understood as the sprouting of rural–urban partnership
in the context of these circumstances by summarizing arguments by Tsuda (2011). First, we address the theme of
agricultural–commercial–industrial partnerships, which is being tackled as a policy for revitalization of local
economies through collaboration between the agricultural, forestry, and fisheries industries, and the commercial
and industrial activities of urban areas. Examples include the development of local agricultural products based on
marketing, channel cultivation, and productivity increases. They are also in line with the policy to promote such
collaborations under the joint support of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) and the Ministry
of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). It has been pointed out that, to further promote these objectives, it is
important to have initiatives that link together the production and consumption of agricultural, forestry, and
fisheries products, through the involvement of other ministries, government agencies, local governments, and
citizens. Accordingly, a management style known as the “Sixth Industry”, whose name derives from the
combination (addition of) primary (one), secondary (two), and tertiary (three) industries, is a similar keyword used
to advocate revitalization through high value-addition to agricultural, forestry, and fisheries products.

Keishiro Hara et al
An earlier example of a policy that combines initiatives of MAFF and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare
(MHLW) is “Urban Rural Environment Complex System” (URECS) in Toyohashi city of Aichi prefecture in 1974.
This plan was implemented with the aim of combining urban environmental enhancement and agricultural
promotion, as well as to conduct sanitation administration that utilizes waste as recycled materials. The latter is
accomplished by appropriate waste treatment by city governments, and by recycling the thermal energy or organic
compost generated from such waste. From the viewpoint of metabolism, this can be positioned as a pioneering
case of comprehensively planning an–urban-rural partnership. Further, “Biomass Japan Comprehensive
Strategy” (formulated in 2002) in Japan is aimed at the construction of a comprehensive utilization system to link
the generation of this energy to its utilization by means of an optimum process. Although efforts have begun to
conduct resource-recycling agriculture, for example, through a crop–livestock partnership in order to pursue the
reduction of chemical fertilizer consumption and energy conversion by composting food waste and sewage sludge,
it is necessary to establish partnerships between urban and local areas.
Finally, we explore the form of rural–urban partnerships particularly aiming at the shaping of a low-carbon society.
Table 1 shows proposals about the form of rural–urban partnerships in this context. We examined urban and rural
as relative or functional concepts, and then arranged rural and urban area tendencies in relation to nine items. It is
increasingly important to build networks for the circulation of material, energy, money, information, and people
between rural and urban areas, in order to correct the disparity between them, to increase mutual benefits by
taking advantage of the other’s characteristics, to enjoy the proximity of urban and rural functions, and to
collaboratively maintain an ecological service system, as a rural platform. The reconstruction of a diverse network
between urban and rural areas will require a thorough reevaluation of the multiple functions of rural areas, which
are a treasure trove of natural capital.
Table 1. Features of rural and urban areas and possible forms of rural-urban partnerships
Proposed form of rural–urban
Item Urban Rural
partnerships
Population Overcrowded Underpopulated Separation and optimization of population
and administrative function,
Dual community residence semi-
habitation
Production Industry and Agriculture, forestry and Agricultural–commercial–industrial
structure commerce fishing partnerships, urban agriculture/
horticulture
Industrialization using rural natural
resources
Economy/income Relatively high Relatively low income Adoption of financing mechanisms
income Enhancing local economy
Healthcare/social Large-scale intensive Home care/community Community-based healthcare/community
welfare facilities welfare healthcare plan,
Development of forest medicine/
horticultural therapy
Tourism resources Townscapes, cultural Natural scenery/ Green tourism
heritage, shopping landscapes Community sojourn tourism
complexes
Geographic Seaside, plains Semimountainous areas Land utilization plan in line with local
characteristics and plains characteristics
Enhanced compactness and transport
optimization
Water utilization For domestic and agricultural production Water storage for energy and irrigation
and management commercial/ processes Watershed water management and
industrial uses forestation management
Food/cuisine Cuisine with Local cuisine, using local, Cultivation of direct sales and direct
ingredients from all natural produce delivery (from place of production)
over the world Minimization of food miles
Biomass Food waste, sewage Agriculture, livestock, Setup of system for utilization of local
sludge wood, fisheries, and cycles
plantation waste

Keishiro Hara et al
CASE STUDY
Rural-urban partnership – a practice in Kizugawa city of Kyoto
Kizugawa city is a city located in southern Kyoto Prefecture, Japan with a population over 70,000. In the district
called “Kaseyama” of the city, several local communities and NPOs have recently carried out activities in such fields
as maintenance of bamboo trees and walkways, cultivation of mushroom, and environmental education for small
children. Table 2 presents examples of such local communities and their activities.
Table 2 Activities of local communities and NPOs.

Group ID Main activities
1 Cultivation of ancient rice, seasonal vegetables, etc., maintenance of bamboo grove
2 Maintenance of bamboo grove, maintenance and management of Satoyama landscape
3 Setting of route sign to Kaseyama castle, maintenance of walkways in mountainous
areas
4 Advertising Kaseyama persimmon, organizing tours to persimmon cultivation,
5 Regeneration of pine trees and persimmon and blueberry cultivation fields, organizing
camping and environmental education program
6 Organizing nature observation meetings and eco-friendly crafts making
7 Cultivation of mushrooms, maintenance of bamboo grove, management of pine trees
These activity groups equally claim that nurturing the successor is of vital importance to keep the activities
sustainable and that the participation in planning phase of those who are the inhabitants from urban areas and
moved into the city is one of the most important policy issues. For example, the group of ID 4 establishes the
cultivation of “the Kaseyama persimmon by the interchanges with urban dwellers” for the concrete action program.
Rather than simply cultivating and selling the Kaseyama persimmon, interchange with urban dwellers itself is now
viewed as the “resource” in Kaseyama district. This example demonstrates the fact that under the framework of
rural-urban partnership, the interchange between rural-urban areas itself is re-valued and surfaces as a resource.
This point is more apparently understood as far as activities related to environmental education and learning
activities are concerned, as exemplified by ID 5 and ID6.
Management system through partnerships
Kizugawa city, which covers the Kaseyama district, recently stipulated the “Plan for activities to conserve
biodiversity in Kizugawa city through regional partnership (Translated from Japanese)” (Kizugawa city, 2014) in
February 2014 with an aim to succeed the rich Satoyama nature and to utilize it in a sustainable manner by
appropriate management. The plan actually aims to maintain Satoyama and conserve ecosystems within the city
while preserving unique history and cultures by means of the partnerships among various stakeholders.
The plan was developed under the leadership of council which consists of city workers, NPOs, local residents, and
people of learning and experiences. In parallel of the council, a series of workshops were organized in which activity
groups and city workers participated and discussed such essential issues as goals of the plan, principles of actions
and evaluation indicators. The council meetings were organized seven times in total between 2012 and 2014, while
the workshops were organized six times during the period.
What is important about the case in Kizugawa is that activity groups and city workers shared and discussed
together the important items such as long term and short term visions, principles of actions and evaluation
indicators. The partnership helps incentivize both activity groups and city workers to conserve Satoyama landscape
and relevant activities in a responsible manner. It is also important that if the groups and city workers discover new
local resources, the items listed above shall be updated accordingly. The partnership actually fosters such
adaptable and flexible management systems.

Keishiro Hara et al
Another point is the fact that activity groups set up a platform called “Cheer group for the conservation activities
through the regional partnership in Kizugawa city (Translated from Japanese)” aiming to enhance the cooperation
among them and widely advertise the activities carried out in Kizugawa city. The platform is run by Kizugawa city.
This system also allows the local resources management to be flexible enough in that the management system can
be adaptable to resources newly discovered by activity groups.
The practice and systems of partnerships in Kizugawa city indeed provide a useful implication for resources
management. Notably, the sense of resource management is responsibly shared by local stakeholders, which
results in more flexible and adaptable management depending on the circumstances (e.g., changes of evaluation
indicators reflecting on newly discovered resources). We argue that such flexible system and governance that is
dynamic is of vital importance in local resources management.
DISCUSSIONS - A FRAMEWORK FOR LOCAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
Sato (2008) claims that “resources” do not refer only to visible natural resources or social capitals in a traditional
sense, but should be defined in a broader sense. In fact, he defines resources as the bunch of possibilities to be
transformed by many local settings such as cultures, technologies and institutions. Hence, how we frame and view
the “resources” could lead to a discovery of the values of them. With reference to this concept, we argue that
rural-urban partnership could provide a new perspective to discover local resources. Resources, which are not
necessarily valued in the local context, could become invaluable through the perspective of rural-urban
partnership. As mentioned in introduction part, the forestry in Takatsuki city, Osaka, became a valuable resource
by creating bioenergy as alternative fuel in an industry in urban area.
A win-win situation was created in that the local community is more motivated to maintain the forestry in a good
manner while bioenergy produced from the forestry in Takatsuki city has become an invaluable commodity that is
being used by an industry in the urban area. The practice in Kizugawa city also demonstrates a valuable model in
which various activity groups and stakeholders co-operate each other to conserve biodiversity and other forms of
local resources such as local cultures and history. Their ideas in terms of visions, goals and evaluation indicators
are effectively and flexibly incorporated into the planning and implementation of local resources management.
Finally we discuss the model for local resources management. Fig. 1 describes a conceptual framework and cycles
for local resources management. It is important to first re-value and discover local resources as the first step of
resources management. The discovery of resources then could lead to externalization process in which the
resource as a tacit knowledge is transformed to valued knowledge so people can explicitly share it. The
perspective of rural-urban linkages, then, could provide more opportunities not only in discovery phase, but also in
utilization and management processes as shown in the cases of Takatsuki and Kizugawa cities. Meanwhile, we
need to accumulate case studies to enhance the model as proposed in Fig. 1.
Figure 1. A framework for local resources management

Keishiro Hara et al
CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, we discussed the possibility of rural-urban partnership and their roles in local resources management.
The practice in Kizugawa city demonstrates the positive aspect of such partnership in terms of resources
management. Further studies are needed to enhance the model of with regional partnership in resources
management, as indicated in Fig 1. Finally, discussion about rural-urban partnerships in Japan shall provide some
useful implication to other Asian countries, where rapid economic growth, coupled with urbanization, is occurring.
Growing disparity between urban and rural areas, as is now observed in such countries, might create many critical
challenges as Japan has so far encountered. It would be useful to envision future societies where harmonization of
urban and rural areas is maintained and consider positive aspects of such harmonization before various problems
surface in time horizon.
REFERENCES
Díaz, S., Fargione, J., Chapin III, F.S., Tilman, D (2006) Biodiversity Loss Threatens Human Well-Being, PLoS Biology,
Vol.4(8): e277
Fuchigami, Y., Kurimoto, S., Uwasu, M and Hara, K (2013) Prospects for Forestry in Japan: Balancing Profitability and
Work Efficiency, Proceedings of Ecodesign2013 - 8th International Symposium on Environmentally Conscious
Design and Inverse Manufacturing, P-A-2 (5 pages), Jeju, Korea, Dec 4-6
Japan Satoyama Satoumi Assessment (2010) Satoyama-Satoumi Ecosystems and Human Well-Being - Socio-
ecological Production Landscapes of Japan (http://archive.ias.unu.edu/resource_centre/SDM-
EN_24Feb2011.pdf)
Kizugawa city (2014) Seibutsu Tayousei Kizugawa_shi Chiiki Renkei Hozen Katsudou Keikaku – Mimorotsuku
Kaseyama Saisei Plan (In Japanese)
Ren, H., Zhou, W., Nakagami, K (2010) Transition to a low-carbon energy system through cooperation between
urban and rural areas: case study of a model area in China, The 2010 International Conference on Electrical
and Energy Systems (ICEES 2010)
Sato J (2008) Shigen wo miru me (Perspectives to resources), Toshindo Publising (In Japanese)
Tsuda, K., Low, B.H., Takahashi, H., Hara, K., Uwasu, M and Umeda, Y (2014) Potential Accounting of Regional
Biomass Resource Circulations in Japan: A Prospective on Regional Rural-Urban Partnerships, Environmental
Development, Vol. 9, pp. 24-42
Tsuda, K (2011) Concept of rural–urban partnerships, in Urban-rural partnerships and eco-design for low-carbon
societies, Umeda, Y., Machimura, T., Osaki, M., Zhou, W., Morioka, T and Nakagami, K (Eds), Gihodo Shuppan
(in Japanese)
Tsuda, K., Umeda, Y (2010) Concept of rural-urban partnerships towards low carbon societies, Journal of
Environmental Conservation Engineering, Vol. 39 (9), pp.514-518

SHRIMP-BASED CROPPING SYSTEMS AND CHANGES IN CULTIVATED RICE VARIETIES IN
THE COASTAL AREA OF BANGLADESH
Md. Rashedur Rahman1, Kazuo Ando2, Shinya Takeda1 and Shigeo Kobayashi1
1
Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies, Kyoto University, Japan
2
Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, Japan
Email address:
Md. Rashedur Rahman (lotusbau2002@gmail.com)
Kazuo Ando (ando@cseas.kyoto-u.ac.jp)
Shinya Takeda (takeda@asafas.kyoto-u.ac.jp)
Shigeo Kobayashi (ksige@asafas.kyoto-u.ac.jp)
ABSTRACT
The present study describes the changes from a rice-based cropping system to shrimp based cropping system in the coastal
area of Bangladesh, its impact on soil salinity and soil nutrients and the coping strategy of local farmers against increases in
salinity. The study was conducted in a village in Satkhira district. Two main cropping systems, the shrimp-boro rice cropping
system and the aman rice-boro rice cropping system, are the main systems that are practiced by local farmers in the study
village. Soil samples were collected from the plots of these cropping systems and chemical analysis was done to measure the
salinity level and the nutrient status of the soil. It has been found that the salinity level rose from a level of 4.5 ds/m in 2010 to
a level of 6.5 ds/m in 2012 with changes in the availability of nutrients in the soil. As a coping strategy against this increase in
salinity, the local farmers switched rice varieties from year to year, and they did not cultivate a single variety alone but a
combination of varieties. However, although the local farmers have now established this shrimp-boro rice cropping system with
a combination of modern rice varieties, it is hypothesized that if they continue this cropping system for a long time then th e
livelihood of the local small farmers will be unstable in the future.
Keywords: Shrimp, Rice, Cropping System, Coastal area, Local farmers, Bangladesh
INTRODUCTION
The shrimp and rice-based cropping system is common practice in coastal Bangladesh. Traditional bheri/gher
aquaculture used to be practiced in the coastal areas of Bangladesh to raise shrimp and other fishes with the
monsoon season aman rice long before the introduction of current shrimp culture practices. During the last two
decades, shrimp aquaculture created new cropping system in the coastal area of Bangladesh. This aquaculture has
extended inland and converted rice fields into shrimp farms and has thus changed the rice based cropping system
to one that is shrimp-based. Therefore, a new cropping system: shrimp in the monsoon season with boro rice in the
winter season has recently emerged to replace the aman rice-boro rice cropping system (Rahman et al., 2013a).
From the 1980s to the present, shrimp cultivation has created a substantial economic and social transformation in
those coastal areas where it has been adopted (DoF, 2010). Furthermore, in recent years, shrimp has become a
significant foreign exchange earner for Bangladesh (DoF, 2010). However, shrimp farming has been the subject of
criticism since it can damage the local ecology by increasing the salinity of the water and soil, change the
composition of the soil and bring about rapid changes in land use and land cover (Haque, 2004). There are also
claims that it has led to the disintegration of the economic and social conditions of coastal rural communities (Ali,
2006).
Rice is the staple food of the people of Bangladesh. Local farmers in the coastal area have established a new
cropping system that includes both rice and shrimp farming in the same field with a yearly rotation. As rice is a
staple food for the local farmers, they cannot give up farming rice. The problem is that the shrimp farming requires
saline water to be kept for at least seven months in the field. This prolonged inundation of rice-cum-shrimp fields
with saline water has caused the salinity level of the soil of this shrimp-boro rice cropping system to increase,
which could change the yield of the rice varieties that the local farmers cultivate (Rahman et al., 2013b). The local
farmers are also very concerned about this increase. They try to cope with this problem as they select their rice
varieties in the current ecological situation.

Rashedur Rahman et al
There has been little attention paid as to how the local farmers adapt to these changes in salinity with their own
technologies, therefore the present study aims to discover the perception of the farmers of the coastal area of
Bangladesh concerning the salinity problem and the coping strategies they adopt against this salinity when they de-
cide which rice varieties to cultivate.
METHODOLOGY
Research site and methodologies
The study was conducted in a village named Shuktia under Satkhira district in southwestern Bangladesh (Fig. 1).
There were 227 households in the study village, of which 174 were engaged in rice and shrimp farming, of which 51,
96, 24 and 3 were marginal, small, medium and large farmers, respectively. The survey was performed in two stag-
es. First, all the households in the village were identified and basic information was recorded (age, sex, farm struc-
ture, income, expenditure etc.) through personal interviews with all the heads of household. Second, a detailed sur-
vey of 65 randomly selected farmers out of these 174 was conducted. The sample farmers operated with land areas
of 0.02-0.2 ha, 0.2-1.0 ha, 1.0-3.0 ha, and >3.0 ha, hereafter referred to as marginal, small, medium, and large farm-
ers, respectively. The fieldwork was carried out from August-September 2010 and again in January 2013.
Study Village
Figure 1. Location of the study area.
Soil sample collection and chemical analysis
Soil samples were collected at six different plots: four plots where the shrimp-boro rice cropping system and two
plots where the aman rice-boro rice cropping system is practiced. Soil samples were collected at a depth of 15 cm in
five different locations in each plot. Soil samples were collected from each plot every month from February 2010 to
September 2012. All the samples were then sent to the Soil Resource Development Institute (SRDI), Bangladesh, to
measure the salinity level, soil pH, organic matter content (OM%), total nitrogen (TN), phosphorus (P), potassium
(K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), sulfur (S), boron (B) and zinc (Zn).

Collection of yield component data of rice varieties
The yield components of different rice varieties were collected from farmers’ rice fields in 2013 during the
harvesting of the boro rice. For each rice variety, three farmers’ fields were chosen. The sample plants were taken
from the 1 square meter sample plots from five locations in each field. Four were located at the four corners and
one at the centre. From each 1 sq. m. area, five plants were taken for a yield component analysis (Matsushima,
1979).
Shrimp and rice cropping systems in the study area
Shrimp farming in the study village is not a recent practice. It has been widely adopted since its introduction
around 15 years ago. Before the activity of shrimp farming in the village, local farmers used to cultivate only rice in
their fields. At that time, rice was grown in two periods during a year. The locally called boro rice was cultivated
from the month of December/January to April/May, and a second rice variety, aman rice, was cultivated from
August/September to November/December. The aman rice-boro rice cropping system was the single dominant
regime in the village before the introduction of shrimp aquaculture. This system was maintained in both the
medium highland and medium lowland areas. After the introduction of shrimp aquaculture in the village under
study, the cropping systems changed in the medium lowland areas to the shrimp-boro rice rotating pattern (with
shrimp aquaculture replacing aman rice). The medium highland areas continued to be cultivated under the double
rice cropping system. The medium highland areas are very suitable for the aman rice - boro rice cropping system
which is a common cropping system in other regions of Bangladesh after the introduction of irrigated HYV rice
cultivation during the dry season.
Irrigation status of the study area
Boro rice cultivation in the study area is extremely dependent on groundwater irrigation. The local farmers have
developed a strong irrigation system from the beginning of the history of boro rice cultivation. Almost all of the
farmers (who were maintaining boro rice-based cropping patterns) were using ground water to irrigate their rice
fields during boro rice cultivation. There were more than 100 irrigation devices named low lift pumps (locally called
boring) which were sparsely located in the entire boro rice cultivated area of the study village. The results from the
household survey revealed that all of the farmers who were cultivating the boro rice, were using irrigated water
driven either by their own irrigation device or after hiring such a device from others (Field survey, 2010-2013).
The impact of shrimp-boro rice cropping system on soil salinity and fertility levels from 2010 to 2012
Different soil parameters in the shrimp-boro rice cropping system for the period 2010–2012 are presented in Table
1. The OM content (OM%) and the Ca level did not significantly change from 2010 to 2012. However, the salinity
level was recorded as 4.45 ± 1.27 ds/m in the year 2010, which had significantly (P < 0.05) increased to 6.45 ± 1.34
ds/m by the year 2012. Similarly, the pH level and the K content of the soil also increased significantly over the
2010–2012 study period. The Mg and S levels also increased significantly between 2010 and 2012. However, the
TN, P, B and Zn content of the soil all decreased significantly (P < 0.05).
Rice varieties cultivated by local farmers and farmers’ preferences to choose the varieties
The local farmers of the study village used to cultivate different types of rice varieties according to their needs and
in response to environmental changes, particularly, in salinity and soil nutrients. The farmers changed their rice
varieties from year to year with the changes in the salinity level on the land of the shrimp--boro rice cropping
system. The name of rice varieties cultivated in 2010 and 2013 has been presented in the Table 2. A PRA tool
named ‘matrix ranking’ was used to find out the preferences of the farmers when selecting these rice varieties. The
data were collected in 2010 and again in 2013. The matrix ranking was done by focusing on eight criteria that the
farmers considered when judging each variety. The criteria include: i) a higher yield, ii) high market value, iii) salt
tolerance, iv) a high seed price, v) rice keeping quality, vi) taste, vii) the straw value, and viii) cold tolerance. Five
farmers from different ehold categories were selected to give a score for each criterion for each rice variety.

Table 1. Comparative soil fertility status in the shrimp-boro rice cropping system in the study area for the years
2010, 2011 and 2012.
Parameters 2010 2011 2012
Range Average Index Range Average Index Range Average Index
value value
pH 7.7–8.3 7.9b .. 7.9–8.4 8.3a .. 8.2–8.6 8.4a ..
OM (%) 2.17–3.40 2.57a 0.545 1.98–2.96 2.40a 0.500 2.43–2.94 2.72a 0.500
Total N (%) 0.10–0.18 0.14a 0.250 0.09–0.12 0.10b 0.250 0.12–0.15 0.13a 0.250
P (µg/g soil) 10.97–13.55 12.18a 0.409 10.20–14.58 11.69b 0.354 8.77– 10.17c 0.250
11.30
K (µm/100 g soil) 0.48–0.67 0.57c 1.000 0.62–0.77 0.71b 1.000 0.86–1.30 1.06a 1.000
Ca (µm/100 g soil) 23.88–27.88 26.19a 1.000 18.38–30.47 23.62a 1.000 22.06– 27.62a 1.000
35.47
Mg (µm/100 g soil) 3.07–8.14 4.12c 1.000 5.30–8.11 6.74b 1.000 6.37–8.55 7.77a 1.000
S (µg/g soil) 53.15–196.09 67.80c 1.000 32.52–150.09 74.22b 0.833 30.52– 98.35a 0.861
120.16
B (µg/g soil) 1.34–2.04 1.66a 1.000 1.04–1.60 1.35b 1.000 0.63–0.98 0.80c 0.944
Zn (µg/g soil) 0.55–1.94 1.11a 0.477 0.39–0.92 0.56b 0.271 0.42–0.69 0.57b 0.250
Salinity (ds/m) 2.8–6.9 4.5c 0.432 3.2–7.5 5.5b 0.500 4.5–8.0 6.5a 0.500
Source: Field survey 2010–2012.

Note: Average values with different superscript letters (a, b) within a row are significantly different at the 5% level of
significance.
Table 2. Rice varieties cultivated in the boro season by local farmers in the years 2010 and 2013
Cultivated rice varieties
2010 2013
Name No. of HH Percent of HH Name No. of HH Percent of HH

BRRI Dhan28 146 87 BRRI dhan28 148 85
Hira 130 77 Jholok 121 70
Manik-2 80 47 Mongol 90 52
45 82 49 Jamaibabu 116 67
Tia 129 77 Tia 145 83
Source: Field survey 2010 and 2013
The range was 0-10. The matrix ranking procedure was carried out following instructions given by DAE (2000). It
was found in 2010 that BRRI dhan28, Hira-2 and Tia got the highest average score among the local farmers
according to the performances of these rice varieties, but by 2013 some varieties had changed, although BRRI
dhan28 was still being cultivated mainly because of its high market value, its rice keeping quality, taste and straw
value. Next to BRRI dhan28, Tia was the farmers’ preference. As the salinity level increased, some other rice
varieties named Mongol and Jamaibabu began to be cultivated because of their salt-tolerant capacity. Considering
all the scores given by the farmers against each criterion for each variety, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was
done using the statistical software XLSTAT-2009.
The score scatter diagram is presented in Figures 2 and 3 for 2010 and 2013, respectively. Figure 2 shows that the
farmers were not confined to cultivating a single rice variety. Rather, they chose different varieties because each
variety is superior regarding certain criteria than the other varieties. Considering a higher yield, variety 45 was
superior to the others, whereas for rice keeping quality, market value, straw value and taste, the BRRI dhan28 was
preferable. On the other hand for salt tolerance and cold tolerance, farmers chose varieties Hira-2 and Tia.

From Figure 3, it is observed that for higher yields,

farmers selected the varieties named Tia and Jholok,
but for market value, taste, rice keeping quality and
straw value, they were still cultivating BRRI dhan28,
which they used to cultivate in 2010. It was also found
that for salt tolerance and cold tolerance the Mongol
and Jamaibabu varieties were superior to the others.
From the above results, it can be said that the

understanding of farmers regarding their selection of
different rice varieties was the same. Truly speaking,
all the above-mentioned data were collected entirely
based on farmer’s traditional and practical knowledge
and experience over the years. The results, analysis Figure 2. Score scatter diagram of PCA using eight parameters
and interpretation are also grounded on the same for different rice varieties in the year 2010
foundation, and this is not exactly natural science-
based, but one thing is quite clear.
The farmers understand their situation very clearly.

This understanding is focused when selecting their
rice varieties and they give similar scores against each
particular criterion for each variety. Some varieties
they selected for a higher yield while some were
selected for a better market value, taste or rice
keeping quality, and some were selected to cope with
the salinity. Some changes in the selection of the
varieties were observed over the years 2010 and
2013, but definitely farmers’ understanding when
selecting their rice varieties was found to be the
same.
Figure 3. Score scatter diagram of PCA using eight parameters
Yield components of different rice varieties for different rice varieties in the year 2013
The data for the yield and yield components of different rice varieties have been presented in Table 3. It has been
observed that the variety named Jholok achieved the highest yield per hill as it has got the highest 1000-grain
weight, whereas the significantly lowest yield per hill was found for the Jamaibabu variety. This might be due to the
lowest 1000-grain weight for this variety. However, the yield data collected through the interviews with local
farmers revealed that, according to the farmers, the highest yield was obtained from the Jholok variety.
The yield data collected from the rice field revealed the same. From this result, we can understand that the
farmers’ logical understanding of the ecological situation is very good, and they know very well why and what they
are selecting in order to fulfill their needs and meet their demands regarding the varieties they require for their
rice cultivation.

Table 3. Yield and yield components of different rice varieties in the year 2013
Varieties Plant height No. of Tillers/ Panicle no./ Grain no./ 1000 grain wt Yield/Hill (gm)
(cm) hill Hill panicle (gm)
BRRIdhan 28 102c 13a 12a 103d 22c 26.4b
Jholok 105bc 13a 12a 112c 24a 33.1a
Jamaibabu 123a 9b 8c 141a 17d 20.4/c
Mongol 105bc 12a 10b 123b 23b 28.5b
Tia 106b 12a 10b 120b 23b 28.2b
Source: Field Survey, 2013
Note: Average values with different superscript letters (a, b) within a row are significantly different at the 1% level of significance.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The coping strategies developed by the local farmers of any community are based on their experience and local
wisdom. In the present study, such coping strategies were found among the local farmers of a coastal community in
southwestern Bangladesh. Due to the high salinity levels, it is difficult to cultivate any high yielding rice variety (HYV)
in rice fields where shrimp is also cultivated in the same field on a rotational basis (Karim et al. 1990). However, it
was mentioned in the results and discussion that the existing soil salinity level of the shrimp-boro rice cropping
system was found to be 6.5 dS/m, which can be classified as moderately saline soil (SRDI, 1985).
The farmers of the study area were very much concerned about the existing ecological and economic situation and
they are trying to adjust to the situation. Therefore, it was possible to grow some of the salt-tolerant varieties the
farmers chose. In this study, it was found that the local farmers used to cultivate not just one single variety of rice
but a combination of varieties. Some varieties were cultivated to cope against salinity but these varieties might not
be as tasty as the farmers need. Therefore, they cultivated some other varieties, which would certainly meet their
demands. Thus, the farmers chose and selected rice varieties not only to cope with soil salinity, they also
emphasized taste, market value, the quality of the rice, and so on.
The findings of the present research illustrate that the introduction of shrimp farming has changed the system of
land use in the study area and therefore the cropping systems have changed from being aman rice-boro rice to
shrimp-boro rice based. The results reveal that the shrimp-boro rice rotating cropping system was much more
profitable than the previous rice cropping system (Rahman et al. 2013c), but the three years of data from the soils
of the shrimp-boro rice cropping system indicate that the salinity level of the soil has increased and the status of the
available soil nutrient levels has also changed (Rahman et al. 2013b).
The local farmers were concerned about these changes and they have adapted to these environmental changes,
particularly with regard to salinity and the deterioration in the fertility of the soil, by changing rice varieties.
However, it is hypothesized that if this shrimp-boro rice cropping system is continued for a long period of time, the
salinity level of the soil of this cropping system will reach a level at which the boro rice might not be grown in
future. The system may eventually be transformed into a shrimp monoculture.
This year-round shrimp monoculture might create an unstable livelihood for the small farmers in the study area by
worsening the quality of their crop fields and this shrimp-boro rice cropping system will then be judged to be
hampering the sustainability of small farmers’ livelihoods. Therefore, the following recommendations can be
considered with a view to sustaining the livelihoods of the small farmers who are practicing the shrimp-boro rice
cropping system. The boro rice should be continued for the sake of the farmers’ own consumption as it is the staple
food of Bangladesh. Shrimps should not be farmed every year. Rather, it should be cultivated every alternate year
to maintain the low salinity level for boro rice growing. Therefore, this cropping system will act as a safety net and a
sustainable livelihood system for small farmers in the coastal area of Bangladesh.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to express their heartfelt thanks to the “Promoting the Study of Sustainable Humanosphere
in South-East Asia” Project, Kyoto University, for its financial support to this study.
REFERENCES
Ali, A. M. S. 2006. “Rice to shrimp: land use/land cover changes and soil degradation in southwestern Bangladesh”.
Land Use Policy. Vol. 23. No. 4. pp. 421-435.
DAE (Department of Agricultural Extension). 2000. Participatory Rural Appraisal Practical handbook. Published by
Thana Cereal Technology Transfer and Identification Project. pp. 88-89.
DoF (Department of Fisheries). 2010. Fishery Statistical Yearbook of Bangladesh 2009-2010. In Fisheries Resources
Survey System, Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, Twenty seventh ed. Matshya
Bhaban, Dhaka, p. 38.
Haque, A.K.E. 2004. “Sanitary and phyto-sanitary barriers to trade and its impact on the environment: the case of
shrimp farming in Bangladesh”. IUCN Bangladesh Country Office, Dhaka, Bangladesh. p. 63.
Karim, Z., Hussain, S.G. ad Ahmed, M. 1990. Salinity problems and crop intensification in the coastal regions of
Bangladesh. BARC soil publication, Dhaka.
Rahman, M. R., Ando, K., and Takeda, S. 2013a. “Development of shrimp-based cropping systems in the coastal
area of Bangladesh: a village level study in Satkhira district”. Journal of Land Use Science. Vol. 9. No.2. pp.
195-210.
Rahman, M. R., Ando, K. and Takeda, S. 2013b. “Effect of shrimp-based cropping systems on salinity and soil
fertility in a coastal area of Bangladesh: a village level study”. Vol. 5. No. 11. Pp. 1-10
Rahman, M. R., Ando, K., and Takeda, S. 2013c. Cost analysis of the shrimp-based cropping system in coastal
Bangladesh: a village level study. Journal of Tropical Agriculture and development. Vol. 57. No. 3. pp. 77-
85.
SRDI (Soil Resource Development Institute). 1985. Land and Soil Resource Utilization Guide: 91 vol of 18 districts,
Khulna-Barishal-Chittagong Division.

THE ECONOMIC ROLE OF FOREST RESOURCES IN LIVELIHOOD OF NAMEE VILLAGERS,
LOANGAM DISTRICT, SALAVANH PROVINCE, LAO PDR
Khamsing Keothumma
Faculty of Forestry, National University of Laos
INTRODUCTION
Forest resources play significant roles in the livelihood as food, medicine, construction materials or cash income
source in the rural areas of Laos. Gathering and selling forest resources complements the main subsistence of
widen and paddy cultivation, cash crop production and livestock raising at rural villages, especially at the less well-
off households. However, the amount of existing forest resources have decreased due to the population increase
and following increase in the amount of forest resources gathering. Therefore, the objective of this study is to
clarify the use of forest resources and their economic importance in the rural households, which will be the
fundamental information to consider the sustainable use and management of forest resources.
STUDY SITE AND METHODS
Study site
LoaNGam District is one of the 7 districts in Salavan Province and consists of 103 villages in the area of 96,441 ha at
the altitude from 200 to 1050 m. The population of LoaNGam District is 63,336 people including 10 ethnic groups.
Namee village at LoaNgam District was established in 1915 with only 15 households. Although the villagers
abandoned the village land and moved to the forest for escaping war-damage in 1967, they came back to the
former place in 1975. Namee village has 1069 ha of land, including 12.1 ha of plantation land, 221.24 ha of
conservation forest, 18.12 ha of protection forest, 600.91 ha of utility forest, 212.43 ha of agricultural land, 4.2 ha
of crematory forest. Ninety-eight percent of the total households have paddy rice field, 74 % have kitchen garden,
46 % have swidden field, and 18 % have plantation land.
Namee village consists of 167 households and 850 people (female 432 and male 418). The villagers are classified
into two ethnic groups: Katang (155 households) and Lao (12 households). They are mainly engaged in paddy rice
and swidden cultivation, cash crop production, livestock raising, sale of forest resources, and wage labor. The
average rice yield is 2.2 ton / ha. They have irrigation system, but only 5 ha of paddy rice field can be irrigated in the
dry season. Cotton, pineapple, chili, cassava, ginger, galangal and a variety of fruits trees are also cultivated in
agricultural fields and kitchen gardens for both self-consumption and sale.
Methods
Field surveys were conducted in 2010 and 2011 at Namee village. Village headman and the knowledgeable elderlies
were interviewed in the structured manner on the history, population, economy and society, area and land-use,
forest resource use. They were also asked to select fifty households (30 % of the total households) for the following
interview on forest resources use, income and expenditure. The selected 50 households were classified into three
groups by income level: rich (16 households), with enough rice throughout the year and 1.5 million kip (1 US dollar
was about 10000 Lao kip in 2010) of budget surplus, living in the zinc or tile-roofed house with plank wall; middle
(20), with enough rice for 8-9 months and little budget surplus; and poor (14), with enough rice for 4-5 months and
adverse balance, living in the thatched roof house with bamboo wall. Daily use of forest resources was observed,
and amount of firewood consumption was measured. Available literatures on forest resource use, importance of
non-timber forest products, and household income and expenditure were also consulted.

Khamsing Keothumma
Table 1. Calendar of gathering non-timber forest products at Namee village in 2010

Month
Species
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Amomum sp. (mak naeng)
Melientha suavis (phak wan)
Diplazium esculentum (phak kout)
Termitomyces sp. (het pouak)
Astraeus hygrometricus (het pho)
Curcuma sp. (dok kachiao)
Gigantochloa albociliata (mai lai)
Bambusa arundiana var. spinosa (mai phai)
Calamus sp. (nyot waai)
Honey (nam pheung)
Unidentified (kheua khao pook)
Imperata cylindrica (nya kha)
Pandanus sp. (bai teuy)
Baccaurea ramiflora (mak fai)
Xerospermum laoticum (mak ngeo)
Elaeagnus conferta (mak loot)
Sandoricum koetjape (mak tong)
Dioscorea hispida (Kooy)
Oroxylum indicum (mak linmai)
Shorea spp. (khii sii)
ANALYSIS OF HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY AT NAMEE VILLAGE
Household income
Among 50 households interviewed, 12 households were engaged in logging in the utility forest for constructing
and repairing house. Logging was conducted by group work with exchanging labor or wage labor. The person
without house could log the tree for his house construction after getting permission from village council. Logging
for sale was considered illegal except the case that households suffering from poverty were allowed to sell the
minimal amount of timber. The timber price was 1.6 million kip/m3; plank was sold 5000 kip/m and pillar was
100,000 – 120,000 kip/pillar. The annual amount of timber for sale was about 7.5 m 3.
All the households gathered NTFPs, such as bamboos, cardamom, cogon, rattan, a medicinal plant (Coscinium
fenestratum; kheua heem), dipterocarp resin, mushrooms, wild vegetables, for cash income. NTFPs were gathered
everywhere available in the village land and mostly in the dry season. The major income sources were cardamom
(60,000 – 70,000 kip/kg), cogon (2,500 – 3,000 kip/thatch) and Coscinium fenestratum (1,500 – 4,000 kip/kg). The
average household income from selling NTFPs was 788,218 kip/year, but differed by the economic condition of
households: the average income at rich households was 752,850 kip/year, 768,500 kip/year at middle households,
856,806 kip/year at poor households.
Wild animals, such as rat (3,000 kip/individual), squirrel (3,000 – 5,000 kip/individual), wild boar (10,000 – 20,000
kip/kg), bamboo rat, jungle fowl, bird, fish and snail, were also important food and cash income source. The
average household income from selling wild animals was 58,732 kip/year, but differed by the economic condition
of households: the average income at rich households was 43,000 kip/year, 63,000 kip/year at middle households,

Khamsing Keothumma
70,571 kip/year at poor households. Villagers cultivated not only rice but also cotton, sweet potato, maize and
other crops for both sale and self-consumption. The price for selling rice was 3,000 kip/kg for husked rice and 5,000
kip/kg for polished rice. The average household income from selling agricultural crops was 1,741,240 kip/year, but
differed by the economic condition of households: the average income at rich households was 1,498,250 kip/year,
2,187,500 kip/year at middle households, 1,381,429 kip/year at poor households.
Villagers raised livestock including cattle (1.86 individual / household), water buffalo (0.6 individual / household),
goat (0.8 individual / household), pig (2.24 individual / household), duck (2.4 individual / household), chicken (5.12
individual / household). They sold livestock for buying food, clothes and medicine, or paying children’s education
fee and wage for labor: cattle was sold 2,000,000 – 3,000,000 kip / individual; water buffalo 3,000,000 – 5,000,000
kip / individual; pig and duck 10,000 kip/kg; chicken 20,000 – 30,000 kip / individual; duck 20,000 – 40,000 kip /
individual. The average household income from selling livestock was 3,535,720 kip/year, but differed by the
economic condition of households: the average income at rich households was 4,915,000 kip/year, 4,642,000 kip/
year at middle households, 379,000 kip/year at poor households.
Other income sources were wage labor of weeding or construction, retail selling of utensils, allowance from the
relative, salary for school teacher, usage fee of rice mill. The average household income from this category was
732,720 kip/year, but differed by the economic condition of households: the average income at rich households
was 964,000 kip/year, 112,000 kip/year at middle households, 138,000 kip/year at poor households .
Table 1. Household income at Namee village in 2010

Household
Income Rich (16) Middle (20) Poor (14) Average income

source Million Million Million Million (Million kip/per.)
Million Million
kip /HH kip/ kip/HH kip/
kip/HH kip /per.
per. per.
Forest
1.095 0.219 0.951 0.158 1.246 0.178 0.181
Livestock 4.915 0.949 4.642 0.773 3.790 0.054 0.584

Agricul-
1.498 0.299 2.187 0.364 1.381 0.197 0.292
ture
Others 0.964 0.192 0.112 0.018 0.138 0.019 0.065
Total 8.472 1.661 7.892 1.315 6.555 0.449 1.123
Average household expenditure

Household expenditure was mainly for buying foods, medicine, clothes, stationery, oil, kitchen utensils,
construction materials, and cosmetics (Table 2). The average household expenditure was 1,665,720 kip/year, but
differed by the economic condition of households: the average expenditure at rich households was 1,841,000 kip/
year, 1,666,000 kip/year at middle households, 1,465,000 kip/year at poor households (Table 1).
Comparison between income from forest resources and others
The average total income per person was 1,123,000 kip/year, of which the income from forest resources was
181,000 kip/year (16 %), livestock raising 584,000 kip/year (52 %), agricultural production 292,000 kip/year (26 %),
other sources 65,000 kip/year (6 %). However, the average total income differed by the economic condition of
households: the average income at rich households was 8,472,000 kip/year, of which the income from forest
resources was 1,095,000 kip/year (13 %), livestock raising 4,915,000 kip/year (58 %), agricultural production
1,498,000 kip/year (18 %), other sources 964,000 kip/year (11 %); 7,892,000 kip/year at middle households, of
which the income from forest resources was 951,000 kip/year (12 %), livestock raising 4,642,000 kip/year (59 %),
agricultural production 2,187,000 kip/year (28 %), other sources 112,000 kip/year (1 %); 6,555,000 kip/year at poor
households, of which the income from forest resources was 1,246,000 kip/year (19 %), livestock raising 3,790,000
kip/year (58 %), agricultural production 1,381,000 kip/year (21 %), other sources 138,000 kip/year (2 %) (Table 2).

Khamsing Keothumma
Table 2. Household expense at Namee village in 2010.
Rich household (16) Middle household (20) Poor household (14)

Average Average
Expense Average Average Average
Average Average Average (kip/per./
item (kip/HH/year)
(kip/per./ (kip/per./ (kip/per./ year)
(kip/HH/year) (kip/HH/year) (kip/HH/year)
year) year) year)
Food 122,000 24,437 1,280,000 21,416 115,000 16,530 583,240 20,620
Rice 0 0 60,000 10,000 370,000 53,571 127,600 21,644
Cloth 428,000 85,625 385,000 64,250 315,000 4,510 379,160 50,342
Educa-
256,000 51,250 237,000 39,583 67,000 12,448 195,480 33,791
Medicine 248,000 49,750 233,000 38,833 250,000 35,714 242,560 40,738
Utensil 23,000 4,625 21,000 3,500 22,000 3,163 21,920 3,691
Travel 78,000 15,625 73,000 13,666 65,000 9,285 72,360 12,751
CONCLUSION
A total of 49 NTFP species were recorded at Namee village, of which 41 were used as food, 5 as medicine and 3
materials for handicraft and construction. They were not only consumed by the gatherers, but also were the
important cash income sources for households. The important household income was from agricultural production
and livestock raising, selling NTFPs and wage labor. The average total income and expenditure per person was
1,123,000 and 273,409 kip/year. The income from forest resources accounted 16 % of the total income per person.
It is recommended that the place of gathering rare NTFPs have to be shifted rotationally, and the gathering season
be limited for sustainable resource use.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This paper is based on my graduation thesis at Faculty of Forestry, National University of Laos. I wish to express my
profound gratitude to Dr. Lamphoune Xayvongsa and Mr. Somphone Chanthavilay of Faculty of Forestry, National
University of Laos, Mr. Sengdao Khonbouhan of District Agriculture and Forestry Office, LoaNGam District, Salavan
Province and all the people at Namee village.
REFERENCES
Forest Department. 2005. Forest Statistics to 2020 of Lao PDR. Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Lao PDR.
Keophet Phaudom. 2007. Use and management of village forest at Hatnaleng village, Nale District, Louangnamtha
Province.
Sengouthay Thavysouk. 2006. Comparison of NTFPs sale between as raw materials and after food processing at
Khangsang village, Thakhek District, Khammouan Province.
Sydavon Chanthavong. 2006. Management of NTFPs use at Saloy village, Nale District, Louang Nam Tha Province.
Daokham Chanthakoumma. 2006. NTFP use at Tamy village, May District and Sing District, Louangphabang
Province.
Nek Khemmanichan. 2008. Study on NTFPs use at village in Noy District and Pek District, Xiangkhouan Province.
Phutnakhon Douangmala. 2008. Management and use of natural resources at village conservation forest.

Khamsing Keothumma
Phouvong Kongsap. 2009. Management and use of NTFPs at Huaynyang village, Hongsa District, Xaynyabouly
Province.
Lamphoune Xayvongsa. 2010. Management of NTFPs.
Vilayvan Thongmanivong. 2007. NTFPs use and swidden cultivation at Namha village in the Namha Protected Area,
Louangnamtha Province.
Hakkantana Doysipaseut. 2009. Management of timber and NTFPs at Namha village, Namtha District,
Louangnamtha Province.
Houngphet Chanthavong. 2008. The role of forest resources in the village livelihood and poverty reduction.

PART 3. CONTRIBUTED PAPERS

Engaging People’s Participation for Rural Development

HOUSEHOLD-BASED LIVESTOCK OPERATIONS MASTER SAMPLE DESIGN
IN THE PROVINCE OF NUEVA ECIJA, PHILIPPINES
Anna Maria Lourdes S. Latonio, Ph.D.

Central Luzon State University, Philippines
amelou122004@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
The agricultural scenario is changing. More agricultural farms are observed to be converted to housing subdivisions or business
establishments. The livestock sector, which is an important component of agriculture, is growing and becoming an
independent industry. A Master Sample (MS) design, developed specifically for the livestock sector can be used to address th e
increasing trend in the magnitude of the differences between census and intercensal official livestock inventories in the country.
Recent sample surveys/census in the province of Nueva Ecija, were evaluated and compared for the construction of a barangay
level sampling frame (SF) for household based livestock operations (HBLOs). Primary sampling units (PSUs) were formed by
joining and linking adjacent barangays within each municipality such that a PSU consists of at least 100 HBLOs rearing
carabaos. The formed PSUs were found to be relatively homogenous in terms of carabao-related characteristics, with stronger
correlations between cattle and goat characteristics, but lower correlations between swine and other types of livestock related
characteristics. Sampling exercises were performed to establish the MS design to satisfy the criteria of CVs<10%, design effects
(over simple random sampling) >1.0 at sampling rates f -< 25% for the four livestock types. The recommended MS design is
Stratified Cluster Sampling of PSUs, with PSU size based on the assumption that the MS is for a 10years use and that two-
staged sampling designs are to proceed from the MS that would require a semi-annual rotation of HBLOs of approximately 10/
PSU with fifty-percent returning samples in two consecutive years. PSUs are stratified according to concentration of cattle and
swine inventories: Low in cattle inventory (< 200 heads), Moderate (201-500 heads), and High (>500 heads); Low in swine
inventory (-<500 heads) and High if otherwise.
INTRODUCTION
In the Philippines, the design of the Census of Agriculture and Fisheries (CAF) has evolved and has been reduced in
coverage in terms of number of barangays or villages. The 1980 Census of Agriculture (CA) basically covered all the
barangays in the country (NCSO,1986), while the CA 1991 covered only around 52% of the barangays using CA
1980, Census of Philippine Households (CPH) 1990 and list of barangays as basis for frame (NSCB, 2000). Finally,
the CA 2002 covered only around 28% of all the barangays in the country using CA 1991, Census 2000 and list of
barangays as basis for constructing the sampling frame (NSO, 2003). With municipality/city level as domain, these
censuses of agriculture employed stratified and systematic sampling, completely enumerating agricultural
households in the sample barangays. CA 1991 ordered barangays according to total farm area (TFA), while CA 2002
in addition to TFA, also made use of the number of households (NHH) to arrange barangays. The most recent CA
2013, however, was a complete enumeration exercise.
For the inter-census years, sample surveys with much fewer respondents are run by the Bureau of Agricultural
Statistics (BAS) to estimate the agricultural inventory parameters in different years. BAS, through the combined
results of its Backyard Livestock and Poultry Surveys (BLPS) and the Commercial Livestock and Poultry Surveys
(CLPS), reports livestock inventory estimates for the different livestock types quarterly and semi-annually. The
BLPS’ share in the estimated total inventory is higher than that of CLPS. The CLPS’ share for carabao, cattle and
goat is less than 10%, while that for swine is around 30% (Latonio, 2012).
While the CA design has evolved every census year, the BLPS has maintained its 1991 design. The difference in the
designs of the CA and BLPS may have contributed to the increasing magnitude in the differences between the
estimates coming from the two data sources during common (census) years registering as much as 0–900% at the
provincial level, 0–190% at the regional level, and 0–55% at the national level (Brecia, 2007 and Latonio, 2012). To
produce more consistent livestock inventory estimates, sample survey designs should preferably proceed from that
of the latest census, updated every after the conduct of the census, together with the changes in sampling designs.
The idea is to develop a possible MS design for livestock surveys, from which subsamples can be selected to serve
the needs of inter-census livestock sample surveys or survey rounds. Different countries, including the Philippines
adopt the use of master samples for household surveys (Barcenas, 2003).

Anna Maria Lourdes Latonio
A master sample design can also be developed and used for agriculture, specifically for the livestock sector.
COMPARISON OF AVAILABLE DATA SOURCES IN NUEVA ECIJA

Several data sources available in the province of Nueva Ecija were compared for completeness and accuracy.
These data sources were the Nueva Ecija barangay level Census of Population (CP2007), the Barangay Agricultural
Profile Survey (BAPS2007) and the Livestock Population Survey (LPS2010) barangay level results provided by BAS,
the household level PCCI2010 from the Philippine Carabao Center, and the compiled barangay level agricultural
and livestock inventory reports collectively named as LGU2010 gathered from the local government unit offices in
the province of Nueva Ecija.
2.1 Data Sources on Barangay Agricultural Characteristics. The relevant barangay level characteristics available
in both BAPS and LGU data sources are total land area (TLA), total agricultural area (TAA), total palay area (TPA),
population (POPN), number of households (NHH) and number of palay growers (NPG). To determine which data
source is more reliable, correlations of pairs of variables (within each data source) that are expected to be strongly
correlated were computed. All data for pairs of variables by LGU were found to have higher degree of correlation
than the data reported by BAPS (Table 1). Thus, the LGU data on all the variables mentioned are the more accurate
data.
Table 1. Correlation between barangay level characteristics gathered by BAPS and LGU, Nueva Ecija.
PAIRS OF VARIABLE BAPS N = 849 LGU N for LGU
Agricultural area and palay area 0.380 0.929 389

Agricultural area and number of palay growers 0.224 0.729 389
Palay area and number of palay growers 0.686 0.832 839
CP and population 0.924 0.969 849
CP and number of households 0.818 0.914 632
Population and number of households 0.797 0.944 632
Source: Latonio, 2012
2.2 Data Sources on Livestock-Related Inventories. With PCCI as reference, correlations between PCCI and each of
LPS, BAPS and LGU data on barangay numbers of carabao were calculated and compared. All correlations were
found to be within moderate strengths (0.785, 0.603 and 0.787 respectively). Also, the strength of correlation
between LGU-BAPS was inferior numerically compared to the correlation between LGU-LPS (0.715 and 0.525
respectively). Further, relative differences each between LPS, BAPS and LGU against PCCI revealed that between
BAPS - PCCI has the most number of relative differences outside the +100% interval. The least number of relative
differences were observed between LGU - PCCI. These show that data on number of carabao by LGU was the most
reliable, while LPS is more reliable than BAPS.
The different data sources were also compared on cattle, goat and swine inventory. Comparison revealed that
generally, BAPS estimates have the tendency to have higher values than LPS, more noticeable especially for small
livestock types (goat and swine), coupled with higher measures of variability. BAPS showed the tendency to
provide higher inventory estimates than LPS.
CONSTRUCTION OF THE SAMPLING FRAME (SF) FOR HOUSEHOLD BASED LIVESTOCK OPERATIONS
SURVEY
The population of livestock operations is a multiple population, diverse in terms of sizes of operation (as small/
large or household/non-household based), involvement of farm land (farm or non-farm based), and types of
livestock reared (carabao, cattle, goat, swine, and others). The livestock operations population basically consists of
two major sub-populations, namely the: (a) Non-household Based Livestock Operations (NHBLOs) and the (b)
Household Based Livestock Operations (HBLOs).

3.1 The subpopulation of NHBLOs further consists of separate subpopulations, one for each type of livestock
similar to the principle used in CLPS. This subpopulation consists of all non-household-based livestock
establishments that are expectedly large and are identified as institutional, corporations, organizational and similar
non-household related livestock establishments/operations.
3.2 The constructed Sampling Frame of the subpopulation of HBLOs is an area frame consisting of 849 barangays
distributed among 32 cities/municipalities of Nueva Ecija. The HBLOs are the ultimate sampling units (USUs) from
whom responses are to be obtained. PSUs must consist of enough number of HBLOs to allow rotation within,
during the span of years that the master sample will be used. The desirable size of PSU depends on the workload
of the master sample. Assuming that a two-staged sampling design is to proceed from the master sample to be
used for ten years, and a semi-annual rotation of HBLOs of approximately 10/PSU with fifty percent returning
samples in two consecutive years is planned, a PSU should have at least 100 HBLOs.
3.3 Formation of primary sampling units. In Nueva Ecija, the HBLOs comprise less than 5% of the total number of
households for each of the different types of livestock (Latonio, 2012). For this reason, screening households to
identify and include in the sampling frame only the households which rear livestock is recommended. Another
problem encountered in the formation of PSUs is the non-availability of data on number of HBLOs per barangay.
This information is not explicitly available in the desired form because the numbers of livestock operations are
generally reported as per type of livestock and not as a combined number of livestock operations regardless of
type of livestock reared. The PSUs were therefore formed on the basis of the number of carabao HBLOs using the
PCCI data to be assured that the required number of USUs in the PSUs is satisfied. Examining the available HBLO
level data in the Science City of Muñoz and Palayan City shows the possible structure of ownership of livestock in
the province. In the combined data of these cities, majority of the HBLOs operate on goat (>50%), followed by
carabao (38%), cattle (26%) and swine (16%) as shown in Table 2. Values in each column do not add up to the
actual total number of HBLOs since HBLOs operate on at least one type of livestock.
Table 2. Frequency and percentage of HBLOs by type of livestock, Science City of Munoz and Palayan City(2010).
TYPE OF SCIENCE CITY OF MUÑOZ PALAYAN CITY COMBINED

LIVESTOCK Freq % Freq % Freq %
Carabao 644 33.77 434 47.12 1,078 38.12
Cattle 560 29.37 188 20.41 748 26.45
Goat 1,117 58.57 473 51.36 1,590 56.22
Swine 328 17.20 128 13.90 456 16.12
Total 1,907 100.00 921 100.00 2,828 100.00
Out of 2,828 HBLOs, almost one-third (32.53%) is single type goat operations, followed by 17.5% single type
carabao operations (Figure 1). The least of the single type HBLOs are those which operate on swine (8.10%). Most
of two-type livestock operations combine carabao-goat (9.62%) while carabao-cattle and cattle-goat registered
4.17% and 5.62% respectively. With regards to three-type livestock operations, the highest registered for the
carabao-cattle-goat combination (3.29%). Combinations with swine were observed to be the least.
Table 3 also presents the combined distribution of percentages of number of HBLOs in combination with other
types of livestock owned. Carabao HBLOs usually choose to combine carabao with goat (25.23%) then with cattle
(10.95%) or both (8.63%). Among cattle HBLOs, the choice is either carabao or goat as seen in the reversed order
of magnitude of the percentages in the two cities. However when combined, cattle HBLOs mix their operation with
goat (21.26%) than with carabao (15.78%). Goat HBLOs on the other hand showed higher preference to join their
operation with carabao (17.11%) than with cattle (10.00%) while among swine HBLOs, the highest choice is in
combination with goat (18.86%). It is very seldom to find HBLOs operating on all types of livestock.

Table 3 Frequency and percentage distribution of HBLOs in Sci City of Munoz and Palayan City (2010).
TYPE OF LIVESTOCK REARED (X) PERCENT NUMBER OF HBLOs TOTAL

Carabao Cattle Goat Swine
Carabao Cattle Goat Swine Freq %
N=1078 N=748 N=1590 N=456
X 45.92 495 17.50
X 42.11 315 11.14
X 57.86 920 32.53
X 50.22 229 8.10
X X 10.95 15.78 118 4.17
X X 25.23 17.11 272 9.62
X X 4.55 10.75 49 1.73
X X X 8.63 12.43 5.85 93 3.29
X X X 0.83 1.20 1.97 9 0.32
X X X 2.69 1.82 6.36 29 1.03
X X 21.26 10.00 159 5.62
X 3.07 5.04 23 0.81
X X X 2.41 1.13 3.95 18 0.64
X X 5.41 18.86 86 3.04
X X X X 1.21 1.74 0.82 2.85 13 0.46
Total 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 2,828 100.00
Figure 1. Number of HBLOs by different types of livestock in the

Sci City of Muñoz and Palayan City (2010).
For completeness in coverage, all barangays were included in the formation of PSUs. Poblacions with small or
no reared carabao/livestock were combined with adjacent barangay(s) within the same municipality where the
barangays belong. No barangay was split. Out of 849 barangays, 137 PSUs were formed, each with at least
100 carabao HBLOs. The minimum number of barangays in a PSU is one barangay, which means that there are
barangays with at least 100 carabao operations. The PSU with the largest number of barangays constituted 44
barangays.

DESIGNING THE MASTER SAMPLE (MS) FOR HOUSEHOLD BASED LIVESTOCK OPERATIONS SURVEYS IN
NUEVA ECIJA
Sampling exercises were performed using a fixed sampling rate of f=0.25 (34 PSUs) and computing precisions of
estimators in terms of coefficient of variation CV25. The design effects DEFF25 over simple random sampling
without replacement (SRSWOR) were also obtained. The set criteria for the choice of sampling design of the MS
design is CV25<10% with design effect DEFF>1 over SRSWOR at the domain (provincial) level. The specified
sampling rate was based on the 2002 CA approved sample size. Below are the sampling methods explored:
 SRSWOR of PSUs
 Systematic Sampling of PSUs
 Probability proportional to size without replacement sampling of PSUs
 Stratified Sampling of PSUs
 Implicit stratification by TPA, SRSWOR within strata
 Implicit stratification by TPA, systematic sampling within strata
 Explicit stratification by provincial districts, SRSWOR within districts
 Explicit stratification by provincial districts, systematic sampling within districts
The TPA, NPG, CP, NHH, number of HBLOs and estimated livestock inventories were used as ordering variables or
as basis of PSU probabilities of selection. Among the above sampling methods, Systematic Sampling of PSUs with
Goat inventory as ordering variable gave satisfactory results for the estimation of total livestock inventory for all
types of livestock. With the possible MS design for Philippine Livestock Surveys in mind, provinces as domain, and
HBLOs as USUs, this sampling design may be applicable only for Nueva Ecija but not for other provinces, since
correlations between goat and other types of livestock may not be the same in other provinces.
Although the formation of the PSUs have resulted to units which are less variable in terms of the carabao related
characteristics, there is still room to classify PSUs either as low or high in terms inventories of the other types of
livestock, leading to the idea of stratifying PSUs based on livestock concentration so that strata formed are more
homogenous in terms of livestock inventories of the PSUs within strata. The criteria on stratification by livestock
concentration were developed based on the percentile distributions of the PSU livestock inventory estimates of the
different livestock types. For large types of livestock (carabao and cattle), a PSU was classified as low if it has at
most 200 heads of the livestock and high if otherwise. For small livestock types (goat and swine) a PSU was
classified as low if it has at most 500 heads of the livestock and high if otherwise. Since the PSUs are already
relatively homogenous in terms of carabao inventories, the strata formations using livestock concentration were
mainly based on cattle, goat and swine inventory estimates. The following combinations of livestock
concentrations were explored:
 Stratification by goat and swine concentration (C1)

 Stratification by cattle and goat concentration (C2)
 Stratification by cattle and swine concentration (C3)
 Stratification by cattle, goat and swine concentration (C4)
 Stratification by cattle and swine concentration (C5)
Stratification C5 is a modification of C3. Another subgroup classification was introduced for cattle by splitting the
High cattle inventory classification into two. Under stratification C5, a PSU is classified as Low in cattle inventory if
it has at most 200 heads, Moderate if within 201-500 heads, and High if greater than 500 heads. Using
stratification C5, a satisfactory result was obtained in that the estimators for total inventory for each type of
livestock under proportional allocation were within the set desired precision criteria.
The final choice for the most appropriate sampling method if the sole basis are the prescribed criteria (CV 25’s<10%,
DEFFs>1) is between (A) systematic sampling of PSUs ordered by goat inventory and (B) stratified random sampling
of PSUs stratified based on the combination of cattle and swine concentration (C5). Both sampling designs
(sampling scheme and estimation procedure) were able to produce estimators with adequate precision (Table 4).

Table 4. Sampling designs which satisfied prescribed criteria (CV25’s<10% and DEFFs>1).
CV0.25 NUM OF NUM

DESIGN DESCRIPTION CV25 < OF
Carabao Cattle Goat Swine 10% DEFF2 >
1.0
Systematic sampling of PSUs with
goat inventory as ordering varia- 2.38 6.64 4.48 6.86 4 4
ble
Stratification by livestock con-
centration, Simple Random Sam-
pling without replacement of 5.05 9.58 9.54 8.18 4 4
PSUs, by Proportional allocation
within strata
Stratification based on cattle and swine inventory:
Cattle: Low : 0-200 heads, Moderate: 201-500 heads and High: > 500 heads
Swine: Low: 0-500 heads and High: > 500 heads
Aside from simplicity, the choice of the Master Sample design was guided by the budgetary limitations of the last
2002 Census of Agriculture (f=0.28). The MS design should be able to meet the desired precision (CV < 10%, Deff
over SRSWOR > 1.0) of estimators at the domain (provincial) level. It should also be simple for adaptability in all
provinces in the country. The recommended MS for livestock surveys in Nueva Ecija for the subpopulation of
household based livestock operations is Stratified Cluster Sampling of PSUs, where PSUs are formed by linking
adjacent barangays to form a unit consisting of at least 100 carabao HBLOs. The size of the PSUs is based on the
assumption that the MS is to be used for ten years and that two-staged sampling designs are to proceed from the
MS that would require a semi-annual rotation of USUs of approximately 10 per PSU with fifty percent returning
samples in two consecutive years. Stratification of PSUs are based on livestock concentration of cattle and swine
inventories by the following criteria: A PSU is Low in cattle inventory if it has at most 200 heads of cattle,
Moderate if it has 201-500 heads, and High if greater than 500 heads; A PSU is Low in swine inventory if it has at
most 500 heads of swine and High if it has otherwise.
If used and properly implemented, a Master Sample design for livestock surveys is expected to reduce the
magnitude of the differences between livestock inventory estimates observed between censuses and sample
surveys. The 2013 Census of Agriculture which this time is a complete enumeration is an ideal situation that can
be used by concerned government agencies to develop a new design for agricultural sample census/surveys for the
inter-census and coming census years specifically for livestock and particularly for the household based livestock
operations. The results of this paper on MS for livestock surveys for the subpopulation household based livestock
operations in Nueva Ecija can be applied.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author would like to thank Dr. IPDavid, Dr. ZVJAlbacea, Dr.LLTolentino, Dr. FPLansigan, Dr. LCCruz (PCC), Dir.
RSRecide (BAS), Dr. PSFaylon(PCAARRD), Dir. GGSelda (SRTC), DOST, NE-LGUs, and CLSU. B’H!!!

REFERENCES
BARCENAS, M.L. 2004. “The Development of the 2003 Master Sample (MS) for Philippine Household
Surveys.” 9th National Convention on Statistics. October 4-5, 2004. EDSA Shangri-la Hotel, Phil.
BAS. 2011. Carabao Industry Performance Report. Explanatory Notes. pp.i.
BRECIA, H. B. 2007.”Assessment of the Quality of the Philippine Livestock Statistics.” Undergraduate Special
Problem. University of the Philippines Los Banos.
Latonio, A.S. 2012. Development of a Master Sample for Philippine Livestock Surveys. University of the Philippines
Los Banos, College, Laguna, Philippines
NCSO. 1986. 1980 Census of Agriculture National Summary. Vol.2. Final Report. Republic of the Philippines.
NSCB. 2000. “Profile of Census and Surveys Conducted by the Philippine Statistical System.” Rep. of the Phil.
NSO. 2003. Residence of Agricultural Operators from the 2002 Census of Agriculture. Vol.1. pp. xi – xx.
NSO (2008). “Population Census 2007 Press Release”. Number: 2008 – 30. April 16, 2008.
http://www.census.gov.ph/data/pressrelease/2008/pr0830tx.html

TEXTILE PRODUCTION OF RURAL LAO-TAI WOMEN
IN XAM NUEA AND XAM TAI DISTRICTS IN LAOS
Nagisa Ito
Graduate University for Advanced Studies (PhD Candidate)
#E-mail: nanaminagi@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Xam Nuea and Xam Tai Districts, located in the northeastern part of Laos along the Vietnam border, are famous for textile
production both inside and outside of Laos. These areas are among the largest producers of textiles today. In this presentation,
I will describe the role Lao-Tai women play in the textile production process and explain how these areas have become the
largest producers of textiles in the country. In the villages, a division of labor exists between men and women; weaving is
categorized as a task for women. All women learn weaving skills throughout the course of their life, as the production of textiles
is an important socio-cultural element in terms of constructing social relationships and gender roles. The handwoven textiles in
Xam Nuea and Xam Tai were once used, exchanged, and traded in the local areas. In the late 1990’s, the villagers began to
produce textiles for commercial purposes and sold them outside of these areas 。Today, weaving textiles has become an
important resource of cash income, which is critical for people to cope with social and environmental changes. Textiles continue
to be produced and traded by women. Some women become mae khaa, or female merchants, who take orders from town -
based merchants, while others take orders directly from the female merchants. However, weavers do not construct patron-
client relationships with merchants, because they produce textiles with traditional resources available to all women. Merchants
are diverse; many women have the potential to become merchants. In Lao-Tai villages, women, as well as men, are encouraged
to seek ways to take advantage of their resources to pursue a better life for themselves and their families. The production o f
textiles gives people a way to improve their lives.
INTRODUCTION
Xam Nuea and Xam Tai Districts in Houa Phan province, located in the northeastern part of Laos on the Vietnam
border, are famous for textile production both nationally and internationally. I travelled to Laos for the first time in
2007 to undertake research as part of my M.A. I visited weaving workshops, shops, and some villages in the capital,
Vientiane, where I interviewed owners, weavers, and merchants. I discovered that many weavers both in
workshops and villages are originally from the northern part of Laos, and much of the cloth and woven articles are
brought from northern Laos. Most textiles and weavers originate from Xam Neua and Xam Tai. In this presentation,
I intend to explain that these areas are among the largest producers of handwoven textiles in Laos due to socio-
cultural practices, which maintain the transmission of weaving skills from generation to generation, and how
women take advantage of the tradition to cope with social and environmental changes and to pursue a better life
for themselves and their families.
RESEARCH METHODS
I carried out the research using the following research methods: (1) participant observation, (2) interviewing
villagers, and (3) recording the dates of textiles. I have been carrying out research in Xam Nuea and Xam Tai
Districts in Houa Phan province in Laos since 2010. I stayed in Laos for a total of 13 months, while affiliated with the
National University of Laos as a researcher. This paper is based on the results of the research so far.
I have two main research areas: the Muang Vaen area in Xam Nuea District and the Muang Kuan and Muang Na
area in Kuan District; the later once belonged to Xam Tai District; however, it become a district of its own in 2012. I
conducted research in the villages of Lao-Tai people, who are Tai-kadai speaking groupsof Laos. The oral traditions
in both areas state they have existed for hundreds of years, that they used to be a tributary muang of the Lan Xang
Kingdom, and that they have practiced Buddhism throughout the ages. The majority of women in these areas
engage in some aspect of textile production.

Nagisa Ito
In this presentation, I will outline the research results from the Muang Vaen area. The Muang Vaen area is located
along the Xam River and the Vaen River, which is a tributary of the Xam River. The Vaen River area is located about
35 km from Xam Nuea town; the Xam River area is located approximately 10 km further east of the Vaen River
area. All Lao-Tai villages in this area are Buddhist Lao and each village has a Buddhist temple. According to oral
traditions of Lao-Tai, their ancestors came to settle in this area some 500 years ago. I visited six villages of the area.
I stayed in "M.V" village for approximately 7 months and in "K" village for one month. "M.V" village, located along
the Vaen River, is a central area and in 2013, contained 85 houses and a population of 566 people. "K" village,
located along the Xam River, contained 45 houses and a population of 343 people in 2013.
Figure 1: Location of Houa Phan province Figure 2: Location of the Muang Vaen area
* The maps are made by the author with referring Socio-Economic Atlas of the Lao PDR (Messerli et al. 2008).
TEXTILE PRODUCTION EMBEDDED IN THE SOCIO-CULTURAL CONTEXT
Historical records suggest that the authorities of Lang Xang Kingdom were not interested in the cloth woven by the
villagers, but rather in forest products, even though Xam Nuea and Xam Tai areas were tributary munag of the Lang
Xang Kingdom for a considerable period. According to the villagers’ memory, they had not produced fine textiles
they do not use for themselves, only to pay tributes or to sell traders before they began to produce textiles solely
for sale around 2000. The handwoven textiles in Xam Nuea and Xam Tai must have been used, exchanged and
traded in inner regions. They wove the textiles for their own use and sometimes traded them. Therefore, it is not
the demands of outsiders but other reasons inside to develop the production of the textiles in Xam Nuea and Xam
Tai.
Previous works on textiles and weaving by Tai-kadai ethnic groups revealed that handwoven textiles have played
significant roles in various rituals, such as in weddings, funerals, and healing rituals, which indicates they have been
an indispensable part of social life (Gittinger and Lefferts 1992, Connors 1996, Cheesman 2004, Gittinger 2004,
Bunyaratavej 2004, Kanlaya ed. 2001, and McIntosh 2006). Previous research also highlights a sexual division of
labor within textile production given the dominant role women have played.
In the villages where I conducted research, a sexual division of labor exists and weaving is categorized as women’s
work. All the women possess weaving skills and are engaged in various stages of textile production there. For
example, young girls who have not mastered weaving techniques help their mothers and elders who have poor
eyesight to wind yarns for their daughters or granddaughters. Indeed, women’s levels of skill and work preferences
vary. However, regardless of their preference or productivity, all women possess some degree of weaving skills and
contribute to producing textiles. It is a distinctive feature of the region that all women have weaving skills and are
engaged in textile production.

Nagisa Ito
However, the vilagers rarely regard weaving as “aasiib,” or occupation. They say their aasiib is “het hai het naa,” or
farming. They grow rice in the paddy fields and practice shifting cultivation on the slopes of the mountains. They
grow plants and vegetables among the rice plants or in small gardens. They keep domestic animals such as
buffaloes, cattle, pigs, goats, chickens, ducks, and fish. Women are responsible for taking care of the fireplace,
cooking for the family, and looking after babies and small children, among other tasks. Weaving is part of women’s
regular workload, such as farming. Weaving is a common skill among women because the production of textiles is
an integral part of society.
In Xam Nuea and Xam Tai, weaving is seen to be important women's work and all the women commit to textile
production. This is partly because weaving is directly connected with marriage customs; women must learn how to
weave and prepare “kheuang khaa,” or brides' trousseau, by the time they get married. Mothers start teaching
their daughters how to weave when they are around 8-10 years old. They usually weave “tin sin,” or the hem part
of traditional tube skirt for women, first. The mothers first set the warp for their daughters, who then learn how to
set the warp for themselves and how to prepare the settings for supplementary weft and supplementary warp.
When women are able to weave textiles independently, they are considered eligible to marry.
Lao-Tai people in Houa Phan province construct patrilineal families. In Houa Phan, the sons live with their parents,
rather than their daughters, except in cases where the parents have no son to take care of them. Part of the
marriage ritual includes the bride and her family offering trousseau items to the groom's family on the day of the
wedding. The following is an example of trousseau items a woman from "M.V" village offered to her husband’s
family, when they married in 2006: a mosquito net (market purchase), 1 door curtain, mattresses to sleep on
(market purchase), 4-5 blankets (sleeping blankets and blankets for babies), 20 small pillows, 2 big pillows, 20 floor
cushions and about 90 “sin,” or a traditional tube skirt for women (9 warp lengths of 10 sin each). The groom’s
female relatives, on the other hand, give sin to the bride via her mother-in-law on the day of wedding ceremony.
Even after marriage, women continue to weave and exchange textiles to develop and strengthen social
relationships.
Every house has “kawaem,” or lidded, cane baskets, or a cabinet that has replaced the kawaem, and both are
usually locked. Unused handwoven textiles are stored in the kawaem, o or a cabinet containing “ngoen,” or money,
which includes both silver ingots and currency (Fig.3). This custom proves textiles are regarded as property. The
villagers in Xam Nuea and Xam Tai Districts frequently exchange various items among one another, such as rice,
alcohol, money, and labor to maintain social relationships, which are critical to their lives. Handwoven textiles are
also given as gifts. Because of this role, people regard textiles as property.
Figure4: Weaving with the vertical long-pattern-

heddle, Muang Vaen (2011)
Figure 3: Textiles and other items
stored in kawaem, Muang Kuan
(2011)

Nagisa Ito
THE PROCESS OF COMMODITIZATION OF TEXTILES
A woman in “M.V” village said to me, "I used to weave and store (textiles) in the box, but I sold them. Now the box
is empty." The villagers reported that they had sold almost all the textiles that were stored in their homes by the
early 1990's. Thus, they no longer have any antique textiles.
Houa Phan province was home to the former Pathet Lao headquarters in Vieng Xai (Fig.2). During the 1960's, when
Pathet Lao ruled the province and the United States began bombing the area, many people from Houa Phan
province took refuge in the Mekong Basin region. The refugees brought their cloth and textiles with them. Since
then, people in Vientiane became familiar with the textiles from Xam Nuea (Cheesman 2004). After the war ended,
city-based merchants travelled to villages in Houa Phan province to buy textiles, which they could sell in Vientiane,
Luang Prabang, and Thailand. Some villagers, including those who moved to Vientiane, also became involved in the
textile business. I met a truck driver in Xam Tai whose home village was Munag Na. He said that he used to collect
textiles from the villages to sell. In Vientiane, one shop sells piles of antique textiles from northern Laos. The shop-
owner stated that two women from Houa Phan and Xiang Khouang sold him the textiles; he has never travelled to
these provinces to buy the textiles. Those textiles attracted foreign textile collectors, which led to Xam Nuea
textiles becoming internationally renowned. This was how textiles from Houa Phan province gradually came to be
known in the textile market nationally and internationally.
The refugees in the Mekong Basin region began to sell textiles for a living, while the villagers in Xam Nuea and Xam
Tai started selling textiles around 2000. After the “New Economic Mechanism” was announced by the Government
in 1986, projects funded by international governments aiming to improve people’s standard of living began to be
carried out in Laos. In the Munag Vaen area, a project funded by the Australian government to improve public
health was launched in 1997. The villagers reported that the people in charge of the projects suggested that selling
handwoven textiles was a good way for women to earn cash income; consequently, they helped the women to
meet with merchants. Since this time, many merchants have visited the villages to buy hand-woven textiles from
the women. Some village women travelled to Vientiane or Luang Prabang to find markets to sell their produce. As
such, the women in the villages started weaving textiles for sale.
Today, women weave for both personal use and for sale. Since 2009, sin (Fig.6) has been the most popular selling
product, although “phaa,” or cloth (Fig.5), has also been a popular item. Many of them are woven with 100 percent
silk and sold in various cities, such as in Vientiane and Luang Prabang. Traditionally, they use silk and cotton yarn.
More recently, they also use synthetic threads. When they weave textiles for themselves, they rarely weave only
silk, but supplement with cotton or synthetic yarn. They also sell textiles woven with cotton or synthetic threads;
however, the prices are much lower than that of all silk textiles. Most of them are sin and are sold to other villagers
for their daily use. Except for silk textiles, which are exclusively produced for commercial purposes, the line
between those that are produced for sale or for personal use is rather ambiguous. When I asked weavers whether
the textiles they are producing are for sale or for personal use, they often answer, “Both are possible: If someone
wants to buy it, I can sell it. If my family likes it, I can keep it for us.”
Figure 5: phaa for sale, Muang Vaen Figure 6: sin for sale, Muang Vaen (2011)
(2008)

Nagisa Ito
THE PRODUCTION OF TEXTILES FOR COMMERCIAL PURPOSES
Today, weaving textiles has become an important source of cash income, which is critical for people to cope with
social and environmental changes. Textiles continue to be produced and traded by women. Girls continue to learn
how to weave from their mothers. For the most part, women continue to weave textiles using the same traditional
motifs and techniques as they did prior to the commercialization of weaving.
One notable change is that women weave 100 percent silk textiles exclusively for sale. According to the villagers,
the women began to use vertical long-pattern-heddles and machine-made silk yarn, which became available in the
local market, at the same time as they began to produce textiles for sale. Machine-made silk yarn is thinner and
finer than local yarns, enabling women to produce larger quantities. The vertical long-pattern-heddles (Fig. 4), into
which pattern sticks or threads could be stored for repeated use, have not only helped them to weave patterns in a
supplementary weft more easily, but have also led to a division of labor: one woman sets the patterns with the
vertical long-pattern-heddles, while the others weave.
The people who set the patterns for the weavers are either female relatives or mae khaa, or female merchants.
There are women create their own patterns, weave the textiles, and sell them to merchants, while others take
orders from female merchants who receive orders from town-based merchants then give the orders to other
villagers. The female merchants design the patterns and then give them to the other villagers. Some weavers who
receive designs, buy yarns, and sell the finished products to merchants, while others receive designs and yarn,
weave textiles, and receive payment per piece. Some weavers set the vertical long-pattern-heddles by themselves,
while others use the heddles set by the merchants or women, who take on the process from the merchants. Below
are four examples of female merchants:
[Example1]: Merchant A (who lives in “M.V” village): Merchant A possesses more than 20 looms; in 2013, she had
orders in “M.V” village and other villages in the Munag Vaen area. In 2011, she had more than 30 looms and
produced phaa for merchants in Vientiane. Since 2013, she has produced sin for merchants in Xam Nuea. She is
married to a senior official, and she is in charge of the women's league in “M.V” village. She was born in a village in
Xam Nuea District. Previously, she worked in Xam Nuea city with her husband. They both quit their jobs in 1992
and moved to “M.V” village, which is her husband's home village. She used to have a shop, but it is now closed. She
once sold corn; however, when the price dropped, she ceased to grow corn.
[Example2]: Merchant B (who lives in “M.V” village): Merchant B possesses 59 looms; in 2013, she had orders in
“M.V” village and other villages in the Munag Vaen area. She produced mainly phaa by 2008 and, since 2009, she
has produced mainly sin, both for merchants in Xam Nuea. She was born in a village in Vieng Xai District. She
originally visited “M.V” village to see a doctor specializing in domestic medicine. She met her husband during her
stay in the village. She learned how to weave after she was married and moved to “M.V” village. She spends most
of her time at home weaving. Of all women I met, merchant B is the one who spends the most amount of time on
textile production. For two years, her husband worked as a driver in Xam Nuea city, where he drove all over the
Houa Phan province. He owns a car. He sells general products purchased in Xam Nuea town, and buys forest
products to sell to merchants in Xam Nuea town. He has not worked as a village official. .
[Example3]: Merchant C (who lives in Vientiane): Merchant C was born in “M.V” village and moved to Vientiane
with her husband and children. She owns weaving workshops in Vientiane. She possesses more than 20 looms; in
2013, she had orders to weave 'tin sin,' or the hem part of tube skirt, in “M.V” village. She gives orders to women in
“M.V” village and migrants in Vientiane. Her father is a doctor of domestic medicine with considerable knowledge
of oral histories and village traditions. She donated money for a festival for which her father was a chief organizer.
She has two brothers and a sister who have studied abroad.
[Example4]: Merchant D, E, And F (who live in “K” village): Merchant D and E are sisters, and merchant F is their
sister-in-law. Their father lives with their brother and his wife, merchant F. Merchants D and E each possess
approximately 100 looms located in several villages around “K” village, while merchant F possesses 60 looms
located in village “K” and “H”; in both of which Merchant D and E do not have looms, in 2013. They mostly order
sin; however, they also buy cotton cloth, which the elderly women weave. They take orders from merchants in Xam
Nuea. The merchants were born in village “K” and married men from the village. Father of Merchant D and E used
to be a teacher and he understands oral histories and village traditions well. He serves as a representative of
laymen when sutra recitations are held. The families of merchants D and F own cars; they travel between the

Nagisa Ito
village and the Xam Nuea town frequently to trade goods. Merchant E's husband is a high school teacher. Merchant
F's husband began to work as a village official in 2013.
These examples show the diversity of female merchants. Some merchants are born in the areas in which they
work, while others are from other areas. Some women have shops but do not become textile merchants; they have
family members who work as village officials and they weave textiles for other merchants. Some women have less
than 10 looms in the villages in which they work. During my fieldwork, a woman who had many looms for her
orders in 2011 ceased to possess many looms in 2012, while another woman increased the number of looms for
the production of textiles for sale in 2013. Many women in the village have the potential to become merchants.
Thus, external conditions are insufficient for explaining the reason why some women become merchants. A
woman’s personality, motivation, and her family's way of thinking ought to be taken into consideration. Lao-Tai
people in these areas place a high value on working hard. They frequently use the words “khaan,” which means
lazy, and “man,” which means hardworking, to describe others. They tend to affirm that people seek opportunities
to pursue a better life for themselves and their families.
This kind of disposition also appears in relationships between merchants and weavers. Their relationships are
rather fluid. One woman accepted orders from merchant A, while her daughter wove for merchant B. One girl
wove on a loom belonging to merchant B; then she began using a loom belonging to merchant A. Weavers work for
a merchant until they finish weaving a set of warp. Weavers do not necessarily continue to work with the same
merchants. Once they finish, weavers can take orders from other merchants. To sum up, merchants and weavers
do not construct patron-client relationships, mostly because village women do not need to prolong relationships
with particular merchants to obtain the necessary resources to produce textiles: the women have acquired the
necessary techniques, tools, and knowledge of motifs throughout the course of their life.
Based on my fieldwork observations, village women tend to produce similar textiles as their neighbors. For
example, in 2011, at least 20 households wove tin sin for merchant C. However, in 2013, only one loom was used
for merchant C’s orders. The owner of the loom said, "After finish weaving the warp, I will weave sin for merchant
A." The villagers consult with their neighbors to decide whose orders to take on. As such, weavers are not entirely
dependent on merchants, but are in a rather similar situation to merchants. Weavers and merchants both try to
make the best of their resources to improve their lives. I know several women who travel to Vientiane or Luang
Prabang to sell textiles, even though they weave for other merchants. In this way, the villagers seek opportunities
to pursue a better life for themselves and their families. This is something that has not changed overtime.
CONCLUSIONS
In Lao-Tai villages in Xam Nuea and Xam Tai, weaving is an integral part of society. It has been an important socio-
cultural element in the construction of social relationships and gender roles; consequently, this has maintained the
transmission of weaving skills from one generation to the next. The handwoven textiles in Xam Nuea and Xam Tai
were once used, exchanged, and traded within the inner regions of Laos. Women began to produce textiles for sale
in the late 1990s. Today, handwoven textiles have become an important source of cash income. Textiles continue
to be produced and traded by women. Some women have become merchants who receive orders from town-based
merchants and give the orders to other villagers. Merchants are diverse; many women have the potential to
become merchants. Furthermore, the relationship between weavers and merchants is rather fluid, as they produce
textiles with traditional resources available to all women.
In Lao-Tai villages, women, as well as men, seek ways to take advantage of their resources to pursue a better life
for themselves and their families. Thus, the villagers are not merely vulnerable to the social changes, but wise
enough to seek ways to take advantage of these changes. They always try to find opportunities to make the best of
their resources. The production of textiles for commercial purposes is one such example.

Nagisa Ito
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my very great appreciation to Mishima Kaiun Memorial Foundation, The Takanashi
Foundation For Arts and Archaeology, Sasakawa Japan Science Society, the Resona Foundation for Asia and
Oceania and The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science for the financial support to carry on the research.
ENDNOTES
1
There are several groups among Tai-kadai speaking people in Houa Phan province. The villages where I conducted research are
populated by two groups: Lao Phut, or Buddhist Lao, and Tai Daeng; the later have not accepted Buddhism, but hold shamanic
beliefs that are called ‘nap the phii (ນັບຖ ີ ).
ື ຜ
2
Munag are chiefdoms which spread across areas where Tai-kadai ethnic groups lived from the late 13th century until mid-20th
3
Since 2009, the major market for handwoven textiles is domestic, rather than overseas.
້ າ),’ which could be sold to foreign tourists and used as tapestries.

4
They call textiles of rectangular shapes ‘phaa (ຜ
REFERENCES
]unyaratavej, Karen A. 2004. “Baby or Elephant Cloth?: Wrappers in Laos and Thailand.” Pages 82-90. In
Puranananda, Jane (ed.) Through the thread of time: Southeast Asian textiles. Bangkok: River Books.
Cheesman, Patricia 2004. Lao-Tai Textiles: The Textiles of Xam Nuea and Muang Phuan. Chiang Mai: Studio Naenna
Co..
Connors, Mary F. 1996. Lao textiles and traditions. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press.
Gittinger, Mattiebelle and Lefferts, H. Leedom 1992. Textiles and the Thai experience in Southeast Asia. Washington
D.C :Textile Museum.
Gittinger, Mattiebelle 2004. “Textiles for the Living and the Dead -A Lao Case.” Pages 66-82. In Puranananda, Jane
(ed.) Through the thread of time: Southeast Asian textiles. Bangkok: River Books.
Kanlaya, Dara (ed.) 2001. Legends in the Weaving, The Group for Promotion of Art and Lao Textiles. Vientiane :
Phaeng Mai Gallery.
Messerli, P., Heinimann, A., Epprecht, M., Phonesaly, S., Thiraka, C.,and Minot, N. (ed.) 2008. Socio-Economic Atlas
of the Lao PDR :An Analysis Based on the 2005 Population and Housing Census. Bern and Vientiane :
Geographica Bernensis.
McIntosh, Linda S. 2007. “From Girl to Woman: Textiles in Contemporary Phuthai Society.” Pages 150-159. In
Puranananda, Jane (ed.) The Secrets of Southeast Asian Textiles: Myth, Status and the Supernatural. Bangkok:
River Books.
Phaibounwangcharoen, Phimphan 2000. Bai Choum: Saranitaet bon Singtho [Bai Choum: Information on Textile].
Bangkok: National Library, Fine Arts Department,.
Silithong, K., Masuhara,Y., Sensathit, P., Mouanmany, K., and Lattanaphim, S 2011. Khongkaan Kepsasom le
Bokbathaksaa Eekasaanthongthin le leuangbooklao Nai Sathalanalat Pasathipatai Pasason Lao (pii 2007-
2010) [The Collection and Conservation of Local Documents and Oral History in Lao PDR (FY20007-2010)].
Vientiane: Department of Social Sciences, National University of Laos.

WOMEN, LAND AND EMPOWERMENT: THE MATRILINEAL FACTOR
THE CASE OF THREE COMMUNITIES IN BOBONARO DISTRICT, TIMOR-LESTE
Vanda Narciso,
ndependent researcher, Portugal, vandanarciso@gmail.com
Pedro Damião de Sousa Henriques,
CEFAGE and Department of Economics
University of Évora - Portugal pdamiao@uevora.pt
ABSTRACT
The rules of kinship are fundamental pillars of social organization in rural communities. In Timor-Leste two different systems of
kinship coexist, one patrilineal dominant in most of the territory and the matrilineal restricted to very few ethno linguistic
groups. The main question guiding this study is the role that matrilineality could play in empowering rural women. Special
attention is given to the relation between women and land, among other reasons, because the great importance of land for
rural populations and its potential role in empowering women. A case study with matrilineal harmonic, matrilineal and
patrilineal communities in Bobonaro district was elaborated to compare ownership and decision-making regarding land and
other issues of the domestic sphere. Information was collected through a household’s survey in three sucos of Bobonaro district
and the SPSS software was used to analyze the data. The results show that: a) Women have more land rights in matrilineal
communities, although the magnitude of the two rights considered (ownership and control) are very different; b) Women in
matrilineal communities have more empowerment in the domestic sphere, as measured by participation and autonomy in
decision-making; c) There is a positive association between the component control of land rights and women empowerment in
the harmonic matrilineal and patrilineal groups, and there is no significant association between land ownership and
empowerment in any kinship group.
KEYWORDS: Gender, Land, Empowerment, Matrilineal, Timor-Leste
INTRODUCTION
The land for all its significance, socio-economic, cultural and religious, is the most valuable asset for rural
populations around the world, including Timor-Leste. The conditions for exercising land rights for rural
communities in Timor-Leste vary substantially according to kinship and gender, although other factors such as age
and life cycle stage are also important. The rules of kinship are fundamental pillars of social organization,
particularly in rural communities and sharply influence the management system and customary land tenure, which
we know to be dominant in Timor-Leste (Fitzpatrick, 2002:167 and DRTL, 2008:7). Two different kinship systems
coexist in Timor-Leste, one patrilineal in force in most of the territory, and a matrilineal in regions with
predominance of ethnolinguistic groups Tetum-Terik (Tetum do Norte, Sul and Oriental), Búnaque and Galoli (map
2).
There are several arguments in favor of women's rights to land. Agarwal (1994:19), Deere & Léon (2001) and other
authors consider the well-being of women, efficiency, equality and empowerment. Thus, women land rights will
improve their empowerment and well-being. Gender and land rights are social constructions and both are
intertwined in the construction of other social relations in rural areas. The issue of land rights from the perspective
of gender relations leads us to the fact of being a woman or man to be a determining factor in the distribution of
land, and of other assets too, within the family and community and also by the state and market.
The contextualization of land access based on gender relations in Timor-Leste highlights the legal pluralism and
ethnic-linguistic diversity, in addition to gender inequality, existing in the country. The question guiding this study
is: Does the matrilineal factor affect the empowerment of rural women in Bobonaro district in Timor-Leste? To
answer this question special emphasis is placed on the relationship between women and land, given the great
importance of this resource for rural communities and the fact that, in accordance with Agarwal (1994:39),
equality in land rights can function “as an indicator of women’s economic empowerment and as a facilitator in
challenging gender inequalities in other (e.g. political e social) areas”.

Vanda Narciso and Pedro Damião de Sousa Henriques
It should also be noted that according to the anthropologist Edmund Leach “kinship systems have no “reality” at
all except in relation to land and property” (Leach, 1961:207, apud Holden, S., Kaarhus, R., & Lunduka, R. 2006:55)
and that throughout history, land has been recognized as one of the main sources of livelihood, wealth, social
status, and power. This paper, therefore, aims to analyze land rights and women’s empowerment; compare
empowerment of women in matrilineal and patrilineal communities; and identify connections between rights and
resources, namely: land, and women’s empowerment.
www.mapsofworld.com
Figure 1. Political map of Timor-Leste
Source: Adapted from Durand (2009)
Figure 2. Ethnolinguistic groups of Timor-Leste

METHODOLOGY
This study used a combination of primary and secondary

data sources. The collection of secondary data was based
on studies about Timor-Leste. A survey by questionnaire
administered to more than 100 families (with 102
questionnaires validated in the end) was the main
instrument of primary data collection. Additional
information, mainly of qualitative nature was also
collected, through dialogues and non-participant
observations in the field. The qualitative data was
essential for a better understanding, analysis and
interpretation of the results obtained.
Fieldwork was conducted during the summer of 2011 in 3

sucos of Bobonaro district (map 3); surveys were
conducted by a group of teachers and students of UNTL,
of both sexes, with Búnaque and /or Quêmaque as
mother tongue, and supervised by a team of University of
Figure 3. Sucos of Bobonaro District
Évora, to which the authors belonged. It was not possible (Source: DNE , 2011b)
to build a stratified random sampling; farmers were
selected by convenience sampling with the help of the
head of aldeias and sucos. However the intention was not to have representative empirical evidence, but bring to
discussion certain dimensions and differences which are usually neglected.
a. Construction of the analysis groups
Given the aim of this work, our analysis was essentially based on the kinship system, rather than the geographical
criteria of data collection. Thus, based on combination of the three characteristics that defines commonly
matrilineality: matrilineal inheritance, uxorilocal (matrilocal) residence and matrilineal kinship affiliation, three
groups were made. Respondents with matrilocal residence and matrilineal affiliation were included in matrilineal
harmonic group (MH). In Matrilineal group (M) were included those not belonging to the group MH and have at
least two of the above three features. The patrilineal group (P) corresponds to cases with one, or none, of
matrilineal characteristics.
b. Construction of the dimensions of analysis
Against the backdrop of these three kinship groups, we defined two major dimensions of analysis to test the
hypotheses of the study. The first dimension is the land rights, including not only ownership but also their control.
With this dimension we intend to ascertain the veracity of our first hypothesis, H1: Women in matrilineal
communities have more land rights than women in patrilineal communities. If we combine the questions "Who
own the land?" and "Who makes decisions about the land use?”, we will obtain a relevant indication about the
rights of women to land.
The second dimension is the empowerment aiming to verify our second hypothesis, H2: Women in matrilineal
communities have more empowerment within the household than women in patrilineal communities.
Empowerment is measured mainly from the participation and autonomy in decision making in 3 areas (the only
aspect present here). The questions related to the decision-making are as follows: 1) "Who is responsible for
spending money?”; 2) "Who is responsible for feeding the family?"; 3) " Who is responsible for decisions relating
to land use?”.
In these three questions, the respondents could answer that the decision is made by the man alone (1 point), by
both (or co-decision, 2 points ) or by woman alone (3 points ); the scoring system converted these qualitative
variables into quantitative variables, which in turn made possible a quantitative analysis. Based on the three
variables related to decision making form, four indicators of women’s participation and autonomy were created,
which can be said represent the level of empowerment: 1) the number of decisions that women make alone,

ranging from zero to three, 2) the number of decisions that women make in co-decision, ranging from zero to
three, 3) the total number of decisions in which women participate in co-decision and alone, ranging from zero to
three, and 4 ) the weighted average of women's decision making form. For the weighted average we weigh the
decision making, giving 3 points for each decisions that women takes alone, 2 points for joint decisions (co-
decision), 1 point for decisions made by men alone. The third hypothesis, H3 - The fact that women have more
access to land is translated into more empowerment, was investigated through the association between variables
of women's rights to land and the variables of women’s empowerment.
c. Processing and analysis of data
The data were analyzed using the SPSS v.21.0 software . We used essentially the following features: descriptive
analysis using contingency tables (crosstabs), arithmetic mean, mode and Chi-Square Tests; the level of confidence
established was 95%, i.e., p ≤ 0,05. LSD test within the Post Hoc Test was used to verify the existence, or not, of
significant differences among the three groups for analysis (kinship groups). In order to investigate the association
between variables, an association analyze was performed. As the variables are qualitative and have more than two
categories, the measure of association chosen was the Cramer’s V, with level of significance α = 0.05.
a. Formation of groups and key characteristics of respondents
After the groups had been established, according to the rules set out above, we got 36 cases in the Matrilineal
Harmonic (MH) group, 39 cases in the Matrilineal (M) group and 27 cases in the Patrilineal (P) group. Regarding
the gender of the respondents, the difference between all kinship groups is significant, in the MH group, women
were the majority of respondents (52.8 %) while in group M women represented 28.2% and in group P just one
woman, a widow, answered (3.7%). The figures show a much greater presence of women as respondents in both
matrilineal groups, a fact that already reveals a possible difference women’s position between groups.
Marital status did not show significant differences between kinship groups, the majority of respondents are
married. The average family size is 5.33 in MH group and 4.72 and 3.63 in M and P groups , numbers below the
national average of 5.8 (DNE, 2011). For the ethnic group, the difference between the P group and the other two is
significant. In the MH group we found Búnaque respondents ( 88.9 % ) and, surprisingly, Quêmaques (11.1%) that
are usually said to be patrilineal; in group M in addition to Búnaques ( 89.7 % ) and Quêmaques (7.7% ) we also
found 2.6% of Bécaìs; and in the patrilineal group ( P ), as expected we do not found Búnaques, there is 92.6 % of
Quêmaques and 3.7 % of Tetum-Terik and Bécais ( Annex 3 , Table 9 ) .
Illiteracy is high, higher than the national average of 41.7% (UNDP 2013) in matrilineal groups, 47.2% and 56.4% in
MH and M respectively, and only 25.9% in group P. Overall, most women`s respondents have no schooling unlike
men where "only" 35.2% are illiterate. This is an important point, because the low educational levels of women
generally have a negative impact on other development indicators such as health and nutrition and reduces
opportunities for social participation and from benefits from non-farm income. Levels of schooling are very low
and the differences between kinship groups are not significant, but seem to exist considerable differences
between genders within the same group.
b. Land and empowerment
Land: Do women have land rights?
At this point, what we want is to ascertain the veracity of our first hypothesis, H1: Women in matrilineal
communities have more land rights than women in patrilineal communities. So, we check if the women in
matrilineal communities have more ownership of land (mainly through inheritance) than women in patrilineal
communities, and verify also if beyond ownership women also have control of it. As expected, the most common
way of obtaining land is by inheritance, 88.9%, 82.1% and 66.7% in group MH, M and P, respectively, and no
significant differences between groups exist and the gender of respondents also seems not differentiate the way
to obtain the land.
Table 1. Ownership and control of land by kinship group (%)
Matrilineal Harmonic (MH) Matrilineal (M) Patrilineal (P) *

Who owns the land? (ownership)
Man 2,8 0 37,0
Both 19,4 28,2 59,3
Woman 77,8 71,8 3,7
Who makes the decisions about the land use? (control)
Man 2,8 7,7 44,4
Both 77,8 87,2 51,9
Woman 19,4 5,1 3,7
Source: Authors’ survey * The mean difference is significant at the 0.05 level, Post Hoc Tests
Regarding land ownership, there are no significant differences between the two matrilineal groups and group P.
According to Table 1, there is a considerably higher proportion of women with ownership of land in matrilineal
groups and joint ownership is in second place. In patrilineal group, the lands are held joint by the majority, and
followed by man alone. The rule of ownership is not rigid, and is worth to point out the values of joint ownership
as this may indicate a degree of flexibility and openness, to change traditional practices.
Decisions about land use show a very different reality (Table 1). It is noteworthy that co-decision is always the
majority answer. Which means that even in matrilineal groups (MH and M) where in most cases (77.8 %) women
have land tenure, women decide alone in about 12 % of cases only, and in 5.3% of cases the men decide alone;
whereas in the patrilineal group where the men hold alone the land ownership in 37%, and in 59.3 % of cases the
ownership is joint, men decide alone on 44, 4% of cases. The answer to the question “who makes the decisions
about land use” shows significant differences between matrilineal and patrilineal groups.
The above data confirm our hypothesis that women have more rights to land in matrilineal communities. However,
the magnitude of the two rights (ownership and control) is very different. Women in these groups have much
more access to land, particularly through the inheritance, than women in patrilineal communities, being the
difference between MH and M groups very short; but regarding the control, the disparity between matrilineal and
patrilineal groups is drastically lower because the number of women who have control over the land in matrilinear
groups is also much lower.
Empowerment: What about women's participation in decision making?
It is now time to test H2: women in matrilineal communities have more empowerment within the household than
women in patrilineal communities. Regarding the expenditure of money, co-decision is always the preferred
option, with majority in both matrilineal groups, but not in patrilineal. In the MH group is also worth to note that
44.4% indicate that women make this decision alone.
The results are significantly different among all groups of kinship. The co-decision is also always the option most
chosen with regard to feed the family, and the values for this answer are 76.9 % in group M, 61.1 % in the MH
group and 37 % in group P. There are significant differences between matrilineal and patrilineal groups, and it
seems that no major differences exist according to gender of respondents within each group. However, based on
our field observations we would say that women are responsible for the production of food crops for household
consumption, for buying the food when needed, and women are responsible also for cooking.
Regarding the question “who makes the decisions about the land use?” the majority of respondents opt for co-
decision, in the three groups. Again, the differences are significant between matrilineal and patrilineal groups.

Table 2. Type and form of a decision of the respondents by gender and group kinship (%).
Decision how to spend money
Matrilineal Harmonic (MH) * Matrilineal (M) * Patrilineal (P) *
Man 5,6 2,6 44,4
Both 50,0 84,6 44,4
Woman 44,4 12,8 11,1
Decision and responsibility of feeding the family
Man 8,3 7,7 48,1
Both 61,1 76,9 37,0
Woman 30,6 15,4 14,8
Decision on land use
Man 2,8 7,7 44,4
Both 77,8 87,2 51,9
Woman 19,4 5,1 3,7
Construction of the indicators of empowerment
Four indicators of empowerment (Tables 3 and 4) were created based on the decision-making variables. Overall,
the percentage of cases in which the woman takes none of the three decisions alone is high (66.7 %), but with
significant differences between the MH group and the M and P groups. It is noteworthy that in the MH group
more than half of the cases indicate that women take at least one kind of decision alone. The number of three
decisions taken in co-decision is very high in matrilineal groups (MH and M). The co-decision emerges as the
preferred form of participation of women in all groups of kinship, since over 80 % of women participate in co-
decision in at least one decision. The co-decision shows significant differences between group M (where it
achieved a pick) and the other two groups. When the decisions taken by woman alone and in co-decision are
jointed, the majority of women participate in all three decisions analyzed within matrilineal groups.
Table 3. Participation of women in decision making, number and form, by kinship group% .
Number of decisions that women make themselves alone

Matrilineal Harmonic (MH) Matrilineal (M) * Patrilineal (P) * Total
*
0 Decisions 47,2 76,9 77,8 66,7
3 Decisions 16,7 2,6 0 6,9
Number of decisions that women make in co-decision
Matrilineal Harmonic (MH) Matrilineal (M) Patrilineal (P) Total
0 Decisions 19,4 2,6 29,6 15,7
3 Decisions 41,7 61,5 25,9 45,1
Total number of decisions in which women participate, co-decision and alone
Matrilineal Harmonic (MH) Matrilineal (M) Patrilineal (P) Total
0 Decisions 0.0 0,0 22,2 5,9
3 Decisions 86,1 82,1 33,3 70,6

In relation to the weighted average (Table 4), the differences are significant between the three kinship groups.
Taken in consideration these four indicators we can say that MH is the group that seems more in favour of a
greater participation of women in decision making, followed closely by the group M. The difficulties of women to
participate in decision making are significantly greater in group P. These data allow us to state that women in the
matrilineal communities studied have more empowerment in the domestic sphere, as measured by participation
and autonomy in decision making using the variables alone or any of the indicators created, this conclusion is
reinforced in the MH group.
Table 4. Weighted average participation of women in decision-making by the kinship group

Matrilineal Harmonic (MH) * Matrilineal (M) * Patrilineal (P) *
Weighted average 6,7 6,15 4,96
Land: Empowerment factor of women?
To verify our third hypothesis, H3: Women with land rights have more empowerment, we analyzed the
association, using the value of Cramer's V, between the variables of women's rights to land - "Who owns the
land?” and “who makes decisions about the cultivation/use of the land " - and indicators of empowerment, the
latter re-calculated for this propose without including the variable “who makes decisions about the use of the
land", to avoid bias since this variable was itself part of the earlier indicators.
According to the data of Table 5 it is worth noting that the variable " Who owns the land?” does not demonstrate
significant association with any of the indicators of empowerment in any of kinship groups. On the other hand, the
question "Who makes decisions about the use of the land?" shows a significant association with some of the
indicators of empowerment in MH and P groups.
The association is significant and relatively strong with the number of decisions that women make alone, in co-
decision, and with the weighted scale in MH group. In the P group the association is significant and relatively
strong with the number of co-decisions and strong with the weighted scale. These data confirm the importance of
effective women's land rights, which includes the control and not ownership only, as drivers of empowerment. In
sum, the checking of the third hypothesis, H3: Women with land rights have more empowerment, points to a
positive association of the control component of land rights, in the groups MH and P , but does not show the same
trend in group M , since in this group the association is always non- significant .
Table 5. Level of association between land rights and empowerment, by kinship group.
MATRILINAR HARMONIC (MH) MATRILINEAL (M) PATRILINEAL (P)
FORM OF DECISION
Variables W. W. in co- W. Weighted W. W. in co- W. partici- Weighted W. W. in co- W. partici- Weighted
alone decision average alone decision pated average alone decision pated average
participat-
ed
Cramer V
0,199 0,144 0,26 0,371 0,039 0,152 0,164 0,171 0,316 0,224 0,192 0,52
Who owns value
the land Phi level
0,582 0,827 0,3 0,271 0,971 0,636 0,307 0,768 0,248 0,606 0,736 0,67
sig.
CCramer
Who makes 0,500 0,504 0,264 0,576 0,234 0,252 0,139 0,252 0,351 0,454 0,409 0,642
V value
decisions
PPhi level
about land 0,001 * 0,001* 0,285 0,002* 0,371 0,292 0,721 0,549 0,155 0,025* 0,6 0,005*
sig.
Source: Authors’ survey W. = Women; * Pearson Chi-Square, significant at 0,05 level

CONCLUSIONS AND FINAL THOUGHTS
The data presented confirm our three hypotheses stated earlier. Beyond the numbers, it is interesting to note that
there is a pattern in the decision-making form that begins to clearly emerge: The co-decision procedure is the form
most chosen to make decision, with an exception in the P group for the responsibility of feeding the family , which
is a man decision in the majority of the cases; exclusive woman's decision is never the majority option; the
percentage of cases in which the woman takes none of the three decisions alone is high ( 66.7 % ) , but with
significant differences between the MH group and M and P groups. In the MH group more than half of the cases
indicate that women take at least one kind of decision alone. The co-decision emerges as the preferred form of
participation of women in all groups of kinship, since in general in most cases 80% of women participate in co-
decision in at least one decision.
In addition to the empirical data, from our analysis three other facts are worth to highlight: i ) land ownership does
not correspond linearly to its control ; i ) the non-participation of women in traditional decision-making bodies; iii )
the law provides for equal but in practice this does not apply . These facts requiring analysis far beyond the family,
and take this issue to the stage of the community and the state. We showed that social kinship is an important
factor towards women's empowerment. The matrilineal factor proved to be an essential element, its role in land
issues and in the empowerment of women should be study in deep. Moreover, kinship is also a crucial factor in
the access and use of other resources, economic and non-economic, which are essential to the well-being of
women.
We are aware of how much remains to be studied in Timor-Leste in this field. In addition to important studies, the
most important thing to be done is give voice to women, promoting their participation in advisory and decision
bodies.
References
Agarwal, B. 1994. A Field of One’s Own: Gender and Land Rights in South Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Deere, D. C., & Léon, M. 2001. Empowering women: Land and property rights in Latin America. Pittsburg:
University of Pittsburg Press.
DNE. 2011a. Population and Housing Census of Timor-Leste 2010, Vol. 2. Díli, Timor-Leste: Direcção Nacional de
Estatística (DNE) e United Nations Population Fund.
DNE. 2011b. Timor-Leste Relatóriu Sensus 2010, suku relatóriu, Tapo. Díli: Timor-Leste: Direcção Nacional de
Durand, F. 2009. História de Timor-Leste: Da pré-história à atualidade. Lisboa: LIDEL
RDTL. 2008. Relatório de Estado da Nação – Vol. IV. Díli, Timor-Leste: Ministério da Economia e Desenvolvimento.
Fitzpatrick, D. 2002. Land Claims in East Timor. Canberra: Asia Pacific Press.
Holden, S., Kaarhus, R., & Lunduka, R. 2006. Land Policy Reform: The Roles of Land Markets and Women’s Land
Rights in Malawi. Noragric Report nº 36, October 2006. Ås, Norway: Noragric, Norwegian University of Life
Sciences (UMB).
UNDP. 2013. Human Development Report 2013 - Timor-Leste Country Profile: Human Development Indicators.
http://hdrstats.undp.org /en/countries/profiles/TLS.html. (August 15, 2013).

THE FOOD SOVEREIGNTY MOVEMENT AND THE EMPOWERMENT OF RURAL WOMEN IN
ASIA: PERSPECTIVE FROM SOUTH KOREA
Ms. Hyo-Jeong Kim

Phd Student, Department of Women's Studies,
Ewha Womans University, Korea
sheenkimm@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
How to enhance the economic and social empowerment of rural women in Asia? Most low-income women in developing
countries live and work in rural areas, and agriculture is their primary source of employment. Poverty reduction, economic
development and food sovereignty are inter-related and depend critically on improvements in agriculture. It is estimated that 70
percent of women in Asian countries are engaged in agriculture. However the ascendency of market globalization has been
accompanied by the rise of industrial agriculture which is large scale, capital intensive and highly mechanized. South Korea has
also opened its agricultural market and signed various trade treaties since the mid-1990s. It has not only threatened the
livelihood of farmers but also food sovereignty. There have been a variety of initiatives to deal with the crisis in agriculture and
food insecurity. Also rural women's knowledge and skills have been looked down upon in the process of agriculture
development. This paper examines the ways in which a women farmers’ group in Korea has developed a new combined model
of social enterprise and the women’s movement based on the case study of the Sister’s Garden Plot (SGP). This SGP
reconsidered women farmers’ positions and contributions which have been rarely appreciated in the process of industrialization
of Korea from an agricultural society. It, in particular, focuses on women's knowledge and how it has been regarded under the
condition of the subsistence production mode which largely relied on their knowledge. The indigenous knowledge of women
farmers which has been treated as useless in the process of modernization is reconsidered in-depth as an alternative knowledge
inevitable for sustainable development. It’s the key of the economic empowerment for women farmers. The locally and
organically grown, seasonal produce that around 130 women farmers, 17 local communities is sent directly to subscribers on a
regular basis. There were around 2,500 consumers nation-wide in 2014. SGP believes in sustainable, organic farming, protecting
and preserving biodiversity, safeguarding indigenous seeds, and in advocating farmers’ rights. Therefore a new development
strategy should be designed with due regard to promoting rural women’s access to the economy by planning and utilizing their
knowledge and skills.
INTRODUCTION: Feminization of Poverty and Agriculture
Close to 1 billion extremely poor people live in rural areas on less than 1.25 USD a day. Key areas of concern are Sub
-Saharan Africa and South Asia (IFAD, 2011). Women produce 80% of food in Sub-Saharan Africa; with 60% in Asia
and 50% in Latin America (FAO, 2011). It means two third of the women in rural areas are suffering from poverty
and hunger. Recently it has been referred to as the ‘feminization of agriculture’. It means the increased importance
of women's role in agriculture, whether as measured by the ratio between women and men in this sector or as
reflected by the high proportion of women whose main employment is in agriculture (De Schutter, 2013). Though it
is obvious that the feminization of poverty and agriculture issues are of global significance, especially in Asian
countries.
FAO (2010) reported that women comprised around 50 percent of the total agricultural workforce; with 48 percent
in China, 30 percent in Pakistan (triple the percentage of 30 years ago) and more than 50 percent in Bangladesh and
Nepal. In this context, UN and UN WOMEN declared on the international women’s day in 2012 and 2013 about the
importance of the women farmers’ role to solve the problems of the food crisis and climate change and to
eradicate poverty and hunger in developing countries. However, the ascendency of market globalization has been
accompanied by the rise of industrial agriculture which is large scale, capital intensive and highly mechanized. It has
threatened the livelihood of farmers and food sovereignty.
Women farmers in Korea also have suffered from the feminization of poverty and agriculture. Women farmers’
workforce in agriculture is around 80% (Statistics Korea, 2013). It means women farmers are major producers of
agriculture in Korea. However, around 73% of women farmers have no land (Ibid). Half of women populations in
Korea are more than sixty years old and their monthly income is under 400 USD compared to the average national
monthly income of 3,400 USD (Statistic Korea, 2008). Because of gender inequality and patriarchal culture, women
farmers rarely have economic rights. Moreover, small-scale farmers, especially old women farmers who are the

Hyo-Jeong Kim
majority of rural areas, can’t sell their products through the mass food distribution system. Since it is difficult to
find other ways of distribution, due to their lack of capital and land resources, they remain subsistence agricultural
producers in the informal and non-cash activities economic sphere. It curtails access to economic assets such as
land and loans and limits participation in shaping formal economic and social policies. This paper seeks how to
promote women farmers’ economic rights based on their capacity under the condition of the subsistence
production mode which largely relied on their knowledge. It examines the ways in which a women farmers’ group
in Korea has developed a new combined model of social enterprise and the women’s movement based on the case
study of the Sister’s Garden Plot (SGP).
BACKGROUND
Economic Empowerment of Women Farmers
Gender equality, the empowerment of women, women’s full enjoyment of all human rights and the eradication of
poverty are essential to economic and social development, including the achievement of all the Millennium
Development Goals. Women’s economic empowerment is usually explained as a direct path towards gender
equality, poverty reduction and inclusive economic growth. Because women make enormous contributions to
economies, whether in businesses, on farms, as entrepreneurs or employees, or by doing unpaid care work at
home.
Kabeer (2009) argues that the economic empowerment of women is thus a matter of human rights and social
justice. It also contributes to the development of human capital and human capabilities. So investing in women’s
economic resources helps poor households to weather crises and increases their chances of moving out of poverty.
Njuki (2012) emphasizes the recognition of women farmer’s multiple roles as food producers, income-earning
farmers, health/nutrition care providers, a nutritionally vulnerable population, and their food security and
nutrition efforts. So to empower women it is necessary to encourage women to make their own incomes under the
control of women and their purchasing power and increase women's assets, productive resources and their
decision-making capacities within countries, communities and households. Doss et al (2012) analyzed 34 projects
targeting on women farmers’ rights and economic power in developing countries, they found that the most
effective way to empower women farmer was the integrated approaches and targeting women as members of a
larger household and community. Organizations working with women must see them as not just for farmers, but
buyers, sellers, community leaders, wives, mothers, processors, and innovators. Projects that targeted women in
more than one of their roles proved the most effective.
Women and Food Sovereignty
The concept of food sovereignty emerged from La Via Campesina in the mid-1990s as a critique of the food
security discourses (Wittman, Desmarais, and Wiebe, 2010). The existing studies about food sovereignty have
placed heavy emphasis on understanding of food justice, food politics and the small farmer’s role (McMichael,
2010; Kloppenburg, 2010; Wittman 2010). The principle of food sovereignty increasingly considers women’s
contribution to food production and means changing both the food production and consumption model based on
the increasing contribution of women. The Declaration of Rights of Peasants‐Women and Men, declared by Via
Campesina in 2007, emphasized that the food sovereignty can bring about positive changes for gender equality in
the global agri-food system.
Raj Patel (2010) argues that we should use food sovereignty to address power inequalities based on sexism,
racism, patriarchy, and class. Park et al (2013) also argue that proponents of food sovereignty need to
systematically address gender as a strategic element of its construct and not only as a mobilizing ideology. Sachs
(2013) suggests feminist food justice model; to rethink and redefine heteronormative household models and
inequality related to food; value social reproduction work with food; feminist transformation of agricultural, food,
and development institutions; serious land reform and redistribution.
The food sovereignty movement and discourses in South Korea have been led by Nong-Min (agricultural people/
civil/producer) groups such as KWPA (Korean Women Peasant Association) and KPL (Korean Peasant League) after
becoming a member of Via Campesina in 2004. The international food sovereignty conference was initially held in
Seoul, organized by KWPA and KPL and hosted by Via Campesina. The food sovereignty movement has been

Hyo-Jeong Kim
spreading widely to find alternative agriculture in South Korea nation-wide since mid-2000. Recently, KWPA won
the 2012 Food Sovereignty Prize for promoting food sovereignty, women’s rights and the survival of small-scale
Korean farmers.
METHODOLOGY
This paper is a case study of the indigenous seed preservation movement and social enterprise ‘Sister’s Garden Plot
(SGP)’ led by Korean Women Peasants' Association (KWPA) working for food sovereignty as an alternative to the
current global agri-food system. It conducted participatory observations and 15 in-depth interviews with women
farmers in 2 local communities (Hoengseong, Haman) in 2010 and activists of SGP in 2013. The interviewees can be
divided in 2 groups. One is a young generation of women farmer activists in their 30s~50s, who returned to farming
and joined KWPA. They started indigenous seed farming in 2009. The second group consists of older generation
women farmers in their 60s~80s who have farmed indigenous seeds for more than 50~70 years in their local
community. They lived through the Japanese Occupation and the Korean War, and received little education. Most
of them are illiterate, but experts of indigenous agriculture. They are small-scale farmers and have preserved
indigenous seeds and farming.
WOMEN FARMER’S FOOD SOVEREIGNTY MOVEMENT IN KOREA

Rediscovering the Indigenous Seeds and Women’s Knowledge
KWPA is especially dedicated to indigenous seed preservation in farming communities such as the food sovereignty
movement. Actually, there had always been local food movements such as the Shintoburi movement whose aim
was to solve the industrial agricultural system since the green revolution. However KWPA’s indigenous seed
preservation movement deals with women farmer's knowledge, which had been looked down on, but is now being
reinterpreted into the main mechanism of the food sovereignty movement as one of the major points of their
movement.
Most of the KWPA activists were returning to farming and they were used to the industrial farming system. They
usually bought all materials for their farming, from seed to fertilizer, even for organic farming. They didn’t know
how to cultivate indigenous seed due to lack of knowledge, so they tried to conduct a field research to find and
gather the indigenous seeds and knowledge from hal-mo-ni (grandmothers) in their rural community. It was an
opportunity to meet and learn across generations of women farmers. Women in their 30s and 50s returning to
farming were able to learn from older generations of women farmers who had been farming for more than forty
years as a substitute to small-scale farming. The young generation makes it possible to reconsider the role and
value of women farmers, who had been undervalued and excluded from the capitalized market economy system in
the process of modernization. Now the indigenous seed movement organizes various projects by KWPA women
farmers, young and old, in more than fifteen cities and eight provinces nation-wide in South Korea. They collect
indigenous seeds and record indigenous knowledge from hal-mo-ni in their local community, and cultivate the seed
farms.
To develop the indigenous seed movement, two conditions are necessary; indigenous seeds from local
communities and the knowledge of women farmers who have been cultivating the indigenous seeds for a long
time. Some women have kept their indigenous farming through the industrialization process of agriculture. Their
common characteristics are that they have small-scale farms and are over 60 years of age (Hyo Jeong Kim, 2010;
Hyo Jeong Kim, 2011). The South Korean government implemented the agricultural policy for large-scale farming
after the Korean War. To receive the benefits of this policy, farmers had to have a large parcel of land and capital to
afford machineries and irrigation. Some farmers remained small-scale producers and maintained their indigenous
agricultural practices because they could not actively participate in the government program due to lack of capital.
Women farmers, in particular, have kept the indigenous seeds because of the traditional gender division of labor.
On the other hand, there is a complex dilemma that how to value women’s contributions to household and local
food provision without reinscribing women’s traditional responsibility for food provisioning (Sach, 2013).

Hyo-Jeong Kim
Social Enterprise: Sister’s Garden Plot

Reconnecting Producers and Consumers
The Unnine Tutbat -Sister’s Garden Plot (SGP)- is a food sovereignty movement and has been a member of CSA
(Community Supported Agriculture) of KWPA since 2009. It seeks to achieve greater food sovereignty in South
Korea by using a community approach to the production and consumption of Korean agricultural products.
The healthy, locally grown, seasonal and organic produce cultivated by women farmer communities is sent directly
to the urban consumers on a regular basis. SGP goals include sustainable, organic farming, protecting biodiversity,
preserving indigenous seeds, and realizing farmers’ rights. By operating on principles of food sovereignty, Korean
women farmers can not only help protect the natural environment and reduce carbon emissions, but also ensure
that healthy food remains affordable to the general public. From March 2009, the Ministry of Employment and
Labor has recognized SGP as a social enterprise and supported the salaries of two full time workers.
Recognized as a social enterprise in 2011, SGP is supported by the Ministry of Employment and Labor. SGP receives
financial support from both the government and business sector such as Hanhwa, it utilizes a marketing network
and tools of the business. It has a few agricultural social enterprises; heightened awareness of food sovereignty
and interest in sustainable farming. Now SGP consists of 17 local communities nationwide (May, 2014). The
organization works with around 130 women farmer producers, two-thirds of whom are over sixty years of age.
Each week, more than 2,500 families and individuals receive a box including fresh seasonal vegetables, organic
eggs, tofu, and traditional food; a regular box is roughly 25USD, and 20USD for single families. It is a lower price for
organic products compared to cooperatives. It is very different from industrialized food systems. Consumers follow
producers’ decisions and receive seasonal products. This is contrary to the current main food distribution system,
which is influenced by consumers’ needs rather than seasonal limitations. SGP is trying to build solidarity between
consumers and producers through various projects such as community farming and consumer meetings.
Multiple Empowerment of Women Farmers

a. Economic Empowerment
SGP is seen as a significant success in the women’s movement and the female farmer’s movement. SGP is also
regarded as one of the few women’s farmers organizations and as an exemplary case by the woman farmers
movement in other countries. It offers financial support for women farmers, mostly over 60, who are living on
small pieces of farmland or home garden, and enables them to make ends meet. SGP is also running a
campaign for the indigenous seed conservation movement (Kim and Jung, 2013).
b. Community Empowerment
Women farmers’ groups and collectives could provide individual women producers with access to markets and
it helped overcome obstacles in meeting demands of agricultural supply chains. SGP raised both productivity
and marketing of food based on community cooperation such as seed and planting material, community seed
banks and networks.
c. Political Social Commitment

SGP is also running a campaign for the indigenous seed conservation movement. SGP is a site of food politics,
seed conservation and food sovereignty. It challenges the globalized food system and rejects large-scale
industrial agriculture that commodify food. It is a unique case of CSA based on a network of female farmers
and female consumers and closely works with other women’s movement organizations. It is gendered access
to the land or garden plot and gendered forms of political activism (Kim and Jung, 2013).
d. Nurturing and Caring

It produces good, nourishing food for both the members and consumers. It is also caring and nurturing for
people and the environment. Producers enjoy seeing and knowing their customers through internet social
media, farm visits, and other activities (Kim and Jung, 2013).

Hyo-Jeong Kim
FUTURE CHALLENGE
There are the challenges. Most young woman farmer activists in Korea were having difficulties with farming
indigenous seeds. It was a totally different farming method from industrialized agriculture. However due to the lack
of skills and knowledge, it could be an opportunity to make a connection and network with older woman farmer
generations. Indigenous seeds farming requires more time. It is additional labor with farming, domestic labor and
childcare. Sometimes there are conflicts with a woman farmer's family, especially the husband. There are
challenges such as outputs and marketability on the indigenous seeds and crops, especially an economic
compensation issue under the global agri-food system. So it is important to use the CSA or farmer’s market in
distributing the products. Regardless of their social enterprise, their economic strategy could weaken the social
and political causes SGP has campaigned for. There are potential consequences of engagement with government.
Gender division of labour and the gender gap in the social enterprise could also cause trouble. Producers are
concerned about packaging and delivery to reduce pollution and trash. There is also a challenge to produce young
female farmers with an aim to sustain the SGP.
REFERENCES
Doss, Cheryl, Zoe Bockius-Suwyn and Shereen D'Souza. 2012. Women’s Economic Empowerment in Agriculture:
Supporting Women Farmers. UN Foundation. http://www.womeneconroadmap.org/node/372 (05.June.2014)
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). 2010. The State of Food and Agriculture 2010-11. Women in Agriculture:
closing the gender gap for development. Rome: FAO.
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). 2011. The Role of Women in Agriculture. Rome: FAO.
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). 2011. Rural Poverty Report 2011. Rome: IFAD.
Kim, Hyo Jeong. 2010. A Study about the Indigenous Knowledge of Peasant Women through the Indigenous Seed
Preservation Movement. M.A. Thesis. Women’s Studies. Ewha Womans University.
Kim, Hyo Jeong. 2011. "Indigenous Seed Preservation Movement" in South Korea: based on Indigenous Knowledge
of Peasant Women. The Journal of Rural Society. 21(2).
Kim, Hyo Jeong. 2013. "Women’s Indigenous Knowledge and Food Sovereignty: Experiences from KWPA’s
Movement in South Korea". International Conference 'Food Sovereignty: A Critical Dialogue'. Yale University.
Sep 14-15, 2013.
Kim, Hyo Jeong and Kyungja Jung. 2013. “Is Social Enterprise Compatible with Women’s Activism?: Grandma’s
knowledge and Community Supported Agriculture in South Korea”. the 8th International Society for Third-
Sector Research(ISTR) Asia Pacific Regional Conference. Kim Koo Museum and Library, Seoul, Korea. 24-26,
Oct, 2013.
Kloppenburg, Jack. 2010. “Seed Sovereignty: The Promise of Open Source Biology”. Pp. 152-165 in Food
Sovereignty: Reconnecting Food, Nature and Community. Hannah Wittman, Annette Desmarais, and Nettie
Wiebe (eds.) Halifax: Fernwood Publishing.
McMichael, Philip. 2010. “Food Sovereignty Movement: Addressing the Triple Crisis”. Pp. 168-183 in Food
Sovereignty: Reconnecting Food, Nature and Community. Hannah Wittman, Annette Desmarais, and Nettie
Wiebe (eds.) Halifax: Fernwood Publishing.
Naila Kabeer. 2009. Women’s Economic Empowerment: Key Issues and Policy Options. Stockholm: SIDA.
Njuki, Jemimah. 2012. "Women's Economic Empowerment for Promoting Food Security and Nutrition". the 56th
session of the Commission on the Status of Women. http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/csw56/
panels/panel1-presentation-Njuki.pdf (05.June.2014)
Olivier de Schutter. 2013. "The agrarian transition and the 'feminization’ of agriculture", International Conference
'Food Sovereignty: A Critical Dialogue'. Yale University. Sep 14-15, 2013.

Hyo-Jeong Kim
Patel, Raj. 2010. “What Does Food Sovereignty Look Like?” pp. 186-196 in Food Sovereignty: Reconnecting Food,
Nature and Community. HannahWittman, Annette Desmarais, and Nettie Wiebe (eds.) Halifax: Fernwood
Publishing
Sachs, Carolyn, 2013, "Feminist Food Sovereignty: Crafting a New Vision", International Conference 'Food
Sovereignty: A Critical Dialogue', Yale University, Sep 14-15, 2013.
Statistics Korea. 2008. Women and Agriculture. Seoul: Statistics Korea.
Wittman, Hannah. 2010. “Reconnecting Agriculture & the Environment: Food Sovereignty & the Agrarian Basis of
Ecological Citizenship.” pp. 91-104 in Food Sovereignty: Reconnecting Food, Nature and Community. Hannah
Wittman, Annette Desmarais, and Nettie Wiebe (eds.) Halifax: Fernwood Publishing.
Wittman, Hannah, Annette Desmarais, and Nettie Wiebe. 2010 “The Origins and Potential of Food Sovereignty.”
pp. 1-14 in Food Sovereignty: Reconnecting Food, Nature and Community. HannahWittman, nnette
Desmarais, and Nettie Wiebe (eds.) Halifax: Fernwood Publishing.

THE POTENTIAL OF COMMUNITY-BASED PARTICIPATION IN SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN
LAO PDR: A CASE STUDY OF THE INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION PROJECT FOR
COMMUNITY HEALTH AND EDUCATION FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF THE RYUKYUS

University of the Ryukyus (JAPAN)
nsuzuki@ll.u-ryukyu.ac.jp
ABSTRACT
The Government of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (GOL) aims to achieve its Millennium Development Goals for 2015,
which consists of a commitment to gradually lessen its high dependency on overseas development assistance and graduate
from the Least Developed Countries (LDC) Status by 2020, as declared in the 1996 the Sixth Congress of the Lao People's
Revolutionary Party (LPRP). It is very important for social development that both international organizations and bilateral
donors from abroad, as well as NGOs, local governments, foundations, schools, universities, and companies conduct relief
activities in Laos and support in order to achieve these goals. A case study by the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa
supported the community public health project, “Dental Care Improvement through Tooth-brushing Instruction: Grass Roots
Project in Donekoi primary school and Phonpapao primary school in Sisattanak district, Vientiane Capital, Laos (2008-2011).”
Moreover, the University of the Ryukyus funded the rebuilding of an elementary school attached to the National University of
Laos through the Okinawa-Laos Friendship Association in 2009 (physical infrastructure development) and is now giving help to
reinforce the function of the university-attached elementary school as an educational exchange project (social development).
Both of the projects were carried out in order to meet the needs and challenges in Laos in order to meet the overall goal.
Furthermore, the projects help to create opportunities for both sides of the study to develop technical and human resources for
community based participation. The project is small, but by using it as a model, and continuing cooperation between Laos and
Okinawa can be expanded to other sectors and can assist Laos achieve the Millennium Development Goals and graduate from
the LDC status by 2020. The research results of this paper should be able to provide policy makers with important issues for the
future development of Laos.
INTRODUCTION
Laos Government Social Development Strategies

The GOL has emphasized social development since declaring its aim to no longer be categorized as one of the least
developed countries by 2020. Within the Laos government structure, everything is decided by government
strategies. The basic strategies are governmental stability within Laos and economic growth through foreign
investment. However, in order to connect economic growth with the eradication of poverty, social development
sectors such as education and health care services are essential elements. Moreover, within the framework of
progressing globalization, the issue of regional integration and other elements are connected. It is here in this
research that the importance of the social development sector as education and health care is made clear through
its relationship with government and administration, the economic situation, and the eradication of poverty – and it
is upon this which we discuss the subject of development.
Government and Administration

Laos has been governed by LPRP since 1975. In 1986, at the 4 th party convention, the party chose the strategy
‘Chintankaan Mai’ (New thought), and chose to not only focus on economics, but to reform government, thought
and all sectors. In the 8th party convention of 2006, the focus of “significant progress in economic development, and
the eradication of poverty” was declared (Lao People’s Revolutionary Party, 2006). On the social front, education,
public health, the eradication of opium cultivation, and the electrification of cities was confirmed at the 5 th LPRP
congress. The party stated that in order to continue to progress from being one of the least developed countries by
2020 it must fight with the obstructions to a modern country - corruption, lack of education, bureaucracy, and
contribute to Laos’ dynamic development.
Laos must also continue to prioritize human resource development, particularly educational institutions,
constructing school buildings, and creating enough school materials for students (Kham2007). However, with rapid

business corruption and misconduct, land problems, and a lack of proportional growth between economic and
growth on the one hand, the development gap between urban and rural will become wider, while political and
people’s average incomes etc.(i.e. the negative sides of economic growth), become progressively overt. Therefore
in the 2011 9th LPRP, Choummaly Sayasone, Secretary-general’s ‘government announcement’ stated that while
economic development will be given priority as before, social development is a subject of the utmost concern
(Yamada 2012:15).
Economic situation
From the late 1980’s to late 1990’s, accompanying the various neighboring ASEAN countries rapid economic
growth, Laos also had smooth continued growth, and from 1992 until 1997, its average actual annual GDP growth
reached 7%. In 1997 the Asian economic crisis occurred, and because of the close economic relationship with
Thailand, the Lao Kip crashed, causing serious inflation. The economic shock Thailand suffered had a large
economic impact on Laos. In this way, as economic globalization progresses, problems arise from influences
exerted from nearby countries as well as exacerbating economic gaps within Laos. The importance of social
development, including the eradication of poverty, is therefore increasingly important within this context in order
to reduce impact severity (Sivilay 2009).
The eradication of poverty

In order to eradicate poverty, the GOL has supported rural development, particularly targeting the poverty stricken
in mountainous regions. It provides support for fulfilling basic education, reforming health services, farming
development, and improving transport and energy services. Through the basic projects to eliminate poverty, local
residents can actively participate in development, which enables latent potential for residents participating in the
development process (Pheuiphet 2008).
Education and health services

Although education is an important element of social development, Laos’s education is still mired with problems
such as large differences in education quality between regions, high student drop-out and year repetition rates,
and a lack of teacher training. The main cause of these problems is a lack of funding for education. It is here that
not only the GOL, but also international support is essential. Laos health services face a shortage of staff engaged in
health services, as well as large differences between rural, urban and regional health service provisions. The GOL
strategizes to provide health services all citizens. However, this is a difficult goal to achieve, and the current
situation relies upon support from abroad.
The Laos economy has an annual growth rate of 7%, and in Vientiane and other cities, the development is
remarkable. However, the gap between areas is widening. The GOL has planned both long-term and short-term
plans for social development and is moving them into action, though in the present situation because of a lack of
funds and human resources there is a danger of failure. As with other developing countries, there is particular
pressure put upon funds for health care and education, and thus must rely on the support of international
organizations, ODA, NGO’s, universities and foreign actors.
International support for Laos

Laos receives aid from many international organizations, such as the World Bank and IMF, to countries such as
Australia, Sweden and Japan. These donors give technical or monetary aid to support the eradication of poverty.
Whilst European countries often give aid for humanitarian and infrastructural support, aid from Japan (a top donor
since 1991) has continued infrastructure support, while also supporting social development, particularly basic
healthcare and education (MOFA 2012).
The University of the Ryukyus Dental Care Project

The University of the Ryukyus conducted 3 surveys. The 1st and 2nd survey of the dental care improvement project
through tooth brushing guidance were performed on site in Donekoi and Phonpapao elementary schools in
Sisattanak district, Vientiane Capital, between 2008 and 2011. The 3rd survey is conducted in the same district and
also included Chomphet and Siampon elementary schools, consisting of four elementary schools under the project
title Laos Chaganju School and Regional Dental Care Project (2012-2017) (The University of the Ryukyus homepage
2012). This project utilized both questionnaires and interviews for the school presidents and homeroom teachers, a
questionnaire consisting of 27 questions (Table 1) for their guardians, as well as getting questionnaire responses
and interviewing dental doctors of Setthathirath Hospital, thus surveying both the macro and micro networks
connecting the Laos people.
RESEARCH AIMS AND SIGNIFICANCE

This research was conducted to ascertain how from a micro-level perspective NGO’s, self-governing bodies,
universities, schools and other foreign actors within Laos can contribute to regional development through
cooperating with Laos governmental institutions, organizations and citizens; and make demonstratively clear what
kind of changes social development enacts on the previously completely top-down form of Laos Society.
Social development through international cooperative aid has helped regions and citizens, while at the same time
bringing the influence of globalization. In this research, we examine the regions, residents, and people within the
aid networks, whether participatory development has latent potential, and explain the situation and changes from
a global sociology perspective. Until now Laos development strategies have focused on economic development.
However, Laos social development has become increasingly important in the recent focus to eradicate poverty. The
eradication of poverty in developing countries consists of economic growth together with fixing the excessive
birthrate, death rate and malnutrition – and it is commonly known that education contributes to fulfilling this goal
(UNICEF, UNESCO etc.). It is therefore of utmost significance to research important elements of Laos social, health
care and educational development. Furthermore, it is also important to capture the change that is brought forth
not only by the Laos socialist top-down methods, but by participatory development techniques introduced along
with medical care and education reforms introduced by countries providing international aid.
METHODOLOGY
With the school principals’ permission, the homeroom teachers handed out the questionnaires to all students. The
students brought the questionnaires home, their guardians responded, and then the student brought the
completed questionnaire to school to be collected by the principal. The 1st survey was conducted from 1-23 March
2012, the 2nd survey from 1-15 September 2012, and the 3rd survey from 1-13 March 2013. Surveys 1 and 2 were
conducted independently by the authors, while the 3rd survey was conducted together with the Chaganju project.
At Donekoi elementary school, of the 160 students, the 3 rd – 5th year students’ (87 students) guardians were
targeted, with 50 questionnaire handouts and 49 responses. At Phonpapao elementary school, of the 130 students,
the 3rd – 5th year students’ (73 students) guardians were targeted, with 50 questionnaire handouts and 48
responses. At Chomphet (201 students) and Siamphone (84 students) elementary schools, 50 handouts were also
given out and 50 responses collected. Table 2 shows where the guardians got information about the project. It can
be inferred that the reason that more guardians received information from the students rather than teachers was
that they meet the students (their children) daily. The information shared and advice given between guardians and
students, as well as a trusting relationship is therefore the most important, as shown in Table 2.
Table 2: Method of project information transmission and participant numbers (Dental Care Project).
Method of project information
Donekoi Phonpapao
transmissionto guardians
Number Number
（%）（%）
（People）（People）
From students 29 59.2 19 39.6
From teachers 12 24.5 14 29.2
From others 4 8.2 8 16.7
No response 4 8.2 7 14.6
Total 49 100.0 48 100.0
２．Guardian numbers participating in project
No participation 0 0.0 2 4.2
Less than 2 times 10 20.4 8 16.7
More than 3 times 31 63.3 23 47.9
No answer 8 16.3 15 31.3
Total 49 100.0 48 100.0

There are two methods used in this research. In the first half, previous research (Nishizawa et al., eds. 2003, Suzuki
and Yamada eds. 2008, Yamada ed. 2011) and statistical data is used to grasp the reality of Laos social
development and international development support at a macro level. In the latter half, mainly using data
collected from the University of the Ryukyus (Okinawa) Laos support project activity as an example, the causes for
change in Laos society are analyzed on a micro level (Kotagiri 2011, Suzuki 2011, Sunakawa 2013).
In order to analyze the phenomena of the regional development and resident participation caused by social
development through international aid, The University of the Ryukyus conducted the 1st and 2nd survey of the oral
hygiene improvement project through tooth brushing guidance on site in Donekoi and Phonpapao elementary
schools in Sisattanak district, Vientiane Capital, between 2008 and 2011. The 3rd survey was conducted in the same
district and also included Chomphet and Siamphone elementary schools, consisting of four elementary schools
(table 1). The situation of international aid for education at the elementary school attached to the National
University of Laos, as well as many different opinions of educators and guardians were also examined (table 2).
Moreover, National University doctors, nurses, research bodies, NGO’s were surveyed about health care aid.
Institutions and responsible parties as regional residents were also surveyed, thus the macro and micro networks
connecting the movements of Laos people were examined.
RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
(1) Through the healthcare cooperation of the University of the Ryukyus, school teachers, guardians and students,
Lao dentists, and dental students all participated and obtained various opportunities to learn. The information
from this project was transmitted from the staff of Setthatirath Hospital to the principals and school teachers.
However, most guardians replied that their information regarding the project was from students, not teachers.
Thus, the PR activity of the project was not transferred in a top-down form from teacher to guardian, but
rather was understood to have spread from students to guardians through everyday networks (bottom-up).
(2) The students and guardians were seen to have developed awareness through the project – as can be seen by
the results in the 1st and 2nd surveys, in which student cavity rates dropped 30%. In the 3rd survey, cavity rates
actually increased, although this is likely due to the teacher and guardians not being involved enough and
therefore not having enough control over the students. Following this, guardians, teachers, community
leaders, and other key people will be involved in the future, and can be expected to positively impact the
results.
(3) In regards to social development, parties involved with the project actively participated, forming organizations.
It is hoped that in the future this project will become a model example of regional resident participatory social
development, and be used to further develop other grass-roots aid projects in all fields of Laos development.
Table 3 shows, we conducted research on Sathid elementary school and 9 elementary schools around National
University of Laos. The research targeted 17 teachers from Sathid elementary school which is the attached school
of National University of Laos, and 45 professors of the other 9 schools, with a 27 item questionnaire. The
motivation for the questionnaires for the other 9 schools was to demonstrate the difference between the
professors of so-called "normal" primary schools and Sathid elementary school, which had started the academic
exchange and support project with the University of the Ryukyus, in the hope for it to become a model school for
the future.
The authors have been taking part in the project for Sathid elementary school on both the Lao and Japanese sides
since the Okinawa Laos friendship association was established. Research was performed through not only the
questionnaires, but participant observation, and principal and teacher interviews when necessary. Because over
50 % of the teachers answered that they improved for all the 3 items about the training, we can see the
effectiveness of the training results and future potential. This is particularly remarkable at Sathid elementary
school (table. 3), while in table 4, it can be seen that guardian participation improved overall.

Table 3. Training Results
SathidE.S. Surrounding 9 E.S.
Teaching Methods Improvement Number Number
(people) （%） (people) （%）
No training 2 11.8 4 8.9
Slightly improved 2 11.8 13 28.9
Improved 12 70.6 24 53.3
Greatly improved 1 5.9 3 6.7
No answer 0 0.0 1 2.2
Total 17 100 45 100
2．General Knowledge Improvement
Improved 10 58.8 21 46.7
No answer 0 0.0 8 17.8
Total 17 100 45 100
3．Future Use Potential
Improved 4 23.5 24 53.3
No answer 0 0.0 12 26.7
Total 17 100 45 100
（Source Pheuiphet 2014:97）
Table 4. Guardians’ participation in school events.

SathidE.S. Surrounding 9 E.S.
Guardian Participation at School Events Number Number
(people) （%） (people) （%）
Less than Before 1 5.9 3 6.7
Improved 4 23.5 15 33.3

No answer 5 29.4 5 11.1
Total 17 100 45 100
Currently Laos is a developing country and even thought the GOL is working on educational reform with an
international cooperation, it still has not been able to meet the demands of the times. In the future, through the
change of the educational environment in Laos, it is expected that excellent teachers will appear after teaching
jobs becomes more popular. Also in order for the attached elementary school to National University of Laos to
become a model school, international educational cooperation indispensable to work on the curriculum
development and the improvements for teaching methods.
Educational development in Laos, particularly of curriculums and materials, was created by simply applying the
international standards or norms in the ASEAN countries. They were not developed after any basic research,
meetings, or information gathering in Laos. It was not uncommon that the new curriculums and materials were not
at an appropriate level for the elementary school teachers in Laos resulting in problems and necessity of further
training. Educational exchange and support between the University of the Ryukyus and Laos covers both physical

infrastructure support, such as construction of a new school, as well as social infrastructure such as exchange, and
educational and human resource support. Although the salary for the teachers is still low and subsequently it is
difficult to pursue a living, as a result of the exchange and support project by the University of the Ryukyus, a
developing awareness has appeared among the professors at Sathid primary school, showing the latent potential
that can be achieved from National University of Laos and its attached primary school.
CONCLUSION
The Ministry of Health, Ministry of foreign affairs, and Ministry of Education and Sports are macro-level actors.
Setthatirath Hospital Department of Dentistry is a middle-level actor, reporting to both the macro level about the
project, while also relating information to elementary school principals and related parties. Micro-level actors are
elementary school teachers, students, and guardians. When grasping the newly implemented ‘Dental Care Project’
and ‘Chaganju Project’ from a social development network perspective, The University of the Ryukyus is an
external actor dispatching experts, Setthirath hospital dental clinic is a local level government facilitator. Through
analyzing the project’s participatory situation, the signs of participatory development occurring at development aid
projects can be seen.
Until now, it has often been the case that foreign aid in Laos has passed through the central government, and then
distributed to the provinces in a top-down method – giving no chance to have contact directly between the middle
level actors, Laos regional participants and foreign aid to have contact. In this research, foreign actors, middle level
actors and regional residents (guardians) cooperate together with the same concerns, with the interested parties in
the project developing their awareness. Through resident participation, they come to understand their own
regional problems, come to face those problems and solutions, and utilizing the middle level actors can transmit
their demands to the government – changing to a form of bottom-up social development.
Primary education in Laos is shifting from physical to social infrastructure, and from quantity to quality. It is here
that the GOL strategies also should attempt to close the gap between urban and rural principalities, and should
expand the program created using Sathid elementary school in Vientiane Capital as a model school for other rural
communities– not only as a local school, but as a model for international exchange, particularly with the University
of the Ryukyus, and as a model of not only top-down learning from the Ministry of Education and Sports to the
schools, but where teachers and principals become conscious of the skills at their disposal for bottom-up learning
through participatory development . In order for this to work, foreign actors for both exchange and support are
necessary. However, with educational development, it is essential for the local residents to participate, as well as
for the schools and regional society to co-act.
REFERENCES
Cooper, Robert, 2014, LAOS: Work in Progress, Lao Insight Books, Vientiane
Kham Vorapheth, 2007, La redefinition des strategies politique set economiques, Les Indes savants, Paris
Kotagiri, Tadato, 2011, “Laos and Okinawa –Prospects for educational development cooperation based on
University attached elementary school-“ Noriyuki Suzuki and Tsutomu Inamura eds., Transbordering Thai, Laos,
Cambodia and the Ryukyus, Sairyusha (in Japanese)
Lao People’s Revolutionary Party,2006, Ekasaan Kongpasum Nyai Khang ThiiⅧ Pak Pasaxon Pativat Lao
Nishizawa, N. , Furukawa, H. , Kiuchi, Y., eds., 2003, Development and International Cooperation in Laos ,Mekon,
Tokyo (in Japanese)
Pheuiphet Sadaoheung, 2008, Poverty in Laos: the Present Situation and Measures, A master's thesis for Waseda
University Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies (in Japanese)

Pheuiphet Sadaoheung, 2014, International cooperation and assistance for Social Development in Lao PDR -A Case
Study of the International Cooperation Project on Community Public Health and Education from the University
of the Ryukyus- Dissertation for University of the Ryukyus(in Japanese)
Rehbein, Boike, 2007, Globalization, Culture and Society in Laos, Routledge
Rigg, Jonathan, 2005, Living with Transition in Laos: Market Integration in Southeast Asia, Routledge, New York
Sivilay Keobounthamha, 2009, Migration Patterns of Rural Youth to Work Abroad and its Impact on Rural
Community under Globalization and Marketization Context in Laos, National University of Lao, Lao PDR
Sunakawa, Hajime ,2013, “Medical Exchange between Faculty of Medicine, University of the Ryukyus and Laos
Country. –Medical Support with A Cleft Lip and Palate Treatment-“ RinshoByori, vol.61, Japanese Society of
Laboratory Medicine, pp838-845 (in Japanese)
Suzuki, Noriyuki ,2011, “The Formulation of Cooperation Network in Aspects of Education and Medical Care of
University in Laos and University of the Ryukyus, Japan”, Noriyuki Suzuki and Tsutomu Inamura eds.,
Transbordering Thai, Laos, Cambodia and the Ryukyus, Sairyusha, Tokyo (in Japanese)
Suzuki, M.and Yamada, N. eds., 2008, The Present Condition and Problems in Laos as a landlocked country, JICA (in
Japanese)
Yamada, Norihiko ed.,2011, Nation State Building in Lao PDR: Between Ideal and Reality, the Institute of
Developing Economies, JETRO, Chiba (in Japanese)
Yamada, Norihiko ,2012, Nation-construction Process and 9th Party Congress, Norihiko Yamada ed. 9th Party
Congress of Lao People’s Revolutionary Party and Development Strategy, the Institute of Developing
Economies, JETRO, Chiba (in Japanese)
Proposals
The Proposal of the “ChaGanju” school and community Dental Health Project in Sisattanak District (in Japanese)
Homepages
Okinawa Pref. Official Home Page, 2006, The Laureate of the 3rd Okinawa Peace Prize (in Japanese)
http://www.pref.okinawa.jp/site/kankyo/heiwadanjo/heiwa/documents/01.pdf、2011
MOFA Japan, Japan's ODA Data for Laos (PDF) , 2012

http://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/gaiko/oda/shiryo/kuni/12_databook/pdfs/01-11.pdf
The University of the Ryukyus homepage, 2008, presentation of Laos elementary school construction project
http://www.u-ryukyu.ac.jp/univ_info/kouhou/gakuhou/data/450/snews/snews_44.html
The University of the Ryukyus homepage, 2012, The ChaGanjyu School and Community-based Oral Health
Promotion Project,http://w3.u-ryukyu.ac.jp/gakusaibu/kokusai/jica/jigyo/kusanone/?lang=en

THE ORGANIZATIONAL PROCESS APPROACH: A METHOD FOR IDENTIFYING LOCAL
MECHANISMS OF POPULAR PARTICIPATION IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Shinichi Shigetomi
The Institute of Developing Economies (IDE), JETRO
Chiba, Japan
shinichi_shigetomi@ide.go.jp
ABSTRACT
The importance of popular participation in rural development has been repeatedly stated. Local people can take the initiative in
development projects only when they organize themselves. It is important that designers of participatory rural development
projects and practitioners involved in assisting these projects understand the mechanisms by which people form organizations.
Such mechanisms exist in local societies, which act as incubators of organizations. Local contexts influence the form the
organization takes and the way in which the organization is formed. This paper proposes a method, the “organizational process
approach,” to identify the local mechanisms that local people use to organize themselves. Using this method, researchers
observe the salient features of self-organizing activities of local people to determine how local factors function in their
organizational processes. Then they identify local mechanisms that facilitate organizational activities. This paper presents
several case studies from Asian countries and discusses the applicability of this method to rural development practices and its
implications.
INTRODUCTION
The rural development literature has emphasized the importance of community-based and participatory
approaches (Binswanger-Mkhize, de Regt, and Spector, 2009). Rural people, who, as individuals, are economically
and politically weak, can participate in development projects when they become collectively organized (Esman and
Uphoff, 1984). Practitioners who assist participatory rural development need to understand the mechanisms that
facilitate the self-organizing activities of local people.
To identity the mechanisms that underlie the development of local organizations aimed at specific development
projects (hereafter, development organizations), we focus on local societies. This focus is necessary because local
societies are incubators of development organizations (Chaskin et al., 2001), and the social relationships in local
societies influence the behaviors of organization members. Thus, the development of organizations is embedded in
local societies.
Researchers need to develop a method that can help practitioners to identify local mechanisms of self-organizing
activities in specific projects. The method should not require too much time or cost because both hinder the
transfer of the acquired knowledge to other areas. Ideally, a simple, inexpensive methodology is needed that can be
used to understand local mechanisms underlying collective actions.
To tackle this task, we propose the organizational process approach (OPA) (Shigetomi and Okamoto, 2014). The
OPA is a method that identifies local mechanisms leading to the creation of organizations by investigating the
organizational activities of local people. We focus on development organizations and observe who forms the
organizations, what shape the organizations take, and how the organizational process proceeds. By comparing
salient features that appear in the organizational processes of local people in different localities, we try to identify
the local mechanisms that govern how they organize themselves. Section 2 presents the OPA method with some
case studies, and Section 3 describes the application of the OPA in a case study in Thailand.
Application of the Organizational Process Approach

The OPA can be applied in one of two ways: using the comparative method or using case studies of successful
collective action. In the first approach, we compare different localities that have implemented the same
development project. When the form of the organization set up by the local people and/or the way of organizing
people is different, we assume that the local society influenced the organizational process. We then study the local
mechanisms that determined the differences that appear in the organizational process. If such a comparison is
difficult, the second approach, successful case collection, is applied. In this case, we collate successful cases of self-

Shinichi Shigetomi
organizing activities to identity common patterns in the organizational process. We then investigate how the
elements of the local society affected this process.
In the OPA, development organizations are assumed to be mirrors that reflect local societies. We recognize two
types of development organizations based on the resource procurement method. The first is the private resource
mobilization type, which mobilizes, pools, and manages private resources for organizational activities. Savings
groups and joint marketing groups fall into this category. The second is the common-pool resource utilization type.
This type refers to the collective actions to maintain common-pool resources and to utilize them for the common
benefit. For example, community forestry, fish culture in a communal pond, and common fund management fall
into this category.
Both types of organizations should be included in studies of local mechanisms underlying organizational
development because each type requires different organizational capabilities. For example, the private resource
mobilization type requires leadership to mobilize people’s contributions, and leadership in the common-pool
resource utilization type is important in resource management. However, due to time and budget constraints, it is
not always possible to study both types. In such cases, we have to select just one type. Furthermore, in areas where
only one type exists, we have no choice but to utilize that type.
The steps involved in a field survey using the OPA proceed in four
steps (Figure 1). The first step is to choose the development
organization or collective actions that will be used to compare
local mechanisms in the surveyed villages. Projects suggested by
outside agencies and projects initiated by villagers can be
candidates. By observing the organizational form and process, we
discover both different and common features that appear in the
organizational processes of the surveyed local societies.
In Step 2, we identify the locality group that hosts the
organizational activities. In this paper, “locality groups” are
defined as social organizations and administrative organizations
whose membership is defined by a certain geographical area. In
the field survey, we try to identify people who initiated the
collective action and those who were called on to be members.
This helps to identify the social group that people regard as the basis Figure 1. Flowchart of organizational process
of collective actions. The host locality group may differ according to approach
the type of collective action.
In Step 3, we identify what institutions and resources locality groups have and apply in organizational activities. The
following are some of the items surveyed in the field:
 Institutions that confirm the collective identity of locality group members (e.g., festivals, rituals, and symbols).
 Institutions that lead to a consensus of the group members (e.g., committees and village meetings)
 Institutions that control and guide members’ behaviors (e.g., informal rules, penalties, and social pressures)
 Resources and experiences accumulated in the group and mobilized for collective actions (e.g., communal land
and common funds).
In Step 4, we examine the composition of the locality groups and the functional relationships between them. The
aim of Step 4 is to synthesize the functions of the locality groups and to identify the organizational capabilities of
the local societies.
To confirm the applicability of OPA, I organized a research project with researchers who study Asian rural societies,
including China, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, the Philippines, Indonesia, and India. The comparative method was
applied in an Indonesian case study. Our co-researcher, Motoko Shimagami, focused on a microfinance project in
which rural people were encouraged to form small groups to receive loans (Shimagami, 2014). Shimagami found
that the problem-solving methods to deal with unpaid loans differed between villages surveyed in four different
regions in Indonesia. In a village near Yogyakarta, Central Java, the village leaders used the village’s assets to
compensate for the loss. In a village in Banten, West Java, the village headman repaid the loan using his own
money.

Shinichi Shigetomi
In a Torajanese village in South Sulawesi, people used the assets accumulated by their kinship rituals. In a Central
Sulawesi village, they used the group members’ savings. Then, Shimagami took the cases in Yogyakarta and South
Sulawesi and studied how differences in the local systems shaped the unique features of the organizational
responses to unpaid loans. She found that the relationship between locality-based social organizations and local
administrative organizations determined the manner of coping with the problem in development project. The
successful case study approach was applied in Myanmar. Another co-researcher, Ikuko Okamoto, examined a
community forestry project introduced in the mid-1990s by the government and some international agencies
(Okamoto, 2014). These agencies proposed the idea of communal forestry conservation and left local people
decide how to form and manage the project.
The researcher surveyed 33 cases in Upper and Lower Burma and found that community forestry was administered
by the village in most successful cases. The village was the local administrative body and had approximately 100 to
300 households. People did not choose other locality units, such as the village tracts, which cover wider territories
than the villages. The survey investigated why the village rather than other units in the locality took responsibility
for the management of the tasks. Okamoto found that the village was characterized by the mechanisms of
consensus building, resource mobilization, and enforcement. It had also accumulated organizational experiences
through various activities. Thus, these were the reasons that the village was chosen as the host for the community
forestry project.
Case Study of Thailand

To demonstrate the application of the OPA in a field survey, a case study conducted in Thailand is presented. In
Thailand, from the 1980s, governmental and nongovernmental agencies encouraged local people to form a variety
of development organizations, such as savings groups, rice banks, and cooperative retail shops, to improve their
economy and society. At the same time, the local people started to organize themselves for their common benefit,
for example, providing assistance with funeral expenses and community forestry (Shigetomi, 1998). Observations
of the organizational activities of the northeastern villages and the central delta villages revealed differences in the
form and type of organizational efforts. In this paper, using the example of the savings group, I compare the
responses of the local societies between two villages, one in the northeast and another in the central delta region.
A savings group is a microfinance organization in which members pool their savings and lend them to each other at
a low interest rate. The fields surveys were undertaken in a northeastern village (Si Phon Thong village or SP village
in Roi Et province) and in a central delta village (Huai Khan Laen village or HK village in Ang Thong province) in the
1990s (Shigetomi, 2014). The results showed that the organizational process of the savings group differed between
these two villages.
Step 1 and Step 2 of the survey using the OPA identified the following: In the SP village, the project was introduced
by the headman of the administrative village, and the members were recruited from within the administrative
village. When the group faced a problem in the operation of the savings group, the group discussed the problem at
the village meeting. In this way, the group was organized by the village and administered by the village. On the
other hand, in the HK village, when the village headman was advised about the project by government agencies, he
handed the responsibility for the organization of the project to an informal leader of a dominant kin group. At first,
members were recruited from that kin group. Later, the membership expanded beyond the kin group, but included
only those individuals who attended the same Buddhist temple. This sphere of membership was larger than that of
the HK administrative village. Although the village headman was the president of the group, he was only the
nominal leader. The operation of the group was the domain of the kin group leader.
Step 3 of the survey investigated the institutions and resources facilitated by each locality group. The
administrative village has an executive committee and holds monthly meetings for consensus building of residents.
In the SP village, the administrative unit did not coincide with the indigenous settlement. The latter was formed by
a few settlers who moved to the present site in around 1900. Later, the settlement became an administrative
village. The present SP village was formed in 1980 by separating the old administrative village into two. Like most
northeastern villages, the indigenous settlement had its own guardian spirit (shrine), which is assumed to protect
the entire settlement and all the residents. Through the rituals of asking for the spirit’s supernatural protection, the
villagers developed a sense of a cohesive social unit. However, this sort of village shrine is not common in the
central delta villages, and there is no such shrine in the HK village. Temple supporters who constructed the temple,

Shinichi Shigetomi
maintained its facilities, and organized religious rituals every year were identified as another locality group in the
surveyed areas. The local people had accumulated experience of collective action through these temple activities.
After identifying the social functions attached to each locality group in the surveyed villages, Step 4 of the survey
examined how these social functions were integrated into organizational mechanisms at the local level of societies.
In the SP village, the indigenous village group and the temple supporters group overlapped. The administrative
village is part of the indigenous village. In this geographical setting, which is quite common in northeastern
Thailand, the residents in the SP village are members of the indigenous village and members of the group that
support the same Buddhist temple. This means that the villagers in the SP village share institutions of self-
administration, a sense of unity, and experience of collective action. Thus, the administrative village was a suitable
unit to organize local people for development activities.
In the central delta village, HK, the geographical relation between the locality groups was much more complicated,
with three indigenous villages in the administrative village. The sphere of the temple supporters group included
some indigenous villages that did not belong to the HK village. The villagers who affiliated themselves with
indigenous settlements did not have a sense of unity at the whole administrative village level. Therefore, the village
headman did not organize the savings group himself but handed the organization over to an informal leader of a
dominant kin group that had a sufficient number of people with close social contacts to set up a savings group,
which required trust among the members. The local people recognized the residents who supported the same
temple as a social group to whom membership could be expanded because they had become accustomed to
participating in collective action for the temple rather than for the administrative village. This kind of complex
setting of locality groups is commonly observed in the central delta region (Shigetomi, 2003).
CONCLUSION
The OPA is a simple method to identify the organizational capabilities of local societies. In the present paper,
development organizations are considered to reflect the capabilities of these societies. Observing salient features
that appear in the development of these organizations in a locality and comparing these between localities that
have the same development projects makes it possible to identify the local mechanisms at work in organizing
people.
When local mechanisms differ, outside agencies should take different approaches to promote participatory rural
development. For example, in the case of northeast Thailand, outside agencies should allow the leaders of
administrative villages to implement the organizing process. On the other hand, given the local system in the
central delta villages, agencies cannot expect organizational leadership at the administrative village level.
Therefore, they have to find social organizations that can act as incubators of collective development efforts.
Sometimes, small groups with dense social networks are better able to organize people. By identifying the locality
group that is expected to host the project, the OPA may help outside agencies to predict which group of local
people would take over the project and judge if the project would benefit the targeted people in the local society.
Researchers applying the OPA may discover that a variety of local mechanisms underlie how people organize
themselves. Therefore, a further challenge of this approach is to develop typologies of local society that take
account of the different mechanisms. Such typologies provide reference models for rural development
practitioners to more easily identify local mechanisms underlying self-organizing activities in projects.

Shinichi Shigetomi
REFERENCES
Binswanger-Mkhize, Hans P., Jacomina P. de Regt, and Stephen Spector (eds.). 2009. “Scaling Up Local &
Community Driven Development (LCDD): A Real World Guide to its Theory and Practice.” The World Bank,
Washington, DC. http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTSOCIALDEVELOPMENT /Resources/244362-
1237844546330/5949218-1237844567860/Scaling_Up_LCDD_Book_rfillesize.pdf (June 14, 2013).
Chaskin, Robert J., Prudence Brown, Sudhir Venkatesh, and Avis Vidal. 2001. Building Community Capacity. New
York: Aldine de Gruyter.
Esman, Milton J. and Norman T. Uphoff. 1984. Local Organizations: Intermediaries in Rural Development, Ithaca,
Cornell University Press.
Okamoto, Ikuko. 2014. “Organizing Community Forestry in Rural Myanmar: Capability and Functions of Villages.” In
Shinichi Shigetomi and Ikuko Okamoto (eds.), Local Societies and Rural Development: Self-Organization
and Participatory Development in Asia. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Shigetomi, Shinichi. 1998. Cooperation and Community in Rural Thailand: An Organizational Analysis of
Participatory Rural Development. Tokyo: The Institute of Developing Economies.
______________. 2003. “Social Structure and Local Organisations in the Chao Phraya Delta.” In Francois Molle
(ed.), Thailand’s Rice Bowl: Perspectives on Agricultural and Social Change in The Chao Phraya Delta.
Bangkok: White Lotus, pp.323-344.
______________. 20142014. “Composition of Locality Groups as the Basis for Local Social Systems: The Case of
Rural Thailand.” In Shinichi Shigetomi and Ikuko Okamoto (eds.), Local Societies and Rural Development:
Self-Organization and Participatory Development in Asia. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
______________ and Ikuko Okamoto. 20142014. “Local Societies and Rural People’s Self-organizing Activities: An
Analytical Framework.” In Shinichi Shigetomi and Ikuko Okamoto (eds.), Local Societies and Rural
Development: Self-Organization and Participatory Development in Asia. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Shimagami, Motoko. 20142014. “Organizational Responses of Local Societies in Regional Diversity: Case Study of a
Microfinance Project in Rural Indonesia.” In Shinichi Shigetomi and Ikuko Okamoto (eds.), Local Societies
and Rural Development: Self-Organization and Participatory Development in Asia. Cheltenham: Edward
Elgar.

Communities in Transition

THE “NEW” ROLE OF URBAN AGRICULTURE IN A LARGE CITY:
AN AGRI-OASIS IN JAPANESE FOOD DESERTS
Yoshifumi Ikejima
Department of Economics,
Yokohama National University
ikejima@ynu.ac.jp
ABSTRACT
Urban agriculture and its requisite farmland have become highly regarded as “an indispensable urban facility” or a local
resource, by performing multifunctionality of agriculture, especially in today’s megacities. Following a disaster, urban
agriculture and farmland are expected to protect people’s lives, and the food production function is the most fundamental role
in saving urban people. The original food production function is reviewed again as a “new” role of urban agriculture.
Nevertheless, the food production function has seldom been studied quantitatively while researchers have always pointed out
its significance. This study quantitatively examines this “new” role of urban agriculture, which contributes to improved food
availability for urban dwellers, by focusing on one of today’s food problems: the food desert. A food desert is a disadvantaged
area with poor access to fresh food. In a food desert, many consumers have difficulty accessing food retailers and nutritious
food. To estimate how many people were in a food desert, this paper used GIS to map the precise locations of local food store s
and dwellers’ house. As a result of GIS analysis, roughly 138,000 people have poor access to fresh food, including 30,000 aged
65 years and over. This means that up to 67% of residents in a research area live in a food desert. To test the effectiveness of
urban agriculture, this paper estimated how many people in the food desert had easy access to fresh food from produce stands
and mobile vending spots. As a result, approximately 18,000 people, 4,000 of them elderly, can alleviate their limited access to
fresh food using a nearby agricultural outlet. Therefore, urban agriculture can be effective as an “agri-oasis” against a food
desert. In this sense, agri-oases should be indispensable to a megacity as a “new” role of urban agriculture.
INTRODUCTION
Today, over half of the world’s population lives in cities or towns. Most of them live in 23 urban agglomerations,
that is, megacities (United Nations 2012). As there is little room for food production in a megacity, urban dwellers
typically purchase large amounts of agricultural products from local as well as foreign rural areas. However,
recently, “urban agriculture” has been an increasing trend: farmers grow food in urban areas, including some
megacities.
Agriculture is usually developed in a rural area rather than in an urban area; commerce and industry are the main
activities in the latter. In many developed countries, farmland has been converted for different purposes because
urbanization requires land to be used for activities with high economic value. Therefore, income from the crops
produced within or at the fringe of a city cannot cover the high costs of the land. Further, urban agriculture is often
criticized for suppressing the provision of land for urban facilities needed to accommodate population expansion,
as seen during the high economic growth period in Japan. Thus, urban agriculture has a weak foundation for
survival in an urban economic situation. Nevertheless, urban agriculture and its requisite farmland have become
highly regarded as “an indispensable urban facility” or a local resource, especially in today’s Japanese megacities.
Agriculture and farmland in urban areas have been recognized for their various functions, thus highlighting the
multifunctionality of agriculture. The Great East Japan earthquake of 2011 largely affected this change in
perception of urban agriculture. In the capital region, far away from the severely devastated Tohoku area, a
shortage of open evacuation space in megacities and the vulnerability of the contemporary food supply system
came to the surface.
Previous studies have often targeted this multifunctionality from the viewpoint of positive externalities or by-
products of agriculture, for example, nature conservation, mental refreshment, and educational activities (Goto
2003; Lovell 2010; Pearson et al. 2010; Renting et al. 2009). Although the food production function has been
identified as the most fundamental one in urban agriculture, it was seldom studied; the non-product function was
paid more attention and studied both quantitatively and qualitatively from new perspectives. In addition, although
researchers noted that urban agriculture produced fresh crops, previous studies have not analyzed quantitatively
to what extent or how agricultural products can be supplied to urban dwellers.

Yoshifimi Ikejima
As mentioned above, following a disaster, urban agriculture and farmland are expected to protect people’s lives.
The original food production function is reviewed as a “new” role of urban agriculture. This study quantitatively
examines this “new” role of urban agriculture, which contributes to improved food availability for urban dwellers,
by focusing on one of today’s food problems: the food desert. We analyzed the impact or utility of urban
agriculture on this social problem in a large Japanese city – Yokohama city.
SOCIAL BARRIERS TO OBTAINING FOOD: A FOOD DESERT
A food desert is a disadvantaged area with relatively poor physical and/or economic access to fresh food. In a food
desert, many consumers, especially the socially vulnerable such as the elderly, have difficulty accessing food
retailers and nutritious food; thus, they potentially have health risks associated with limited physical access to
fresh food. Food deserts stem from localized social factors: access to stores, income disparities, race/ethnicity,
food store density, costs, retailer locations, store types, availability, perception, quality of available foods, and
impact (Walker 2009).
These problems have occurred mostly in developed countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States,
Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. As Iwama et al. (2013) described, the food desert problem is rooted in
two aspects: (1) collapse of the fresh food supply system, thus implying expansion of the travel distance for
shopping due to store closings and an expansion of economic/psychological distance between people due to
poverty or isolation from the community, and (2) increased density of the socially vulnerable, as they tend to
gather in areas with fewer social services owing to low income levels, minority status, and advanced age. For
example, in low-income areas, food retailers have less economic incentive to market their stores. Some barriers to
access to fresh food vary from the economic to the environmental and the physical, depending on the domestic
situation (Apparicio, Cloutier, and Shemur 2007; Stilley 2012).
In the case of the United Kingdom, many studies emphasize the lack of grocery retailers and the large number of
low-income households (e.g., Wrigley 2002; Clarke, Eyre and Guy 2002). In the United States, many studies
examine dietary habits and obesity stemming from poverty and ethnic minority status (e.g., USDA 2009; Gordon et
al. 2011). In Japan, aging is quickly becoming a serious issue; it causes difficulty in obtaining food that is affordable
as well as easily accessible (Sugita 2008, 2013). Thus, a food desert is a socially deprived area in terms of everyday
life (Apparicio et al. 2007).
Recently, Japanese food desert problems have had obvious similarities to those in other developed countries. At
first, Japanese food desert problems occurred in depopulated rural areas where elderly people with no cars had
trouble purchasing food because of the withdrawal of neighborhood grocery retailers, analogous to what has
occurred in North America (Sugita 2008; Rose et al. 2009). However, similar situations have recently occurred in
urban areas (City Planning Institute of Japan ed. 2011; Iwama ed. 2013). Even in city centers, a number of local
grocery stores have closed since the shrinking economy of the 1990s. Further, the room for comparing
commodities based on price or quality in a certain range has diminished. Therefore, residents in urban areas,
including the elderly, the disabled, expectant mothers, and working couples, have gradually faced deteriorated
shopping environments to the extent that the public administration needs to address the situation.
Iwama (2010) and Iwama ed. (2013) are pioneering studies about food deserts in Japan that geographically analyze
the problem at a municipal level by employing a Geographical Indication System (GIS). While GIS is a very useful
method for identifying the trouble spots, these studies do not further investigate the areas on-site after computing
the calculations. Thus, we need to combine the results from the calculations with that of the field survey to find
effective resolutions for the respective areas. Other studies have attempted to propose resolutions for food desert
problems, but only introduced the content or consequences of the proposed resolutions (e.g., City Planning
Institute of Japan ed. 2011; Iwama ed. 2013; Larsen and Gilliland 2009; USDA 2009; Stilley 2012). Although they
quantitatively identified the likely location of a food desert by using GIS, they have not measured the concrete
effects of the resolutions. This study conducts a quantitative analysis on the real effect of resolutions employing
GIS, which is a unique achievement among many related studies. Additionally, this work helps to identify the most
suitable way to address local situations.

Yoshifimi Ikejima
FOOD DESERT PROBLEMS IN A LARGE JAPANESE CITY
Characteristics of study area and data used in analysis
Since the rapid economic growth in the 1960s, the urban population in Japan has drastically increased. In
Yokohama city, about 30 km south of Tokyo, the land for housing development was spread in a disorganized way
across a wide suburban area along a railway line. This suburban sprawl expanded the city area outward by
converting farmland for housing. Continuing sprawl resulted in population growth. As of 2013, about 3.7 million
people live in Yokohama, thus deeming it a megacity; it is now Japan’s second largest municipality.
Yokohama has the nation’s largest international trading port, and many leading Japanese corporations in the heavy
chemical and light manufacturing industries are located in the Keihin Industrial Area, along its coastline. Yokohama
also has a vast suburban area away from the coastline, around which fast urban development has proceeded.
These suburban areas are mostly uneven hilly terrains, bringing about one root cause of a food desert.
Although previous studies have typically targeted entire cities or large areas within a city, this study focuses on a
relatively small scale to provide an accurate account of the situation based on detailed data collection and a factual
field survey. This analysis examined Hodogaya ward, which is located in the central part of Yokohama and
comprises a steep hilly zone, a tableland, and a small lowland area around which supermarkets and other stores
are located. Consequently, dwellers must go up and down a hill daily to get food. This vertical interval affects
dwellers’ behavior. In particular, debilitated elderly people and women with children have difficulty carrying heavy
packages after shopping.
This study used the most current data available for analysis at the time of this study: First, we utilized the basic
2010 population census data based on the minimum unit of the Japanese census tract. Second, the local
administration provided the geographic information data concerning building locations as of 2005, including
information such as the shape of each building and the architectural area of every floor number. Third, retailer
point data as of 2014 was gathered from online business directories and geo-coded within GIS. Fourth, we used the
location data of produce stands as of 2013, based on the produce stand map in Hodogaya ward made by a local
NPO and the location lists of produce stands in the guidebook edited by the local newspaper and municipality.
Fifth, the location point data of mobile agricultural product vending as of 2013 was collected by a hearing survey
from some local farmers; however, this data only included some of the mobile vending in the area. Sixth, we used a
software program to calculate the distance one actually has to move based on transportation routes network data.
Measuring access to food retailers in GIS
This study chose a simple way to identify a food desert based on GIS analysis under the assumption that people in
Hodogaya ward were most affected by the physical conditions, that is, access to food stores by walking. To
estimate how many people were in a food desert, residential buildings were first selected from all types of
buildings. Next, the architectural areas of every selected building in the minimum unit of the Japanese census tract
were aggregated and divided by the population of this minimum area unit available. Multiplying the numbers in the
minimum unit by the area of each building gave the number of residents per building.
Based on this result, a benchmark distance of 500 meters was set to measure access to food stores by walking from
a residential building (i.e., from homes). As commonly assumed in previous studies, 500 meters is a distance that
people are comfortable walking to reach a food retailer; it is roughly 10 minutes each way (Furey, Strugnell, and
Mcllveen 2001; Kristian and Gilliland 2008; Wrigley 2002). Conversely, a food desert is assumed an area where
people have little access to a food retailer within 500 meters by foot.
Network analysis using GIS identified many awkwardly shaped routes that people can take to access food retailers
within 500 meters by walking, although they differ in form depending on current road layout. Figure 1 displays the
locations of food stores and their buffers. In the figure, these food stores are located in a lowland area along
highways or near stations; this means people within these buffers can easily reach them.

Yoshifimi Ikejima
Figure 1. Location of food retailers

Hodogaya ward, Yokohama
Searching for areas identified as food deserts
A spatially referenced GIS database as discussed

above was used to identify the likely locations of
food deserts. GIS spatial mining analysis was
employed to estimate the number of residents
outside the buffer of each food retailer. Based on
that, the number was estimated to be 132,024;
Figure 2 shows the number of residents within all
buffers was estimated to be 74,549. Roughly
132,000 people have poor access to fresh food,
including about 29,000 aged 65 years and over; the
elderly population in Hodogaya ward is 22.0% of the
total population. Moreover, superimposing the zone
of elderly people in the minimum census tract on
the map clearly identifies the likely location of a
food desert. Figure2. Dwellers in Food Deserts and Dense Areas of Elderly People
Thus, the residents in these areas are far from food

stores and likely to have difficulty obtaining fresh
food. In Figure 3, the elevation data for this area
were added to the map. Those areas identified as
food deserts in Figure 2 coincided with high-altitude
areas. Therefore, the residents in those areas not
only are geographically distant from food stores but
also must ascend a steep hill after purchasing fresh
food. As some of the elderly have automobiles or
easy to access to public transportation and some
dwellers do not mind walking long distances, it is not
necessarily true that all 132,000 people have trouble
obtaining fresh food. However, up to 64% of
residents in Hodogaya ward live in a food desert, and
these people may potentially be at risk for health Figure 3. Elevation of Point Data in Food Deserts
problems from limited physical access to fresh food.

Yoshifimi Ikejima
Voices of local dwellers in a food desert
In some of these food deserts, we interviewed residents on their perception of convenience in obtaining fresh food
at food stores. In the northern area, Kamisugeta town, where there are many steep slopes and stairs, residents in
their sixties and seventies without a car suffer inconvenience in their daily shopping. They have no choice but to
visit the nearest food store and try to purchase food for a few days in order to avoid shopping frequently, although
they live within a 500-meter buffer of the store. While others in their thirties or forties with an automobile can
travel to more distant stores and feel less inconvenienced, if they do not have a car or a motorbike, they too can
suffer inconvenience from shopping on foot.
Similarly, in the central area, Bukko town, where there are no stores in the hilly zone (although there are some
stores and a shopping center in the lowland near the station), the older dwellers in their sixties and seventies in the
hilly zone have difficulty getting to food stores on foot. As a result, they tend to buy packaged and frozen food
rather than fresh vegetables, fruit, meat, and fish, and they are reluctant to go out. Finally, these older dwellers
tend to be isolated from the neighborhood community. By not shopping outside, they lose a chance to
communicate with neighbors face to face. Some older dwellers enjoy exchanging words with neighbors when they
meet at a food store. Because the number of single households with individuals 65 years and over accounts for 9%
or so (8,495 as of 2010) of all households in Hodogaya ward, the opportunity to communicate with others could
make those single households healthy mentally. Food deserts can deprive residents not just of access to fresh food
but also of the chance to communicate with others.
AN AGRI-OASIS IN JAPANESE FOOD DESERTS
Urban agriculture in Yokohama
Generally, new stores, mobile carts, home meal delivery service, new types of transportation (community buses,
demand taxis, etc.) and volunteer shopping activities are generally examined as solutions to food deserts. Farmers’
markets are also suggested as a promising solution (Larsen and Gilliland 2009; USDA 2009; Stilley 2012). Yokohama
has a huge population but is also famous for its vibrant agriculture.
Current agriculture within the inner city or on the fringe of Yokohama is simply an outcome of far-sighted urban
development policies. Due to the rapid development of land for housing in the 1960s, the Yokohama city
government embarked on an effort to prevent overexploitation and to conserve farmland and promote urban
agriculture. Under this urban policy, agriculture in Yokohama was named “planning urban agriculture” for
coexisting side by side with urbanization to make a positive living environment and green space: the city
government introduced land use zoning and decided to invest proactively in urban agriculture in the long term to
perpetuate farming for the future (Tashiro 1991: 96-97). Understandably, these policy results maintain good
conditions for agriculture even in a megacity. However, many farmlands still vanished due to urban development
pressure and a deteriorated environment for agriculture.
Today in Hodogaya ward, 144 farming households (95 commercial farming households and 49 noncommercial)
continue to cultivate farmland to produce mainly outdoor-grown vegetables. Hodogaya has 123.6 ha of farmland as
of 2010 (34.3 ha in urbanization-designated areas and 89.3 ha in urbanization-restricted areas). Overall, farm sizes
are relatively small, and 69 percent of farmers use less than 1.0 ha of farmland. Although most farms are small,
they ship high-quality fresh vegetables, taking advantage of their proximity to the large metropolitan population;
68% of farmers sell their products directly to consumers at their own produce stands or via home-delivery services
(mobile agricultural product vending) at affordable prices. Local farmers try to provide high quality fresh
agricultural products to urban consumers while also engaging in real estate management, using land converted
from part of their farmland to maintain a household.
An Estimation of the effect of agri-oasis
To test the effectiveness of urban agriculture as a solution to food deserts, the point data on produce stands and
on spots of mobile vending were added to create Figure 4. In Figure 4, the location information of 18 produce
stands and 9 spots of mobile vending were plotted. Although Hodogaya ward has more than 18 produce stands and

Yoshifimi Ikejima
9 spots of mobile vending, either some farmers
refrained from opening their stand locations or all
of the spots remain unknown. These stands and
mobile vending spots are located in the steep hilly
zone where other food retailers do not exist. They
provide fresh vegetables and fruit in season, and
some of them also provide fresh meat, milk, eggs,
etc. Thus, if dwellers used them as neighborhood
food stores, inconvenience in food shopping
would be alleviated to some extent.
Similar to the method above, the buffers of each

produce stand in the GIS database were drawn to
measure the residents’ access based on a walking
distance of 500 meters. We then estimated how
many people in the food desert had easy access
Figure4. Effects of Agri-Oases in Food Deserts
to fresh food from produce stands and mobile
vending. Because of this calculation, the number
of dwellers within those buffers was 22,915, including roughly 5,000 people aged 65 years and over. People within
buffers of produce stand/mobile vending were 12,397 and 12,303; any overlap between them was removed. Thus,
approximately 22,900 people (5,000 of elderly) can alleviate their limited access to fresh food using a nearby
agricultural outlet. This is equal to 17.3 percent of the population living in areas identified as food deserts. Of
course, produce stands and mobile vending are small food retailers that provide mainly vegetables and fruits, and
residents cannot purchase daily necessities there. Without considering this fact, the rate of 17.3 percent as seen
above may seem low. Nevertheless, dwellers can at least obtain fresh, nutritious, affordable foods at
neighborhood agricultural outlets, and the actual count of 22,900 people (5,000 elderly people) who are helped
with obtaining fresh food in a food desert is quite significant. Therefore, urban agriculture can be effective against
food deserts; urban agriculture is referred to as an “agri-oasis” amid a food desert.
An Agri-oasis in a megacity
An agri-oasis can work effectively to improve consumers’ health by supplying fresh, tasty food to local people, not
just by shipping products to a distant market. Some local dwellers felt frustrated with the quality of vegetables
available for purchase at nearby food stores, and if they wanted to buy vegetables good enough to meet their
desired level of quality or safety, they had to move to distant stores, costing them time and money. Indeed, it is
not always true that an existing food retailer nearby means local people have access to fresh, nutritious food at
affordable prices.
An agri-oasis can also work to connect local people with each other and with local farmers. Consumers often
communicated with each other at agricultural outlets and communicated with farmers about how to eat/cook the
vegetables or about how farmers produced them. Surprisingly, according to some farmers, consumers acquainted
with each other for the first time when they met at a produce stand or mobile vending. In this sense, an agri-oasis
can be a place of relief mentally and can improve community development. Moreover, an agri-oasis can literally
provide a precious green space; farmers try to produce a variety of items unsuitable for mass production by using
their own outlet close to farmland, which creates biodiversity.
These effects of agri-oases could be regarded just as multifunctionality of urban agriculture, and could not be
something new. However, these effects would be vivid in the case of facing a social problem; specifically, the food
supplying function of urban agriculture could be highly valued for maintaining the life and health of local people in
light of the daily shopping benefits and the nutritional and mental benefits. In this sense, agri-oases should be
indispensable to a megacity. Thus, this paper shed light on these effects as a “new” role of urban agriculture.

Yoshifimi Ikejima
CONCLUSION
This study attempted to quantitatively confirm the effect of agri-oasis as a “new” role of urban agriculture, which
contributes to improved food availability for urban dwellers in a food desert. We analyzed the impact and utility of
urban agriculture in a large Japanese city, Yokohama city. This paper estimated that approximately 132000 people,
including 29,000 elderly people, have poor access to fresh food in their neighborhoods via a GIS analysis and a field
survey, which is crucial because large cities are generally regarded prosperous and convenient. In Japan, income
disparity, race/ethnicity, and the quality of available foods are less serious, but the aging of the population is a
more serious problem than in other developed countries.
Thus, proximity to stores and topographic disadvantage can be key food desert elements for older residents.
Further, this analysis verified the effects of urban agriculture to help resolve food deserts. According to the
estimates, 22,900 residents (5,000 elderly) in areas identified as food deserts would benefit from access to fresh
food via local agricultural outlets. By creating these agri-oases, urban agriculture would provide urban people with
easy access to a fresh and healthy diet. To recognize this function—which is increasingly fundamental in the times
of unexpected crises and climate change—in urban life again, we need to further quantitatively study the “new”
role of urban agriculture.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI, Grant Number 25850159.
REFERENCES
Apparicio, Philippe, Marie-Soleil Cloutier and Richard Shearmur. 2007. “The Case of Montréal's Missing Food
Deserts: Evaluation of Accessibility to Food Supermarkets”, International Journal of Health Geographics 6(4),
http://www.ij-healthgeographics.com/content/6/1/4 (February 12, 2014).
City Planning Institute of Japan ed. 2011. “Special Issue: Can the Food Desert Problem Be Solved?”, City Planning
Review 60(6), pp.4-59.
Clarke, Graham, Heather Eyre and Cliff Guy. 2002. “Deriving Indicators of Access to Food Retail Provision in British
Cities: Studies of Cardiff, Leeds and Bradford”, Urban Studies 39(11), pp.2041-2060.
Furey S, Strugnell C and McIlveen H. 2001. “An Investigation of the Potential Existence of ‘Food Deserts’ in Rural
and Urban Areas of Northern Ireland, Agriculture and Human Values 18(4), pp.447-457.
Gordon, Cynthia, Marnie Purciel-Hill, Nirupa R. Ghai, Leslie Kaufman, Regina Graham, and Gretchen Van Wyea.
2011. “Measuring Food Deserts in New York City's Low-Income Neighborhoods”, Health & Place 17, pp.696-
700.
Goto, Mitsuzo. 2003. Civic Use of Urban Farmlands. Nihon Keizai Hyoronsha Ltd.
Iwama, Nobuyuki, ed. 2013. Food Deserts: the Product of Indifferent Societies, revised edition, Association of
Agriculture & Forestry Statistics.
Larsen, Kristian and Jason Gilliland. 2009. “A Farmers' Market in a Food Desert: Evaluating Impacts on the Price and
Availability of Healthy Food”, Health & Place 15, pp.1158-1162.
Lovell, Sarah Taylor. 2010. “Multifunctional Urban Agriculture for Sustainable Land Use Planning in the United
States”, Sustainability 2, pp.2499-2522.
Pearson, C. J., Sarah Pilgrim and Jules N. Pretty ed. 2010. Urban Agriculture: Diverse Activities and Benefits for City
Society, Earthscan.

Yoshifimi Ikejima
Renting, H., Rossing WA, Groot JC, Van der Ploeg JD, Laurent C, Perraud D, Stobbelaar DJ and Van Ittersum MK.
2009. “Exploring Multifunctional Agriculture. A Review of Conceptual Approaches and Prospects for an
Integrative Transitional Framework”, Journal of Environmental Management 90, pp.112-123.
Rose, Donald, J. Nicholas Bodor, Chris M. Swalm, Janet C. Rice, Thomas A. Farley and Paul L. Hutchinson. 2009
“Deserts in New Orleans? Illustrations of Urban Food Access and Implications for Policy”, a paper prepared
for: University of Michigan National Poverty Center/USDA Economic Research Service Research
“Understanding the Economic Concepts and Characteristics of Food Access”, February 2009. http://
www.npc.umich.edu/news/events/food-access/rose_et_al.pdf (March 17, 2014).
Stilley, Megan. 2012. Urban Food Deserts: An Exploration of Northern Neighborhoods in Denver, CO, Lap Lambert
Academic Publishing.
Sugita, Satoshi. 2008. Shopping Refugee, Otsuki Shoten Publishers.
Sugita, Satoshi. 2013. Overcoming Shopping Refugee!, Chuokoron-Shinsha, Inc.
Tashiro, Youichi ed. 1991. Challenging to Planning Urban Agriculture, Nihon Keizai Hyoronsha Ltd.
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division. 2012. “World Urbanization
Prospects The 2011 Revision (ESA/P/WP/224)”. http://esa.un.org/unup/pdf/WUP2011_Highlights.pdf (Januray
31, 2014).
United States Department of Agriculture. 2009. “Access to Affordable and Nutritious Food: Measuring and
Understanding Food Deserts and Their Consequences”.
Walker, Renee Erin. 2009. “Food Desert Versus Food Oasis: an Exploration of Residents' Perceptions of Factors
Influencing Food Buying Practices”, a dissertation submitted to theGraduate Faculty of the Graduate School of
Public Health, University of Pittsburgh.
Wrigley, N. 2002 “‘Food deserts’ in British cities: Policy context and research priorities”, Urban Studies 39(11),
pp.2029-2040.

TRANSITION IN THE ROLE OF FORESTRY IN THE LOCAL COMMUNITY:
THE CASE OF NAKAHATA IN OSAKA, JAPAN
Yukari Fuchigami, Shuji Kurimoto, Michinori Uwasu, Keishiro Hara

* Corresponding author, Email: fuchigami@ceids.osaka-u.ac.jp
Center for Environmental Innovation Design for Sustainability, Osaka University, Japan
ABSTRACT
In Japan, due to a decrease in the demand for timber and the availability of inexpensive foreign lumber, domestic timber prices
have been low in recent decades. Currently, the domestic forest industry cannot sustain itself without subsidies from central
and local governments, but even these subsidies are insufficient because of the financial constraints under which these
governments operate. Under such circumstances, it is not difficult to imagine that the role of forestry in a mountain village has
changed greatly. In this study, we examined current forests situations and the role of forestry in the community, addressing the
role of the Forestry Owners Association. The study area is Nakahata, located in the suburb of Takatsuki city, Osaka. We
analyzed the stakeholders involved in forestry through a hearing of the Osaka Prefecture Forest Owners Association and
villagers in Nakahata. The survey revealed sustainability issue exists in the Takatsuki forest. First, the local community depends
on the forest owners association due to a successor absence and the aging of many forestry workers. Second, the employee of
the association has not yet attempted increased employment regardless of the recent increasing demand for domestic timber.
We identified the major attributes: low income and unstable employment condition of forestry causes the sustainability
problem. In particular, we found that younger generations expect recent increasing demand will not last for long time, which
essentially leads to lower wages or losing a job, and that the employee side feels high risk of adding new employment. We
argue that reducing uncertainty of Japanese forestry policies (i.e., frequent change in subsidies) is of critical importance for
sustainable forestry. Besides, we argue also it is necessary to improve the institution of the current association in order to
respond to the global and domestic market shift of timber.
INTRODUCTION
Background and Target of the study
In Japan, there was destructive lumbering to meet the reconstruction demand after the war. Though the land was
replaced by conifer, the price of domestic timber has dropped after the peak in the early 1980’s, which was due to
the availability of inexpensive foreign lumber or the decrease in demand (Nose 2008; Ishizaki 2010). Under the
present circumstances, domestic forest industry cannot sustain itself without subsidies from central and local
governments. Because of the fact that those subsidies are not enough for the basic maintenance of thinning or
trimming a forest, the rationality, efficiency of it and also those effects on environment, tend to be neglected due
to the emphasis of the bottom line only on profitability. Those suggest a design with these perspectives is needed
for a sustainable forest.
Previous research has focused on the distribution of timber (Endoh et al. 1999; Fuchigami et al. 2012), the amount
of forest growth (Tsuji et al. 2007; Nishizono et al. 2008), and the profitability and efficiency of forestry practices
(Kasahara et al. 2002; Nakahata et al. 2013). These issues have already been up again for discussion in the fields of
economics and forestry. We need to consider, however, the change of the conditions of guardians in forests from
the historical perspective. It is easy to see that the role of forestry has been dramatically transformed around
mountain villages. However, overall picture of the role has not been understood well. In this study, we aim to
clarify the changing roles of forestry in a local community through examining the relationship between an urban-
neighborhood village and Forest Owners Association (FOA) in charge.
Current Forestry in Japan
Forestry has formerly been an important industry in Japan in which 70 % of the land is occupied by forest. Although
a boom in house construction during the period of rapid economic growth after World War Ⅱ attained ever-
increasing demands for lumber, we did not have the capacity to produce enough to meet the demand. To stop the
increase in price, the government launched clear-cutting of national forests and trade liberalization of lumber in
1961. This situation led to the Fundamental Act of Forestry law in 1964. The law realized the switch to planted
forest which enables efficient production, modernization of common forest, enrichment of forestry cooperative,
Yukari Fuchigami et al
and a variety of subsidization (The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan 2013). Then competition
with imported timber increased and the price of domestic one became cheaper. As we can see the self-sufficiency
rate of 27.9% in 2012 (The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan 2013), despite the fact that
domestic timber is now cheaper than foreign one, the latter is still in demand because of its accessibility and ability
to bear a big order. Although the timber value is almost the same, inefficiency in manufacturing makes products
more expensive when customer chooses domestic timber as raw materials. There is also another reason. Under the
modernization in people’s life style, timber was replaced by alternative materials.
The government offers subsidy for cutting down trees in a coniferous forest under the condition of over 10㎥
timber supply from 5ha forest land which is upon expiration of a cutting period. Any disposal of thinned timber
which is not compulsory for carrying out is also accepted partly and the way of keeping a forest in a remote
location has also improved a lot. The next agenda is the issue of giving a subsidy that can cover the expenses of
carrying timber from the remote mountains. At the same time, there are other problems like delaying in planting,
thinning or pruning against the growing demand for the work. Moreover, modernization of human life affects a
broad-leaved forest a lot than a coniferous forest. Village forest has been used as the place to get firewood and
make charcoal and trimmed at fixed intervals. However, fossil fuel such as oil or natural gas which became popular
since 1960’s has made difference in fuel usage at home and the timber end village forests lost its role. Now the
circumstance around timber is changing, started the low of the promoting the wood use in the public facilities
construction, wood use point, conception of wood mileage. In addition, various quality of wood biomass utilization
to use surplus edge materials effectively is born.
STUDY AREA AND METHODS

Outline of Nakahata settlement
The study region is Nakahata settlement which is located at the 34°57'N, 135°36'E, northern end of Takatsuki city,
Osaka prefecture (Fig.1). The settlement adjoins Kameoka city on the north, and Muko city on the east. It takes
about 30 minutes by car to the center of Takatsuki City while it takes only 15 minutes to these towns of the
neighborhood from the Nakahata settlement. Nakahata was used to belong to “Minamikuwata district” (now it is
Kameoka city) among the five settlements. These five settlements, that was named “Kashida village”, merged with
Takatsuki-city across the prefectural border in 1958. Now in the area, there are special nursing home for the aged
and golf courses. The homes sometimes take the role of hospital though they don’t usually have doctors. They only
come to Tanoh a couple of times a week.
Out of 26 families in Nakahata, five are living alone and most residents are over 60. GENKAI SYURAKU (marginalized
village) is used as a special Japanese phrase which means over 50% of the residents are 65 years old or more due to
the declining birth rate and depopulation (Ohno 2005). We can see that Nakahata is one of the marginalized
villages even though it is a suburban village.
Methods
This study shows how forestry exists in local
community through the interviews with
Mishima branch office of Osaka Prefecture
Forest Owners Association (MFOA) and
residents of Nakahata. I had an interview to
Mr. A (in 60’s, formally worked at Takatsuki
City Hall) and Mr. B (in 70’s, temporary
employee in MFOA), both of them living in
Nakahata, and Mr. C (in 40’s, the manager of
MFOA) and Mr. D (in 60’s, working as
Director of the Osaka FOA). Based on those
results, we analyzed the stakeholders
involved in forestry and clarified the present
situation and the prospects of forestry. Figure.1 Location of Nakahata district
Note: The map was drawn by authors using MANDARA

Management and own Logging Produce and sale Use
Small Trust of Forest

owner Owners
the work Association
(local resident factory of
or others) (MFOA) pile Customer
Forest
Tourism
Center Market
Fabricator
Sale of tree
Prefecture
Logging
Company
City
Logging Company
Company
Figure 2 Condition of former forestry in the study area

Note: The figure was drawn by authors based on field survey.
Blue arrow indicates Wood flow and black arrow indicates trust of the work
Present Conditions
Although the fact that they still take the role of a forest owner, what it means is changing. Nowadays, they cannot
make a living even by the subsidiary forestry. The current situation of forestry was shown in figure3. As well as the
general situation of the forestry in Japan, their forestry was completely depend on MFOA causing the lack of fall of
the wood price, decrease in demand, aging and lack of successor. Now most of forest owner are living in the city
area. The government policy offers subsidy under the condition of being able to get 50㎥ timber from over 5ha,
and the problem is that the land each forest owner has is not large enough or located separately, which makes it
difficult to meet the condition. There is one more thing that makes difficult to get subsidy. The fact that the issue is
related to tax burden makes it hard to manage their privately-owned forests. Forest owners don’t expect any
profits from the forests and only making a forestry road or thinning work may be enough for their livelihood.

owner Owners
or others) (MFOA) pile
Customer
Forest
Tourism
Center Market
Fabricator
Sale of tree Pellet
Prefecture Biomass Fuel
Pellet
Production
Factory
Bio-Cokes
City
Logging
Company Company
Figure 3 Present condition of forestry in the study area

Blue arrow indicates wood flow and Black arrow indicates trust of the work

Forest Owners Association
(1) The role of Forest Owners Association
Currently, MFOA manages the forestry of Nakahata. The Osaka FOA owns the raw wood market. In the interview,
Mr. D said that establishing the structure that makes FOA have the right to decide the timber price is important for
stabilizing timber value. Moreover, it owns the factory of pile, forest tourism center and biomass fuel production
factory”. Thus, MFOA is not only managing the forests but also utilizing of sightseeing resources and woody
biomass.
Next, we aim to describe the flow of the forestry and timber industry at MFOA (Figure 4). One of the Nakahata
area was logged in 2013 by MFOA. They have to secure a certain level of supply from a certain range, which means
they need a permission from several forest owners. For that, they get agreement by preparing briefings for owners
by explaining their plan of managing forests and structure of returning profits to them. Because of the fact that a
lot of owners are absent and it is difficult to meet all of them, they occasionally ask owners like Mr. A for help, who
are usually staying at the place and taking a role of coordinator. The number of staffs that can be supplied from
MFOA is not enough for the management, and they distribute the task among agents on their behalf in most cases.
Timber which is good in quality and used as building material is shipped to raw wood market. Because Nakahata is
far from the FOA’s market located, they are shipped to another market in Kameoka-city. The price of timber
delivered from outside of the
Kyoto prefecture tends to stay Management and own Logging Buyer(Product, sale and use)
lower in the market. Moreover,
the person of the market says, Forest
Timber sales
“There arises an awareness that Small Profit Owners income
sharing Market
owner Association
lumber prices of the FOA are (local resident (MFOA)
lower due to a large subsidy, or others)
factory of
which will lead to the low prices. Operation cost pile
There will be a possibility of Forest
Subsidy
stabilizing morale on a buyer Tourism
Fabricator
Operation Center
side.” Biomass Fuel
cost
Production
Prefecture
Factory
Timbers that do not have quality Company
for shipment are used as source Logging
City
of pile, laminated lumber and Company
Customer
woody biomass. What is
characteristic about MFOA is that
those woods are shipped to their Figure 5 Financial flow in Forest Owners Association
timber processing factory and
Blue arrow indicates Income flow and red arrow indicates spending flow .
made into bio-cokes, pellet and
compost. There are few factories
that can refine bio-cokes. All of the products are shipped to the certain company and used as alternative of fossil
fuel. Unless the pellet is sold to small costumer and it is also used as alternative fuel for boiler of hot spring in
Forest Tourism Center. There still remains a chip of hardwood from logging and those timbers are used as charcoal
or bed log to grow shiitake mushrooms at the center. They use them to Shiitake mushroom hunting for visitors,
cooking in restaurant or BBQ. As seen above, it is all prepared to use everything for something useful.
(2)Financial flow in Forest Owners Association
The income of FOA is forest products sales earning and subsidy. In the past, most of the revenue was that sales
and subsidy was compensate for it. However, it is a situation where the forestry cannot perform without a subsidy,
because of the fall of wood demand and competition with foreign material, etc. In the work plan of Nakahata
(2013), estimating amount of subsidy was double rather than the material wood incomes. The expenditure of FOA
is operation costs and revenue sharing to the forest owner. Although the forest owner had stood the life with
these incomes before, that is already impossible now. The income which enters through FOA is less than the
management costs of their own forest. Thus, the present forestry is not realized without existence of a subsidy.
There are various problems in existence of subsidy. Subsidy is an important source of income to compensate for the
shortage of labor costs, but it has the potential to reduce the "buyer’s moral" in the market, too. For example, since
the wood from FOA has a subsidy more than general contractor's, buyer tends to put a low price on those woods.
Such a tendency can be seen in the current timber market.
Relationships between stakeholders
The relationship surrounding the Nakahata resident and MFOA was shown in the Figure 4. Blue arrow simply shows
transfer of timber and money. Red one means the demand.

Ecological service
Low price and

high quality production
Figure 4 Relationship of
owner Owners stakeholders
or others) (MFOA) pile
Local cooperation Customer
Traditional knowledge
Forest Relaxation
Tourism
Tax
Subsidy
Center Market Note: The figure was drawn
Trust of Fabricator
the work Pellet by authors based on field
Prefecture Biomass Fuel survey. Blue arrow indicates
Production Reduction of
Subsidy
Factory the environmental load
wood flow and Red arrow
Negotiations
Share the work indicates demand.
City
Logging
Company Company
Disposal of edge materials

and industrial waste
(1) Nakahata Residents and Forest Owners Association
Formally, FOA is the one who needs permission of the residents. Practically, however, the residents are fully relying
on FOA due to the aging and the labor shortage. The construction of charcoal kiln at the forest tourism center is
created by Mr. B who is from Nakahata settlement. He is taking advantage of the knowledge he got when he
engaged in charcoal industry of parent generation.
(2) Administration and Forest Owners Association and Residents
The government administration consigns the logging of public forest FOA and offers subsidy. To put it the other way
around, forestry cannot sustain itself without subsidy; first comes the policy and subsidy, and then the action to
meet the government’s need. Moreover, An Inheritance tax etc. should be paid because forest is the inherent
property.
(3) Local timber industries and Forest Owners Association
Although the fact that FOA is highly trusted by the local community as semi-official institution and funds (subsidy)
from government, it does not have enough manpower to perform the entire project. Therefore, it shares its work
with local logging company. By doing this, local company can also get jobs and avoid the process of having to talk
with forest owners and applying for subsidy from the government.
(4) Industrial Company and Forest Owners Association
A certain industrial company replaces fossil fuel with bio-cokes which is processed by MFOA so that it can reduce
environmental load (i.e., CO2 emissions). This is one of the environmental measures for the company, and leads to
an improvement in the public image of them. At the same time, this demand lets the system of making effective
utilization of edge materials in MFOA.

5) Consumer
Although consumer wants good products in lower price, they demand ecological service from forest owners at the
same time. In other words, they do not want to spend their money on the product which is good for environment
(ex. woody biomass products) but they contradictorily think that forest itself should be well taken care.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
Forestry in Japan has problems that it can sustain itself only on the condition of being subsidized. It is also indicated
that the local community has to depend on the FOA due to the declining income from forestry and its associated
issue of their successor absence and the aging of workers. Now that wood point or certification system is popular,
there is law that encourages utilization of timber and woody biomass, demand for timber and self-sufficient rate
have been increasing. But the FOA has not attempted to expand their business or increased employment under
these circumstances. We show these 2 factors for their response. Firstly, the current system depends heavily on
subsidy.
It is important to reduce uncertainty of Japanese forestry policies for sustainable forest management (rapidly
changing systems of subsidy etc.). The system of subsidy that covers all process of forestry will be needed. At the
same time, it is also needed to raise the self-sufficiency rate of wood, and enhance the position of FOA to make a
quick response to market situation of domestic and global. Secondly, we argue the necessity of increasing value of
domestic timber. As discussed in 3.3, consumers ask for proper care of forest while they contradictory wish the
products of woody biomass to be reasonable price. However, in the cause of an appropriate management of forest,
it is urgently needed to increase the timber price, the income of forestry and the number of workers. In other
words, a rise in value of products from domestic wood on the end-user side will lead to the promotion of demand
for domestic timber, and the rational forest management.
It is impossible to cover every management with governmental subsidy. Unless forestry in itself is established as
industry, it cannot support the livelihood of local residents as sustainable occupation, and will be unattainable also
for proper forest management. Current Nakahata has the issues like age problem and depopulation in spite of the
suburban location. The promotion of the forestry systems by Osaka prefecture FOA could surely have the potential
leading to the revitalization of Nakahata.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors are grateful to Mishima branch office of Osaka Prefecture Forest Owners Association (MFOA) and
residents of Nakahata for their great support.
REFERENCES
Endoh, K., Ishizaki, R., Tsuchiya, T. 1999. “Role of Log Auction Market for Organization of Forestry and Timber
Industry in Basin, Journal of Forest Economics.” Vol. 45. No.1. pp75-80.
Fuchigami,Y., Kojiro, K., Furuta, Y. 2012. “Effect of the Difference in the Process of Lumber Locally Produced for
Local Consumption 6n Carbon Footprint of Products : Discussion of a case of lumber certified by Kyoto
prefecture.” journal of Japanese Wood Science. Vol. 58. No.3. pp.153-162.
Ishizaki, R. 2010. “Formulation of an Effective Forest Policy Involving Local Forest Management (Feature Article for
the Symposium).” Journal of Forest Economics. Vol. 56. No.1. pp. 29-39.
Kasahara, H., Shishiuchi, M. 2002. “Mechanizing operations to improve the profitability of the forestry industry.”
Journal of Japan Forest Engineering Society. Vol. 17. No.3. pp.123-130.
Nakahata, C., Aruga, K., Takei, Y., Yamaguchi, R., Saito, M., Kanetsuki, K. 2013. “Examining the optimum extraction
rate of extracting thinned woods in the Nasunogahara area,.” Journal of Japan Forest Engineering Society. Vol.
28. No.1. pp.17-28.

Nishizono, T., Tanaka, K., Awaya, Y., Oishi, Y., Hayashi, M., Yokota, Y., Amano, M., Kuboyama, H., Yamaki, K., Furui-
do, H. 2008. “e-related Changes in Stand Volume Growth of Cryptomeria japonica Plantations in Akita District,
Northeastern Japan.” Jurnal of the Japanese Forest Society. Vol.90. No.4. pp. 232-240.
Nose, M. 2008. “Changes of forestry finance and its background in Kyoto Prefecture.”Applied Forest Science. The
Society of Applied Forest Science. Vol.17. No.1. pp. 21-28.
Ohno, A. 2005. Introduction of mountain village environment sociology: Changing to marginal hamlet and water-
shed co-management in modern mountain village. Tokyo: Rural Culture Association press.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan. 2013. The white paper of forest and forestry in 2013.
Tokyo: Association of agriculture and forestry statistics.
Tsuji, T., Ishii, H., Kanazawa, Y. 2007. “The Relationship between Slope Position and Stand Structure of an Old
Chamaecyparis obtusa Plantation in Northern Kyoto Prefecture, Japan.” Journal of the Japanese Forest Society.
Vol. 89. No.3.pp.160-166.

RE-EVALUATION OF TYPES OF LOCAL CAPITAL IN KANNOGAWA DISTRICT
Yukari Fuchigami1,*, Michinori Uwasu1, Shuji Kurimoto1, Tomohiko Ohno2, Hiroyuki Takeda1
* Corresponding author, Email: fuchigami@ceids.osaka-u.ac.jp
1
Center for Environmental Innovation Design for Sustainability, Osaka University, Japan
2
Department of Economics, Kanazawa University, Japan
ABSTRACT
This study carried out survey research in Kannogawa district, Totsukawa village in Japan to re-evaluate various capitals there in
the context of “local sustainable society.” We first identified what capitals exist within the boundary of Totsukawa village and
examined stakeholders. In particular, we conducted an interview survey with the stakeholders including villagers in Kannogawa
district to understand the transitions of their livelihood, community structure, among others. Together with literature review,
we also revealed the transformation of the capitals including natural and social capitals and their connection. Like other
districts in Totsukawa village, Kannogawa district faces with decreasing population and aging. But our survey and analyses
found that villagers in Kannogawa district have been forming a network among different stakeholders to maximize the value of
the capitals. We conclude that it is vital for the local people to realize the value of capitals in challenging the underlying issues
in the rural regions in Japan.
INTRODUCTION
Capitals are amassed in tangible and intangible spaces and provide materials and services required to maintain
people’s welfare (Uwasu, 2010). The capitals that exist in an area can be divided into three categories: natural
capital, man-made capital, and intangible capital (human and social capital). Man-made capital, composed of
buildings, infrastructures and equipment, can be readily measured by monetary figures and how they are
accumulating is well known by economics literature (e.g., Farmer, 1999). On the other hand, natural and intangible
capitals are much more complex in their forms and values.
The concept of ecosystem services including provisioning services, regulatory services, and cultural services, has
been proposed to understand the value of the nature (UN, 2005). Intangible capital is characterized by trust and
relationships among individuals, playing crucial roles in collective actions (e.g., Dasgupta, 2003). Literature shows
the importance of the intangible capital in the enhancement of individual wellbeing and the accumulation and the
use of other types of capitals (e.g., Ostrom, 1990). The values and of these types of capital substantially vary
depending on individuals and societies. Moreover, the way to measure these two types of capital has not been
established and even people even do not quite realize the meaning and existing of natural and intangible capitals.
The base factors of a society, namely its natural climate and institutions, as well as its way of life and modernization
process, influence people’s needs and administrative policies, and create industries and livelihoods. It is against the
backdrop of such changes in a society’s basic structure that various capitals are utilized and materials and services
are produced. However, even if a society possesses capitals, unless it has the people, institutions, and
infrastructure required to utilize them appropriately, it will not be able to produce the materials and services that
people need. There is also a range of factors that determine the way capitals are used and the wealth and services
are produced. Figure 1 summarizes these correlations.
The form and value of capital thus depends, to a large extent, on the contexts of the regions and times.
Furthermore, local sustainability and the wellbeing of the local population also greatly influence the mutual
relationships among the types of capital. It follows then, that in order to understand the wellbeing of the local
population and local sustainability, one must have an understanding of capital via an examination of case studies.
This study set Kannogawa district in Totsukawa Village, Nara Prefecture, as the study area. Through interviews and
a survey of relevant literature, this study aimed to identify three types of capital that exist in the area. The study
also aimed to shed light on how the area’s capital is influenced by the changes in livelihoods and needs that
accompany changes in the social structure.

Sustained provision of
Wealth/product base Local Community
Goods & Services & Welfare and people
• Man-made capital
• Natural capital • Wellbeing
• Intangible capital • Sustainability
Policy Occupation Social Needs Distributive function Changing with

Measure Industry social structure
Climate and natural features / Governance / Modernization /

Population dynamics etc.
Figure 1: The relationship between local capital and community
RESEARCH METHODS AND AREA STUDIED
The area surveyed in this study was Kannogawa District, Totsukawa Village in Nara Prefecture, Japan (Fig.2). The
various capitals in this mountainous district was re-valuated from the perspective of “sustainable local society.”
Totsukawa Village has an area of 627km2, its population is a little less than 3,900, and it has an extremely low
population density of 5.8 people per km2. Ninety percent of the Totsukawa’s land is mountainous, and so a major
industry is forestry. There are extremely few tracts of arable land. The geographical conditions of the village make it
vulnerable to disasters. In 1889, a typhoon caused major flooding and many of the residents of Totsukawa Village
migrated to Hokkaido. More recently, in 2011, Totsukawa Village suffered massive damage from the mudslides and
flooding.
Kannogawa is located about twenty minutes by car from the national road that runs in a north-south direction
through the center of the village. The district consists of five hamlet: Sugise, Imoze, Miura, Yamaten, and Uchino.
There are 33 households and 63 residents as of February 2014. The majority of the residents are aged 65 or over,
and so the Kannogawa is considered as a marginal district, meaning over 50% of the residents are 65 years old or
more due to the declining birth rate and depopulation (Ohno 2005). A field survey was conducted in the form of
questionnaire-based interviews with 23 of the 33 households in Kannogawa during the period in February 2014.
Using the preceding study (Hayashi1993), we examined the Imoze in order to shed light on the transitions in the
structure of the community and its livelihood.
Figure 2: Location of Kannogawa District

Note: The authors constructed the map.

THE CAPITAL POSSESSED BY KANNOGAWA
The Connections among Fellow Residents in Relation to

Industry/Livelihood
This section discusses the capital that derives from the

occupational/livelihood connections among fellow residents.
Totsukawa Village has organizations such as a fire brigade and
a young persons’ association. For many years, the major
industry of Totsukawa Village was forestry, which is a primary
industry. As such, the forest owners’ cooperative had a large
role to play. At the administrative levels of district and
community, there are cooperative associations organized
around the coordinating roles of the Ward Chief, who
manages a district, and the Sōdai, who manages a community.
A branch-brigade of the Totsukawa Fire Station is also
stationed in Kannogawa. Though it currently has 18 members,
the number has been falling because of population Figure 3: Location of Kannogawa District and Kohechi route
decrease and aging people. Note: The dotted line denotes Kohechi route and the solid lines denote
Kannogawa also has a women’s association, but its members are elderly and so the association’s activities are
limited. The main activities of both the fire brigade and the women’s association involve “mountain rescue and
protecting victims of disaster.” The fire brigade conducts rescue operations and the women’s association provides
emergency rations of boiled rice. Another cooperative association that has a close connection to the people’s daily
lives is the water service association. In Imoze, Uchino, and Miura, a small-scale water supply system is shared
among a number of the neighboring residents and so the residents take turns carrying out duties such as cleansing.
One of the most important examples of human/social capital in the district and its communities is its distribution
function, such as the tradition of crop distribution among residents referred to as Osuso Wake (sharing with others
what has been given to you). For example, in the communities of Kannogawa, the people who are engaged in
agricultural work are elderly and they do not see farming as a source of income. However, there are cases where
the farmers produce volumes of crops in excess of what they themselves need with the aim of “sharing” these
crops with neighboring residents, close residents in the district, and relatives. This sharing activity indeed induces
frequent interaction and conversation to maintain their ties among the community members.
Kannogawa also has a women’s association, but its members are elderly and so the association’s activities are
limited. The main activities of both the fire brigade and the women’s association involve “mountain rescue and
protecting victims of disaster.” The fire brigade conducts rescue operations and the women’s association provides
emergency rations of boiled rice. Another cooperative association that has a close connection to the people’s daily
lives is the water service association. In Imoze, Uchino, and Miura, a small-scale water supply system is shared
among a number of the neighboring residents and so the residents take turns carrying out duties such as cleansing.
One of the most important examples of human/social capital in the district and its communities is its distribution
function, such as the tradition of crop distribution among residents referred to as Osuso Wake (sharing with others
what has been given to you). For example, in the communities of Kannogawa, the people who are engaged in
agricultural work are elderly and they do not see farming as a source of income. However, there are cases where
the farmers produce volumes of crops in excess of what they themselves need with the aim of “sharing” these
crops with neighboring residents, close residents in the district, and relatives. This sharing activity indeed induces
frequent interaction and conversation to maintain their ties among the community members.
Transport Infrastructure and Convenience of Everyday Life
A public bus goes to and from Kannogawa twice a day. Few of the residents use the bus service as a means of
travel. They generally use their private cars to go about their daily business. Most of the people who use the bus
service are mountain climbers who come to walk the Kohechi route and elderly people who are unable to drive
(Fig.3). The elderly residents use the bus when they head out from their community, something that does not

employees take turns running the Kannogawa route. Two of these employees are Kannogawa residents, and so
they sometimes bring goods from outside the community (food and daily necessities) free of charge to the elderly
residents.
At present, the greatest difficulty in terms of convenience is purchasing food and daily necessities. While there is a
public bus service, as mentioned above, the places that are easily reached on a round-trip do not have any shops
that stock adequate supplies of daily necessities. Until the end of 2013, there used to be a mobile retailer who
brought foods and other daily necessities from Shingū City in Wakayama Prefecture to sell to the residents of
Kannogawa; however, the service ceased after the retailer fell ill. At present, the elderly residents who are unable
to drive cope with their predicament by relying on younger residents to shop on their behalf and by using delivery
services.
CHANGE IN OCCUPATION
Overview
In 1961, 21 of Imoze’s households were engaged in agriculture and forestry (mainly forestry), three households
were engaged in forestry, four households were engaged in commerce, three households were running inns, and
five households were engaged in teaching (Hayashi, 1993). (Names of occupations based on the aforementioned
data). By contrast, in 2014, our survey showed that three households were engaged in construction work, one
household was in commerce, one household was running an inn, one household had no occupation (farming for
home consumption only), and two households were engaged in other occupations (including bus driving). Thus, in
the past, the majority of households was engaged in forestry as the principal occupation and agriculture as a
sideline occupation with the primary purpose of self-consumption. However, there has now been a shift in
occupations that provide a more stable supply of cash income.
Around 20 years ago, most of the residents were engaged in forestry and a number of laborers migrated to the
community from elsewhere. The lumber was carried by raft along Kannogawa River and Kumanogawa River all the
way to Shingū in Wakayama Prefecture. Later, there were many shipments of logs to Gojō City following the
improvement of the national road, a project that was carried out prior to the Kazeya Dam construction, which got
underway in 1958. Another characteristic change was the transition in commerce/inn business. In 2004, Kohechi,
the Kumano Kodō pilgrimage route that ran through the community, was listed as a World Heritage Site, and this
prompted a rise in the number of mountain climbers crossing the mountain from Mount Kōya. Following the
appearance of such city-dwelling tourists, lodging facilities, which were provided in the form of farm-inns, started
springing up. From the year 2008 onward, five of the Kannogawa communities got involved in the Happy Bridge
Project (HBP), which was an NPO, funded by a grant from the prefecture, and the number of farm-inns reached a
peak of 10. However, as of 2014, the number of these inns has fallen to merely two. This reduction was a result of a
curtailment in the subsidy as well as other factors such as the damage wrought by the 2011 typhoon and the
increasing aging of the population.
Forestry
For many years, forestry has been the main means of livelihood in Kannogawa. From this point on, the current state
of forestry is discussed in relation to three generations: the older generation, the present generation, and the
young generation. The majority of the older generation (those who were born in 1945 to 1960) was engaged in
“forestry as the main occupation and agriculture as a sideline.” Most of the households possess mountain forests
and arable tracts of land and are engaged in agriculture and forestry. While maintaining their own mountain
forests, they were also carrying out forestry work for employers.
Some of the employers were living in Kannogawa, some were living in other parts of Totsukawa Village, and some
were living outside Totsukawa. Most of these employees were adult males, but women and children were also
lending a hand by removing undergrowth and planting nursery trees. The Kannogawa Forestry Workers’
Cooperative was in existence until the late 1990s, but it ceased to exist after being merged with the Totsukawa
Village Workers’ Cooperative. However, forestry ceased to be a viable principal occupation some 20 years ago.

The decline in the price of timber rendered it unfeasible to engage in forestry as a principal occupation. There has
been a boom in construction work in Kannogawa since around 40 years ago. The residents claimed that the boom
in construction work was prompted by the road improvement in Totsukawa, carried out for the purpose of the
Kazeya Dam construction that got underway in 1958. One forestry association that still survives is the Yamaten
Industrial and Forest Owner’s Cooperative. This forestry cooperative began around 1981 after the residents of
Yamaten signed an agreement with the prefecture. After the chairman of the cooperative passed away in 2013,
the chairmanship was assumed by his son, who was in his 50s. The operations the cooperative undertakes are
limited to the mountain part of the Yamaten (about 300 hectares) and the field overseer is from outside
Totsukawa Village although he resides in Yamaten while operations are underway. Around six people are
employed and they are laborers from outside Yamaten and people from outside Totsukawa. The principal work is
tree thinning and pruning and the work plan does not include shipment of lumber. The lumber is simply discarded.
Agriculture
Since most of Totsukawa Village consists of mountainous forests, there have historically been hardly any rice
crops. Self-consumption agriculture was actively carried out, however. In 1962, shiitake mushrooms and yams
were being dispatched outside of the community as cash crops and, before 1962, there were kōzo mulberry trees,
Japanese lacquer, birdlime, and fan palms that were marketed. Sericulture was also carried out, and so it may be
surmised that mulberries were also cultivated.
The hearing survey revealed the types of crops that are currently grown during the winter season. On account of
the age of the residents, there are currently no households that conduct agriculture as a primary occupation. On
the whole, the residents grow such vegetables as root vegetables, tubers, and white cabbages in their gardens
primarily for the purpose of home consumption. Individual households decide about other crops depending on the
circumstances. Thus, the present hearing survey was unable to ascertain all the information regarding spring,
summer, and autumnal crops. The characteristic crops cultivated are millet and wasabi. Millet cultivation, in
particular, has largely been abandoned throughout Totsukawa Village. As for Kannogawa, millet cultivation was
only being carried out to a modest degree in Yamaten.
DISCUSSION
The three types of capital described above have undergone changes, but they still fundamentally exist in the
region. The examples of capital include capital that has not changed in terms of volume or type, but has changed
in terms of the way it is used and capital that has improved in terms of quality, but has a growing number of
residents dissatisfied with it. Section 2 showed the change in each type of capital. Regarding natural capital, forest
capitals continue to exist in abundance as physical stock, but the decline in demand for timber and the shortage of
manpower to carry out forestry work suggests that it has changed in terms of utilization and management.
Even in rural societies, the primary purpose of forest utilization is shifting away from direct utilization toward
indirect utilization (water source cultivation, landscaping). Regarding the accumulation of man-made capital, it is
much higher now than it was in the past in terms of both quality and quantity. However, while the convenience of
daily life has improved, the modernization process has also led to a rise in the standards demanded of man-made
capital, and so it is not at a standard satisfactory to local residents. As for human/social capital, the cooperation
that takes place in occupational activities and in the management of shared capitals has held much significance
until now. However, the continuing decline in the birth rate and the aging of the population has meant that this
cooperation now takes the form of mental/emotional support whereby residents live a communal life.
Correlation among these types of capital also influences the residents’ welfare, their safety, and their level of
happiness: wellbeing (Figure 1). As for positive examples of this influence, Kannogawa often becomes isolated as a
result of natural disasters, but since the residents buy goods in bulk during times of non-emergency and also carry
out self-consumption farming, when a disaster does strike, they have the capacity to maintain their daily lives for
around half a month. Local knowledge of disasters (wisdom), which is a means of disaster-preparedness, can be
considered as a form of intangible capital that has been amassed through a long history of disasters. On the other
hand, the functional decline of the fire brigade and the forestry workers’ collective, as a result of the declining
birth rate and the aging of the population, has a negative effect on daily forest management and the emergency
restoration of roads affected by flood disaster.
This is an example of how intangible capital adversely affects man-made capital and natural capital. In addition, a
decline in man-made capital and human capital will probably have a direct impact on the sustainability of an area.
When it comes to livelihood, the present generation hardly has the option to carry out agriculture and forestry as
its main occupation. Many of the subjects surveyed in the hearing were elderly. These residents went to the
elementary school and junior high school in Imoze, but for their high school education, they went to schools
outside Kannogawa or even outside Totsukawa Village. However, as for the slightly younger generation, Imoze did
have an elementary school at the time, the junior high school had already merged with a school outside the
district, and so this generation received their junior high education outside of Kannogawa, and then the majority
went to high schools outside Totsukawa Village.
The present generation, for whom university attendance has risen rapidly, has many more employment options
and so there is very little chance that they would select agriculture and forestry, which offers little living income.
Even if they are employed in construction occupations, many of the families move outside Kannogawa. The reason
for this is that when it comes to raising children, their children would have no peers to socialize with in Kannogawa.
Thus, even though there is an abundance of natural capital, because the area lacks the capital of schools, peers
(other children), and family, the depopulation process is spurred forward.
Along with the decline of the area’s core industry, namely forestry, the community is facing various problems due
to depopulation and population aging. In this increasingly elderly community, there is an extreme shortage of
young human capitals. The force of this trend is accelerating, and the area has failed to attract people in spite of its
added value of being registered as a World Heritage site. As a result, man-made capital and human/social capital
continue to decline and inconveniences in daily living increase. However, compared to the way of life in the past,
today’s situation is undoubtedly convenient. The hearing survey conducted in the area revealed that the residents
have a high degree of satisfaction with their current way of life. Regarding the reasons for this, many residents
cited their fondness for the land and their close-knit and stable interpersonal relationships. This observation
suggests that accumulation of the intangible capital has contributed to the enhancement of the people’s wellbeing.
Finally, our field survey found that notwithstanding the damage sustained to the area in the 2011 disaster, natural
capitals remain at an adequate level in the district. A feasible strategy is to utilize the area’s natural capital by
utilizing the area’s human/social capital. By creating mechanisms for exploiting capitals that lie outside the area
(for example, young people who live elsewhere in Totsukawa Village or in cities), it might be possible to add new
value to the capitals that already exist.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors are grateful to Totsukawa village office and survey participants in Kannogawa district for their great
support.
REFERENCES
Dasgupta, P. 2003. Human Well-being and the Natural Environment. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
Farmer, E. A. 1999. Macroeconomics. 2nd Edition, South-Western, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
Hayashi, H. 1993. Totsukawa Investigation Records, folk traditions 2. Education Board of Tostukawa village. Tokyo:
Daiichi-hoki press.
Ohno, A. 2005. Introduction of mountain village environment sociology: Changing to marginal hamlet and
watershed co-management in modern mountain village. Tokyo: Rural Culture Association press.
Ostrom E. 1999. Governing the Commons- the Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action. Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge, UK.
UN. 2005. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. (http://www.maweb.org/documents/document.356.aspx.pdf)
Uwasu, M. 2010. Global sustainability: the current states and challenges. in Achieving Global Sustainability: Policy
Recommendations, Edited by T. Sawa, S. Iai, and S. Ikkatai, United Nations University Press, Tokyo.

A DUAL POLICY FRAMEWORK FOR URBAN FRINGE FARMLAND IN KITAKYUSHU CITY:
DEVELOPMENT OR CONSERVATION?
Hitoshi Miwa
Economics faculty, Kyushu International University
miwa@econ.kiu.ac.jp
Yoshifumi Ikegima
Department of Economics, Yokohama National University
ikejima@ynu.ac.jp
ABSTRACT
The subject of this report is, Soneshinden area, a paddy area in the suburbs of Kitakyushu City in Kyushu Island of Japan
adjacent to a valuable natural environment, Sone Tideland. Our analysis aims to determine the influence of a dual policy
framework—development or conservation—on urban fringe farmland. By analyzing, it would appear that challenges regarding
land use of the tidal flats and Soneshinden region have shifted from conflict between conservation and development to how to
balance nature conservation and the interests of farmers and fishermen, and how to evaluate the local agricultural
contribution to the Sone Tideland environment. A development-oriented policy has further boosted demand for farmland in the
study area as alternative site. Large-scale management farmers have emerged in the area consequent to the actions of
regional farm owners. Currently, the Soneshinden area and Sone Tideland environment is supported by the “unintended”
contributions of only a few farmers who have shouldered the task of accumulating unused farmland. Currently, developing the
region and cities in harmony with nature is required nationally and globally. To realize this aim, we propose reviewing the land
use vision for suburban areas to reflect internal factors affecting regional development, such as farmers and residents, beyond
merely seeking policy interest from an outward perspective.
INTRODUCTION
Japan currently faces a decreasing population and a super-aged society. Now, even large metropolitan
municipalities tend to restrict the use of natural resources and are oriented toward environmentally sound city
development. By introducing the Future City Initiative, for example, these policies are promoted as national
strategic projects. Previously underdeveloped suburban areas that were excluded from the “selection and
concentration” strategy have attracted attention as target areas for city development in harmony with the natural
environment. In addition, many local governments have adopted policies highlighting the importance of
environment conservation. However, landowners in peri-urban areas also have deep-rooted expectations for their
areas as targets for development (Ikejima and Miwa 2010).
The subject of this report is a paddy area in the suburbs of Kitakyushu City in Fukuoka prefecture, one of the
selected Future City cities. This area is adjacent to a valuable natural environment. Our analysis aims to determine
the influence of a dual policy framework—development or conservation—on urban fringe farmland. In addition,
this report makes recommendations for the sustainable conservation of the natural environment and regional
agriculture.
INFLUENCE OF INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT IN SURROUNDING AREAS

About the study region
The study region is the “Soneshinden area,” which is located to the southeast of Kokuraminami Ward in
Kitakyushu City, facing the Suo-nada Sea. Figure 1 in the later page shows the neighboring region of the study area.
In contrast to its surrounding areas, which since the 1970s have undergone housing and industrial development,
the Soneshinden area is characterized by paddy fields and a rural landscape. The Sone Tideland, known as a
stopover for migratory birds, lies adjacent to the Soneshinden area, which boasts both agricultural and fishing
village characteristics. New Kitakyushu Airport is located on an artificial island off the coast of the Sone Tideland.
The Soneshinden area has not necessarily been left untouched; the region has been under direct and indirect
development pressure, consequents of progression as industrial clusters and urbanization of periphery areas.

Suo-nada coastal zone, including the Soneshinden
area, was an undeveloped area in Kitakyushu City.
However, improvements to the traffic network,
such as double-track electrification of the Nippo
line (the national railway) and the construction of
a highway significantly enhanced this suburban
area’s accessibility to Kokura’s central business
district. Suburban development in Kokuraminami-
Ward began in the 1970s. For some time,
industrial development in Kanda town and the
Kusami area in Kokuraminami Ward boosted
housing demand in the Suo-nada coastal zone. In
the following sections, we describe the historical
process of industrial development and
transportation network improvements in this Picture1: Air photo of the study area. Source: Sone-East Elementary School
region. Website (http://www.kita9.ed.jp/ sonehigashi-e/)
Industrial accumulation in the surrounding area
The coal industry supporting the local economy declined rapidly in the 1960s consequent to the energy revolution.
Therefore, an urgent need to create a new key industry in the coal-producing region of the prefecture arose, and
the Fukuoka prefectural government acted aggressively to attract companies to the area. With its promising
geographic conditions, Kanda town became a potential area for plant location, and the local government prioritized
allocating a budget for infrastructure development. The policy was effective, and in 1973, Nissan Motor Company
constructed a new manufacturing plant in Kanda town. Other major automobile manufactures followed, for
example, the Toyota Motor Corporation opened a plant in Northern Kyushu in 1992 and Daihatsu Motor Co. in
2004. Consequently, Northern Kyushu has become one of the leading clusters of the automobile industry in Japan.
In close proximity to the study area, the Kusami area and Kanda town have become central districts of industry
accumulation.
Development of land-sea-and-air traffic networks
In addition to the integration of the automotive industry, another notable feature of this area is multi-faceted
traffic development for aviation, the maritime industry, and motorways. In 2006, the 24-hour New Kitakyushu
Airport opened off the coast of Sone Tideland. The offshore airport was constructed to solve two regional
challenges: First, an airport was needed for large airplanes, and second, disposal sites were needed for dredged
material emitted from development in the Kanmon Straits, a crowded international shipping route. When the new
airport began services, the old airport north of the Soneshinden area was closed, and the vacant site was converted
into an industrial complex for factories and distribution bases. Port of Shin-Moji, to the north of the Soneshinden
area, was retained as Toyota’s shipping port in 2004. Consequently, the need arose to construct an industrial road
connecting the production base in Kanda town and the shipping center, Port of Shin-Moji.
As mentioned, development of transportation networks and the surrounding areas increased the need for a
connecting highway. In 1967, Kitakyushu City made an urban planning decision to build a highway to traverse the
Suo-nada coastal zone, as Line 6 of the city planning road (Kitakyushu City 2010). However, stakeholder opinion
regarding conservation of agricultural land and the tidal flats was divided, and by 2013, the section passing through
the Soneshinden region was not yet under construction. During route setting, an impact analysis is conducted with
regard to curve trajectory and degree to which the industrial road offers a shorter route, the environment, local
agriculture, residents, and project costs. Consequently, it was decided to construct the road alongside the creek
embankment, thus separating the Soneshinden area and Sone tideland.

RELATION BETWEEN DEVELOPMENT AND CONSERVATION
History of the Sone Tideland development project
In ancient times, a large part of the Sone district was an ocean, with a cove-like shallow tideland spreading
westward to the submontane area. Many reclamation projects have been implemented here, which have sculpted
the Sone Tideland into its present form. With industrial development of the periphery, several development plans
for the Sone Tideland were formulated, none of which came to fruition. In the late 1960s, a plan was developed to
convert the Sone Tideland into an estuarine lake by building a dam on the tideland offshore. However, this plan
was abandoned consequent to the resolution of an industrial water shortage.
In 1973, a new development plan to convert the reclaimed land into a marine resort and residential area was
proposed, but this disappeared with the first oil shock. The Suo-nada Coastal Resort Plan reappeared in the mid-
1990s after the collapse of the bubble economy. The project aimed to convert Sone Tideland into residential and
resort facilities. However, when Kitakyushu City shifted its stance regarding Sone Tideland to conservation, the
Coastal Resort plan was once again put on the backburner.
Kitakyushu City, long active in tidal flats development, shifted towards conservation in the late 1990s for several
reasons. One reason was enforcement of the Environmental Impact Assessment Act in 1997. By law, nature
conservation is integrated into evaluation criteria. While Kitakyushu City boasted advanced environmental
technology development and anti-pollution measures, it lagged with regard to natural environment conservation.
Furthermore, to gain an international reputation as an environmentally advanced local government, conservation
was inevitable for Kitakyushu City.
To analyze the status and direction of future conservation in the tidal flats, including the surrounding area,
Kitakyushu City developed the “Sone Tideland Conservation and Utilization Plan” in 1999 (Kitakyushu City 1999).
However, thus far, environmental conservation of Sone Tideland has not comprehensively covered the whole
water area, which includes inflow rivers that are sources of sediment and water to the Sone Tideland. In addition,
the relationship between the Sone Tideland and adjacent rice paddies in the Soneshinden area has not yet been
directly evaluated.
Local industries versus environment conservation
For environmental protection, the Sone Tideland, a stopover for migratory birds, need to be registered as a
wetland under the Ramsar Convention. However, to do this, the consent of local residents is needed. With almost
the entire Sone Tideland specified as a fishing port area, many local fishermen fear that game reserves will be
designated in the tideland area, and that restrictions for operating and maintaining the fishing port will be
imposed. In addition, farmers in the Soneshinden area strongly oppose registration under the Convention because
they fear wild birds will damage their crops. Currently, there is no registration area under the Ramsar Convention
in Japan, including the fishing port area. Therefore, Kitakyushu City is cautious with regard to registration.
Challenges regarding land use of the tidal flats and Soneshinden region have shifted from conflict between
conservation and development to how to balance nature conservation and the interests of farmers and fishermen,
and how to evaluate the local agricultural contribution to the Sone Tideland environment.
LATENT REGIONAL TRANSFORMATION OF THE SONESHINDEN AREA
Regional agriculture in the Soneshinden area
Kokuraminami Ward, which accounts for approximately 46% of the fields of Kitakyushu City and about 60% of the
number of farmers, is one of the largest agricultural areas in this city. The Soneshinden area, under investigation, is
the largest rice paddy area in the city with a total area of approximately 140 ha. Most of the region comprises
designated Agricultural Promotion Areas and Agricultural Development Areas, where land conversion for non-
agricultural purposes has been severely limited. In addition, field development projects in the region were
completed as the city’s first case in 1980. Consequently, the region’s agricultural land began to be viewed as
suitable for farm machinery and as a convenient commute by car from outside areas. However, as a coastal
lowland area, the risk for tidal and flood damage is high. In addition, a regional problem is that wet paddy land
makes it difficult to convert farmlands here into upland areas, and thus these are not suitable for profitable
agriculture.
When buying and selling or borrowing and lending farmland, the agriculture committee reviews recipients.
Commuting distance is one screening criterion; however, in recent years, many municipalities relax this standard
based on road network development. As a result, by increasing the liquidity of farmland, this relaxation has
facilitated the matching of cultivation seekers and idle farmland. However, regulation is a facade, and it has
become easier to conduct speculative land acquisition and to cultivate non-residential areas. There are various
services needed to sustain local agriculture in the area, from water management tasks such as operation and
maintenance of irrigation canals and water gates to the management of village festivals, which the regional
irrigation association implements in the Sone central land development district.
Farmland transactions in the area
As in Figure 1, an analysis of farmland transfer in the Soneshinden area according to Agricultural Land Act Article 3
reveals that transfers of ownership of agricultural land intensified in the late 1990s and mid-2000s. The total area
of farmland transferred since the beginning of the 1990s totals 32.2 ha, equivalent to 22% of the region’s total. An
analysis of the implications of proprietary transfers of farmland, based on information obtained from interviews
with the Kitakyushu Eastern Council of Agriculture and local farmers, yielded the following results．
Classifying the areas of farmland traded from 1992 to 2011 in rank order, most farmland transfers were farmland
contracts to expand scale of business (9.6 ha). Based on interviews, few local farmers were asked to underwrite the
farms of persons who had abandoned farming. Consequently, the management area of farmers had expanded
significantly. The second category was farmland contracts to transfer management and gifts (9.2 ha). In many
cases, this included elderly farmers transferring management to their children. Third was acquisition by new
farmers (4.9 ha). Most of these properties are similar to intra-family management transfers. The fourth most
popular category was the acquisition of alternative sites (1.8 ha), of which 80% occurred between 1997 and 1998.
The interviews reveal that these were speculative acquisitions. For these reasons, we conclude that activating
agricultural land trade in this region was not due to increased demand for agricultural land to cultivate.
Figure1. Trend in Transfer Ownership of Farmland in Soneshinden area

The advance of urban development and farmland commodification
Development activities are restricted in Agricultural Promotion Areas, but public works are excluded from the
scope of diversion regulation. An analysis of agricultural land prices in Kokuraminami Ward, including the
Soneshinden area, indicates a higher sale price than in other regions. We believe this is because the demand for
alternative agricultural land has increased consequent to the publication of the urban development plan. As such,
urban development progress in surrounding areas and the publication of development planning for this area
increased the demand for farmland in the Soneshinden area to use as alternative agricultural land. Following this
urban development, the demand for farmland in the Soneshinden area shifted from demand for alternative sites
for diverted land in other areas to it being a site for development. Therefore, the value of farmland as an asset
increased; thus, the “commodification of agricultural land” progressed (Nakano 1982) .
Farmland ownership structure in the Soneshinden area
The conscious survey of farmers in the Soneshinden region on land use in 1996 indicated the expectation that idle
land in the area would eventually account for much of the region (Kitakyushu City Association 2007). However, in
practice, the idle land area did not increase much. For this reason, a small number of farmers conduct large-scale
farmland management, and a significant proportion of farmland in the Soneshinden area is cultivated. An analysis
of the status of settlements registered as Agricultural Promotion Regions in the Soneshinden area based on
Agricultural Settlements Cards from the Agriculture and Forestry Census indicates 147 farm households in total,
and 153 non-farm households with agricultural land.
Based on the rural community statistics of the Agriculture and Forestry Census 2010, an analysis of the current
situation in Agricultural Promotion Areas specified settlement details for the Soneshinden area. The total number
of farming households in this area is 147 units and 153 land carrier non-farming households. On the other hand,
the lending area is only about 5 ha. In other words, the Soneshinden area’s land use situation is characterized by
local farmers who borrow additional farmland while employing self-made land. To clarify these analysis results, we
need to examine the agricultural land data provided by the Kitakyushu Eastern Agricultural Committee. For
registered farmland in Soneshinden’s Agricultural Promotion Area, which comprises 742 land packets (139.9 ha),
we recompiled the agricultural land data by owner’s address, while considering the protection of personal data.
Then, we tried to illustrate owner distribution on a map using a Geographic Information System (GIS). The analysis
results are presented in Figure 2.
Figure2. Map of the Study Area, and Location of Farmers and Dimensions of Farmland

The regional distribution of agricultural landowners in the Soneshinden area shows 30.2 ha (21.6%) of land is
owned by outside farmers, including other areas within the Kokuraminami Ward where the jurisdiction of the
Council of Agriculture differs. In some cases, farmers commute from outside the area for cultivation purposes.
However, in many cases, gifts and estates have widely diffused agricultural land ownership. In light of this
agricultural land ownership structure, regional and local farmers own about 80% of the Soneshinden region’s
agricultural land. However, according to Agricultural Settlements Cards, regional farmers cultivate borrowed
farmland totaling 70 ha. In other words, it is presumed that many farmland owners in this area, without their own
arable farmland, cultivate land owned by non-farmers.
Given the increase of outside owners and land possession by non-farmers, the number of farmers maintaining
Soneshinden’s farmland area is decreasing. As such, business scale expansion has advanced in recent years, and the
number of farmers in the 5–10 ha category—which did not exist in 1998—began to increase in 2000 to 8 units in
2010. Among these, 1 unit for large-scale farmers in the 20–30 ha category also emerged. The emergence of large-
scale farmers can be attributed to the integration of farmland borrowed and purchased from farmers who
downsized their management or abandoned farming. In other words, sustainable land use in this area, namely a
small number of farmers cultivating a large area of agricultural land, is gradually becoming more prevalent.
Large-scale cultivation of the Soneshinden region is consequent to the fact that only a few farmers were burdened
with underwriting the abandoned farmland of retired or downsizing farmers. Forced rice monoculture in the
Soneshinden region means that the larger a farmer’s scale of cultivation will be, the more he is negatively impacted
by sluggish rice price.
CONCLUSIONS
A development-oriented policy, which has long been pursued by Kitakyushu City, has further boosted demand for
farmland in the Soneshinden area for alternative use. Large-scale management farmers have emerged in the area
consequent to the actions of regional farm owners. Currently, the Soneshinden area and Sone Tideland
environment is supported by the “unintended” contributions of only a few farmers who have shouldered the task
of accumulating unused farmland.
In spite of opposition to wetland registration under the Ramsar Convention, farmers’ management of drainage for
agricultural production in the Soneshinden area sustains nutrient content, sand, and water for the Sone Tideland.
However, the decreasing resident cultivators’ area and the increasing number of farmers and landowners living in
other communities in the Soneshinden region could lead to the functional decline of the tideland’s environmental
sustainability, and create obstacles to gaining consensus on the maintenance and improvement of this farming
community.
In the Soneshinden area, latent changes in the management of farmland and communities have emerged, and the
sustainable conservation of the paddy field zone and Sone Tideland is entering a difficult phase. Currently,
developing the region and cities in harmony with nature is required nationally and globally. To realize this aim, we
propose reviewing the land use vision for suburban areas to reflect internal factors affecting regional development,
such as farmers and residents, beyond merely seeking policy interest from an outward perspective.

REFERENCES
Colin, Flint and Peter, J. Taylor. 2007. “Political geography: world-economy, nation-state, and locality”, Pearson/
Prentice Hall.
Harvey, D.1982. The limits to capital, University of Chicago Press.
Ikejima, Yoshifumi and Miwa, Hitoshi. 2010. “Community development in areas with poor-living conditions and its
locality formation: on suburban agricultural areas in Kyoto city”, Regional Economics Studies (21), pp.2-23.
Kitakyushu City. 1999. Sone Tideland Conservation and Utilization Plan
Kitakyushu City.2010. Environmental impact assessment on the improvement project of Line 6 of the city planning
road〈URL:http://www.city.kitakyushu.lg.jp/kankyou/file_0202.html〉
Kitakyushu City Association. 2007. Traces of Kitakyushu City Association’s 30-year history.
Massey, Doreen and Allen, John. 1988. Uneven re-development: cities and regions in transition, Hodder and
Stoughton in association with the Open University.
Nakano, Isshin. 1982. “Modern Land Issues, and Ownership and Use Structures of Farmland ” Evolution of
Agricultural Policy and Land Issues in Kyoto Prefecture, Horitsu-bunkasha, pp.17-100．
Okada, Tomohiro. 2006. Inquisition into Kyoto Economy, Takasuga-shuppan, pp.1-13.

The meeting of promoters for construction of the eulogy of Ishihara Sosuke. 2006. The two hundred years
with Ishihara Sosuke.

RE-DESIGNING FARMING COMMUNITIES FOR AN AGED SOCIETY : MULTIDISCIPLINARY
PERSPECTIVES AND INDUSTRIAL-ACADEMIC-GOVERNMENT COOPERATION
Shingo Teraoka
Nara Women’s University, tera@cc.nara-wu.ac.jp
Sadahiro Hamasaki
Nara Prefecture, hamasaki@naranougi.jp
Gentaro Mizugaki
Nara Women’s University, genta@cc.nara-wu.ac.jp
Hiroaki Obitani
Nara Women’s University, obitani@cc.nara-wu.ac.jp
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a joint project called, “Farming Pleasant and Easy (Raku-Raku Nouho)” into multiple
sectors to increase the sustainability of elderly farming communities by considering the financial prosperity of the farmers and
the challenges such farmers may face. Rural communities in Japan are facing the problem of a lack of successors to the aging
farmers. Although there has been more migration into farming communities from urban areas, most farming communities still
consist main of elderly people who sometimes have difficulty farming due to its physically challenging nature. Our project is
implemented in a hilly, mountainous area located in the Kansai region where farming is hard work, particularly at the time of
the fruit harvest in the steep fields, where some elderly farmers have been forced to give up farming because of its hard work.
Our solution to make farming easier for the elderly is supported by the following four sectors: a) Mechanical engineering by
private enterprise: Development of an electric transport vehicle that the elderly farmers can handle easily.; b) Agricultural
engineering by a public-funded agricultural experimental station: Conversion of a cultivation system, including a shift from the
cultivation of persimmon fruits to the cultivation of persimmon leaves that require less physical work; c) Health sciences in the
university: Measurement of the physical load of farm work and devices to reduce that load.; d) Sociology in the university:
Investigation of farmers’ motivational system and neighbour and kin support network where they are embedded. In this paper,
first we introduce the outline and process of this project. Next, we show how cooperation among the four sectors enables
analysis and improvement to the community’s current situation. Finally, we consider the prosperity of the farmers and
challenges ahead in this project.
BACKGROUND
Problem definition and objective
Among rural communities in Japan, many communities will be highly likely to face difficulty surviving because of
aging societies and a shortage of successors. While the people who live in rural communities and do farming are
aging, even if the people who are originally from the rural communities and who are now working at other areas
return to the community and do farming after retirement, they will also be elderly farmers. In other words, rural
communities must be maintained by elderly people who are engaged mainly in farming. Indeed, the elderly people
are a valuable work force for agriculture. Moreover, agriculture is the very purpose in the life for them by which
they play an active role in the rural communities. However, farming work fundamentally requires tough work and
healthy physical strength as preconditions because farmers go to their fields as workplaces, take care of crops, and
harvest and transport the crops.
The agricultural instruments that are used are often made without consideration of elderly people’s physical
limitations. In addition, in the case of orchards, tree shapes are designed exclusively from the viewpoint of adult
male’s work efficiency, which is not fit for the actual situation of a rural community where the elderly people are
playing a central role in farming work. Against this backdrop, to devise a framework by which elderly farming
workers can continue farming “easily and pleasantly (RAKURAKU-NOUHOU)” as long as they can is an important
theme to maintain agriculture and the rural community.

Shingo Teraoka et al
Target area
The target area of our project is Tochihara district, Shimoichi Town,

Yoshino Country, Nara Prefecture. Shimoichi Town is located south of Nara
Prefecture, which suffers from ageing and depopulation (Teraoka 2013). A
1-km straight-line path extends from the center of Tochihara district to
that of Shimoichi Town. Tochihara is one of 28 administrative districts in
Shimoichi Town, with population 280 and household 83. The district
consists of six communities and full time farmer households account for
about 40%. Fruit cultivation such as persimmons and plums are common
across the area and most of the fruit farms are on a steep slope. Because
of the aging population (about 33% of the district and about 37% of
Shimoichi), the district’s agricultural management has been facing a harsh Figure 1. Location map of Tochihara
reality.
BASIC VIEWPOINT AND IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS OF THE PROJECT
Four aspects to solve problems in an aging rural community.
The basic attitude of the project is to solve problems of an aging rural community by the community as a whole.
What viewpoints are necessary to enhance the sustainability of a rural community? Our project suggests that at
least four aspects are necessary. The first aspect is the body. We move our body in daily life and farm work
through walking and carrying objects. When people can control their own body and move around at will, they can
get a foundation of self-directed life and work and enjoy their own pleasant life (Raku-Raku).
The second aspect is regular vocation (agriculture in our project). To make a living, people must have some regular
vocation to earn money. People have long lived in areas where they can keep their own regular vocation. Their
willingness to work will increase if a farming method for elderly farmers to earn revenue is realized. Moreover, it
must be appealing to younger people. Even if their revenue is increased only slightly, it is of paramount importance
in terms of their purposes of life. Although urban employees are presumed to retire at their retirement age
irrespective of their willingness and strength, if farmers can make a living all their life, then farming in a rural
community can be more appealing.
The third is machinery and apparatus used for work. In agriculture, various tools have been developed to increase
productivity and save labor. Additionally, in recent years, agricultural machinery has been developed to promote
large-scale agriculture and to boost quality. Today, when rural communities are aging rapidly, it is even more
important to develop agricultural instruments for elderly farmers. Instruments that are easy for elderly people to
use might be easy to use for young and inexperienced people.
The fourth is a community. In Tochihara, people often say, “without the festival, depopulation would accelerate.”
The feeling that all villagers belong to the same community and the spirit of mutual help have been maintained by
various cultural systems, which are symbolized by the village festival. Preserving them is important to maintain the
village autonomy. Consequently, in terms of the four aspects, multidisciplinary groups, which straddle the borders
separating art and science or between academy, government, and industry, participate in structuring the project’s
practical system. The four aspects must be addressed as follows:
a) To ascertain the reality of strength and body of elderly farmers, to investigate the workload in cultivating
persimmons, and to give the advice based on them, for example, “rakuraku exercise.” (Sports Science; Nara
Women’s University).
b) To devise new combinations of cultivated items and cultivation methods such as “rakuraku cultivation method”
that will be appropriate for steep slope field and elderly farmers in the area concerned famous for persimmons
and plums (Agriculture; Nara Prefectural Agricultural Research Center).
c) To develop the electrically driven truck, “raku-raku go,” which elderly farmers can use with ease in the steep-
sloped persimmon field (Mechanical engineering; Sanko Seiki Inc. and Nara National College of Technology).
d) To design and practice various check methods to ascertain the real conditions of elderly farmers’ community or
networks (Sociology; Nara Women’s University) .
Process of the project
a) Physical aspects of elderly farmers
What kinds of body movements are included in farming works in mountain persimmon field? What effects do they
have on the farmers working there? Then, as the first challenge, the project conducts a “farming work check” to
elucidate the effects such farming work have on farmers physically and “Yoriai Karada Tenken (get-together body
check)” for the farmers in Tochihara district to ascertain their strength. Researchers of sports science is in charge of
it. Their research revealed that because the farmers carry a basket in one side of the body, on which the weight of
persimmons is concentrated, they have a sense of fatigue in the shoulder or neck. Moreover, because they must
harvest persimmon fruit on a stepladder for a long time, they require balance ability. Even if they take physical
actions in their farming works, none has high physical performance and their strength and flexibility vary in the
same district. The results were reported at community briefing sessions. The information feedback was given to
the community people. At the same time, based on the results, the researchers developed an exercise to respond
to farming work. We have the participants in the “Yoriai Karada Tenken ( )” do exercises. The “Yoriai Karada
Tenken” is being well received especially by women, who report that it is healthy and restorative.
b) Development of an electric-powered truck
Development of an electric-powered truck for farming work is introduced as the second challenge. As described
above, carrying persimmon fruit on a steep slope is not only difficult labor, but also a dangerous task. Sanko Seiki
Inc., Nara, as a local business, manufactured trucks equipped with lithium cells, but with no gasoline engine.
Assigning the highest priority to maintaining safety, they aimed to develop a smaller and lighter truck with size
enabling elderly people to operate (60 cm wide, 120 cm long, and 80 cm high) and
a more than sufficient load capacity of 100 kg to provide the necessary power. The
decisive factor of safety is the system by which it stops as soon as the operator
loses a grip of the switch. Also they aimed to develop the system so that it can
stop without slipping off even on a steep slope inclined at over 20 deg and
reached their goal. Indeed, the first car had wheels. Then, to meet the request of
Tochihara farmers, they changed the propulsion to a crawler type. That change electric-powered wheelbarrow
dramatically increased its practical performance.
Remote-controlled handling was also realized. With a simple mechanism like a

gaming console, a user can drive it forward and backward and turn it. The remote
control puts the operator far away from the truck, reducing the probability that
the operator might roll under the car body if the truck should fall. The newest
type is equipped with a camera in front so that the operator can confirm the front
field of view from the driver’s seat on the remote control monitor. Further
improvement will enable it to show advantages for pesticide spraying. To respond
electric-powered truck
to a request for “a truck usable in narrower spaces” from the people in Tochihara
district in the process of development, they also developed an electric-powered
wheelbarrow.
Another benefit of the electric-powered truck and wheelbarrow is that can also be used as a big battery. For
example, if the battery makes it possible to use an electric heating pot, then fresh made tea or coffee and hot meal
will be available to the user working in the field. Equipped with a communicator to tell others the positional
information of the car, it might help the user in an emergency until its battery runs down. Moreover, the user can
use electric power tools, a battery charger of a cell phone or smart phone, and PCs in the field. Electrical power,
which is normally unavailable in the field, will inspire the user to discover new and different methods for its
utilization. It will evolve into a demand creation device not only to help ease the user’s daily life, but also to support
the “pleasant” aspects of future farming work.

c) "Raku-raku" cultivation
The third challenge is the “development of raku-raku cultivation.” Over time, a

physically fit farmer who used to be able to carry three containers (full of 20 kg
persimmons per container) when he was young, has become older and has
become unable to carry even a single container. He has had troubles doing
various farming work on a steep slope year by year. However, it is not easy to
start cultivating new crops fully from scratch. Then, with persimmon fruit
remaining on the center stage of the local industry, our project is intended to
produce persimmon leaves as the derivative of the main product on a
Figure 2. Harvesting of persimmon
commercial basis. For example, persimmon leaves are lighter than fruit and easy
leaf
for elderly farmers to acquire and process.
They can also work in an enjoyable way if they can earn money from them. In Nara Prefecture, a traditional recipe
demands numerous persimmon leaves: sushi is wrapped with a persimmon leaf. In recent years, the leaves
produced in other prefectures and overseas have been used. Thanks to more recent movements to use local
cooking ingredients, however, an increasing number of sushi businesses have also wanted to obtain leaves for
kakinoha sushi. To meet the demand, the persimmon tree shape is made to fit for cropping the fruit must be
changed to what is fit for cropping the leaves.
The agricultural general center of Nara Prefecture is in charge of the research into such cultivation technology.
Fortunately, several local households have participated in the attempt to change the persimmon fruit field on a
slope into the field for persimmon leaves. A model field was made, where only leaves were cultivated for a year,
turning out to have revenues of 200 thousand yen per 10 a. In addition, attempts have begun to plant persimmon
trees for leaves in idle farmland. The system to collect and sell the leaves harvested by raku-raku cultivation was
organized in the Tochihara community. The agricultural system is such that, the farmers harvest persimmon fruit
while are physically fit. As they grow older, they harvest persimmon leaves. The system presents the possibility of
extending the farming period considerably. Having written up the production and use of persimmon leaves, the
aging problem of mountain rural communities in Nara Prefecture can deal only with the production of persimmon
leaves.
The project has also examined produce that used to be popularly cultured and used. Fortunately, we have
succeeded in reviving what were rediscovered in the research, so the people of Tochihara community gain
momentum to take advantage of them as economic stimulus for the region. What has been rediscovered to date
are soybeans and medical herbs such as peony. In the future, the project will explore new items with cultivation
work that does not compete with that of persimmon fruit and leaves, which elderly farmers can culture easily, and
which allow effective land use. To develop processed products using fruit, leaves, and soybeans is one of this
project’s challenges. Instead of conducting new work on unexperienced products, it is desirable to reconsider local
food culture and add improvements to its features and revive them in accordance with modern tastes. Today,
while the Tochihara community has advanced the preparation of production facilities, the local women’s club has
restored local foods, actively serving them at local festivals and events. To support and further develop their
activities, the project must address the development of agricultural processed products in the future.
d) "Community check (Shuraku Tenken)"
As the foundation to think of such challenges, it is important for the farmers themselves to be aware of the actual
state of farming and successors of their community. To support the elderly farmers’ agricultural management and
maintain the rural community, what should be done is to ascertain the actual state (Tokuno 2011). It should be
considered at least in terms of farmland, people, and community’s cultural resources. For such an understanding, it
is desirable that the staff members of the project and the local people mutually discuss the future of the village
and successors.
First, we conducted a "farmland check (Nouchi Tenken)". We asked local farmers in a small community (about ten
households) to gather at the assembly house and show their farmland areas in an enlarged map. We asked them
about the land dimensions, crops, tree age, and inclination of each strip of field and their troubles in farming
works.

They were asked about the possibility to maintain each strip of field ten years
later given three alternative responses: “I will be able to maintain it,” “I do not
know,” and “I will give it up.” Their choices indicated areas painted respectively
as blue, yellow, and red. This color-coded map shows the prediction of
maintained areas and deserted areas 10 years later at a glance.
In addition, the reasons they will be maintained or why they will be deserted are
shown concretely. It shows which factors should be addressed to change the
deserted fields to maintained fields (that is, yellow to blue on the map). That
Farmland check
information is sought by agricultural counselors and local governments, as well as
the local people. For our project, the development of the method itself is an
important challenge. Similar workshop-type studies have been conducted
nationwide on a sporadic basis. Referring to such examples, we must address the
problem of elderly farmers’ agricultural management in terms of farmland.
Second, we conducted a "family check (Kazoku Tenken)". For an elderly farmer to

continue farming work, the community and network in which he or she can
continue to live are important. Then, the key is to ascertain the network around
the family. This will also be clarified with workshop-type research, as in a
farmland check. Third, we conducted a “community resource check (Mura Four agenda and the community
Tenken).”
On a large sheet of paper spread on a table, we recorded annual events, festivals, old crops, and traditional recipes
on it together with community people together. Although the whole community is unified, it is divisible into several
smaller communities, each with its unique rituals and events. By sharing such a time to gather, it is possible to
ascertain the solidarity of a small community unit and its actual state of communication. Among the old crops and
traditional recipes, we sometimes “rediscovered” what we wanted to revive.
COLLABORATION AMONG ORGANIZATIONS
Process of structuring the project
The project is characteristically made through collaboration among universities, local governments, and private
companies. The background and process of structuring this system are explained step by step as described below.
The background to planning the project : to realize the background. The people in the field of farming have long
realized that the aging of farmers has threatened the production area.
The existence of local resources: Gojo City, Yoshino County, as the area in question, is famous for its production of
persimmon fruit. They have had such ingenious products, which can function as a core to regenerate their
community. Consequently, reconsidering the process of culturing, and the method of utilization of, the products to
be the core, we have attempted to regard not only fruit but also its byproducts such as leaves as resources. In
tackling community regeneration, if one can discover the concrete objects that used to be (or are being) produced
in the community, it is possible to get more concrete planning.
Agenda setting: The project goal is intended to improve the sustainability of the area of persimmon production in
Nara Prefecture. The problem to solve is how to cope with aging. Furthermore, the results to be obtained are the
method of rural community activation and its setting. The core members have played a central role in frequent
discussions of the problems of rural community aging, such as farming work, transportation, and child rearing. It is
important to review the countermeasures from as wide a viewpoint as possible and to explore each of their
possibilities.
Narrowing down the target area: First, the aging area (Tochihara district), which visited Nara Prefectural
Agricultural General Center for consultation, was chosen as a target area. In the infancy of the project, we
produced a list of some urban areas and rural communities that ensure successors of farming works for
comparison. However, after a great deal of consideration according to the problems refined at step above, we
decided to conduct research in Tochihara alone.

Of course, the local organizations and people have richer information related to their local areas and more clearly
recognize their problems. For this project, such an organization is Nara Prefectural Agricultural General Center. In
other cases, it might be an agricultural cooperative, a local government, or health-care center. It is useful to seek
and gain the cooperation of such organizations.
Preliminary research or previous studies will include, as in previous studies, a “community check,”(Tokuno, ibid.) as
in a case of Kamikatsu Town (Kasahara & Sato 2008), Tokushima Prefecture, famous for community economic
development projects by elderly residents, approximate community information by agricultural census, realities of
aging areas known by agricultural general centers, and data of surveys of attitudes related to agriculture. In
addition, data accumulated from agricultural centers showed an effect on shaping the project theme. Consulting
Sanko Seiki Inc. with actual achievements of agricultural machinery or welfare equipment development, we
discovered clues to the development of electric-powered trucks. It was a crucial result for planning this project.
To structure the core system: The list of persons with core skills, reliable persons, people who can play a
cooperative role in the project, and persons with wide networks were identified, considering their ability and
personality. Fundamentally, they included many members who had been involved in collaboration. The
organizations that participated in our project were in the same prefecture, so they had a common ground of
understanding of area circumstances in advance, which facilitated harmonious work in coping with unexpected
circumstances and difficulties.
Collaboration in the process of installation of the project
The project requires the development of social technology to solve the problems of aging society in a community.
The social technology is defined as “skills to structure a new social system to unify multidisciplinary knowledge
across the fields of natural science and human and social sciences. Consequently, research and development can
be completed in each field of natural science or human science alone. Even if some technological seeds serve as a
catalyst for technological development, the premise of development in social technological development is shown
by the social situation. Consequently, the three stages of (a) research of social situation, (b) research and
development, and (c) evaluation, are necessary. The possibility of collaboration with human and social sciences
exists especially in the stages of (a) and (c).
Taking the development of electric-powered trucks as an example, this project is not aimed solely at development
of a high-powered and durable truck, but also at producing tools to offer elderly farmers a motivation for working.
What is developed must be a machine not only to help elderly people but also to induce them to undertake
physical activity and be healthy. In addition, it must be a technological development to boost their regular vocation
(agricultural income) and community. From the perspectives of human and social sciences, it is not acceptable as
research, but it is necessary to collect and offer local information to help natural science’s research and
development. By addressing the development of sociological research methods with a view to such purposes, this
project has realized organic collaboration.
Coordination of component modules
With the view to managing this composite project, the members share the guideline to use a method which is most
appropriate to target community. This guideline makes with a sense of unity in the project. In practical aspect, it is
important to take a communication frequently between sub-groups, and to share information. For sharing data
(including pictures and videos), we actively use cloud computing.

FUTURE CHALLENGES OF THIS PROJECT
This project, which started in October 2012, has been producing good results in four respects under good relations
with the local area. However, all research conducted using national subsidies has a time deadline. Consequently,
whether the project will be able to build organizations and train people to inherit the achievement and take over
the business will be a great challenge. Fortunately, in terms of persimmon leaf cultivation, productive cooperation
systems have been set up in the community. It will be likely to be an organization to conduct raku-raku cultivation
in Tochihara. However, in terms of the other three aspects, finding their successors in the community will be a key.
Solving the problems might lead directly to improvement of the sustainability of an aging farming community. The
second challenge is to evaluate the effects of the project on the whole community. How should we evaluate the
effects of conducting such a project on the local area as a whole, not each of the four aspects? Although similar
projects have been conducted as "action research" targeting communities across the country in recent years, the
method of evaluating them is not always established in an academic manner (Stoecker 2012). For such attempts of
social technological development to become more active, it might be important to formulate an axis of evaluation.
REFERENCES
Kasahara, K. , Sato, Y. 2008. "Jizoku Kano na Machi wa Chiisaku Utsukushi - Kamikatsu-cho no Chosen- (A
Sustainable Town is tiny and beautiful - A Challenge of Kamikatsu Town-)", Gakugei-Shuppansha (Kyoto,
JAPAN)
Stoecker, R. 2012. "Research Methods for Community Change: A Project-Based Approach". SAGE
Publications, Inc.
Teraoka, S. 2013. "No-syo-ko no Renkei niyoru Chiiki Saisouzou - Nara no Kaki no Jirei- (Community revitalization by
Agliculture-Commerce-Technology collaboration -A case of Kaki in Nara- )". in T.Usui, and T.Matsumiya eds.
"Syoku to No no Komyuniti-ron (Studies of Food, Agliculture and Community)". Sogensha (Osaka, JAPAN).
pp.76-89.
Tokuno, S. 2011. "Seikatsu Nogyo Ron (Studies of Rural Life and Farming)". Gakubunsha (Tokyo, JAPAN).
Development of 'Soft and Pleasant' Farming for elderly Farmers (Raku-raku Noho),
http://www.nara-wu.ac.jp/scc/tochihara/english.html

RE-DESIGNING FARMING COMMUNITIES FOR AN AGED SOCIETY:
THE GEOGRAPHICAL AND SOCIOLOGICAL CONTEXT
Gentaro Mizugaki, Nara Women’s University, genta@cc.nara-wu.ac.jp

Hiroaki Obitani, Konan University, obitani@center.konan-u.ac.jp
Shingo Teraoka, Nara Women’s University, tera@cc.nara-wu.ac.jp
Sadahiro Hamasaki, Nara Prefecture Agricultural Research and Development Center, hamasaki@naranougi.jp
ABSTRACT
This paper examines the geographical and sociological context of an area targeted by a collaborative project entitled “Farming,
Pleasant and Easy” in order to determine ways to enhance the sustainability of elderly farming communities. In this paper, we
first analyze the geographical and demographic characteristics of the area against national trends. Subsequently, we consider
nationwide trends in occupational mobility and internal migration and describe migration patterns by home prefecture, sex,
and generation based on a secondary analysis of the results of a nationwide survey. Finally, we discuss how the sustainability of
elderly farming communities depends on their geographic location relative to urban centers and sociological factors;
geographic location and sociological factors determine the possibility that farmers’ children who have migrated to urban areas
will return as inhabitants.
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Based on an analysis of multiple demographic sectors, this paper examines the geographical and sociological
context of the area targeted by a collaborative project entitled “Farming, Pleasant and Easy”; this investigation was
conducted to determine ways to enhance the sustainability of elderly farming communities and to enable
discussion of the goals of the project.1 The project is being implemented in Tochihara District, which is located in
Shimoichi Town, Nara Prefecture, Japan. The district is located approximately 300 meters above sea level in the
northern Yoshino Mountains; it features a steep terrain where fruits such as persimmons and plums flourish.
Farming the steep fields in the district is hard work, particularly during the fruit harvest, and some elderly farmers
have been forced to give up farming because of the laboriousness of such work. The district has 270 residents and
82 households (Census 2010). The aging demographics of the area are rapidly becoming pronounced; the
proportion of the population aged 54 years or younger has decreased (Figure 1).
However, Tochihara District adjoins the Keihanshin Major Metropolitan Area (MMA). For residents of Tochihara
District, the majority of their children and grandchildren live within 80 kilometers (Figures 2 and 3 and Table 1);
about one-third of the children of Tochihara District residents return home to the district and engage in face-to-
face communication with their parents every month (Figure 4). The robustness of the district community appears
to derive from this social support network.
To explain the demographic gap between the older and younger generations and the geographical positioning of
the families in the area targeted by the project, this study investigates nationwide trends and structures related to
occupational mobility and internal migration. We compare the demographic and sociological characteristics of the
area against nationwide trends in occupational mobility and regional migration.
Figure 1 Population (Census 2010)

Gentaro Mizugaki et al
Figure 2. Age of male respondents’ Figure 3. Age of female respondents’

siblings, children, children’s spouses and siblings, children, children’s spouses and
gradchildren living outside Tochihara gradchildren living outside Tochihara
Figure 4 Keihanshin MMA and places of residence of members of the second and third generations
Table 1. Family members who live outside Tochihara and return to visit their parents
More than once a week 12 9.4%

A few tim es a m onth 36 28.3%
Several tim es a year 35 27.6%
One or two tim es a year 36 28.3%
Les s than once a year 8 6.3%
Total 127 100.0%

Background and Previous Studies
Migration in the modern age emerged in concert with the process of industrialization, as a surplus labor force
moved from rural areas to urban areas for employment opportunities. In Japan, this process continued even after
industrialization and reached a peak during the high economic growth period of the 1960s; people flocked to the
three MMAs. However, 1970 was a turning point; since 1970, diverse patterns of migration have been observed.
Increases in the outflow from metropolitan areas and declines in the inflow to metropolitan areas that exhibit J- or
U-turns have been observed. Among the three MMAs, migration patterns in the Tokyo metropolitan area and the
other two areas diverged in the 1980s. In the Chukyo and Hanshin areas, migration from the 1970s until the
present has continued at the same levels; however, in the Tokyo metropolitan area, excess in-migration has been
between 0% and 0.5%, except during the mid-1990s when the economic bubble burst (Figures 5 and 6).
Geographers and demographers have indicated that economic and cohort factors are involved in changes in
migration patterns (Oe 1995). As Nawata (2008) argues, changes in excess in-migration to the three MMAs from
1955 to 2005 bore an extreme similarity to changes in the real economic growth rate and the prefectural income
gap (i.e., the gap in average income between the top five prefectures and the bottom five prefectures).
In Japan, the number of births substantially decreased in the 1950s; this phenomenon is referred to as the “fertility
transition.” Ito argues that changes in demographic distribution can be ascribed to the different sizes of each birth
cohort. Migration to the three MMAs in the 1960s can mainly be ascribed to the large number of births—and
correspondingly large birth cohorts—before the fertility transition (Itoh 1984). From the life course perspective,
irrespective of birth cohort, people tend to flow to metropolitan areas at the ages of 20–24 and return home in
their 30s; these trends have varied over time based on the size of the birth cohort in question (Kawabe 1985).
Few studies have employed a sociological approach to investigate migration in Japan. Tsuburai determined the
point at which migration shifted from being motivated by employment to being motivated by the pursuit of higher
education. Most college students were concentrated in Tokyo until the early 1960s. Inter-regional disparities in
higher education opportunities, however, were corrected during and after Japan’s period of high economic growth,
promoting upward social mobility and increasing the number of students in higher education, as well as the
number of white-collar workers. Notably, she found that: (a) the rate of those who chose farming as their first job
and did not attempt to switch occupations sharply declined after 1976; (b) that although the percentage of those
who moved to other prefectures for higher education has increased, the rate of those who moved for their first
jobs has decreased; and (c) that the ratio of those who have stayed in their hometowns and have not moved to
other prefectures has been stable through the post-war period.
Figure 5 Changes in population and internal migration: 1955–2012
Source: Report on Internal Migration in Japan

http://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/idou/index.htm

Figure 6 Changes in the net migration in-rate for the three MMAs: 1955–2012
Source: Report on Internal Migration in Japan

http://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/idou/index.htm
In terms of sex differences, the female employment rate has been lower in metropolitan areas compared with non-
metropolitan areas in the post-war period in Japan. However, since the enactment of the Equal Employment
Opportunity Law in 1986, women with advanced degrees have been concentrated in the Tokyo metropolitan area.
It may be surmised that mountainous, rural areas that offer less opportunity for higher education exhibit the most
extreme outflow of the younger generation, young women in particular; such areas also exhibit decreases in the
number of births and increased aging. Communities in these areas are being transformed into what have been
called “marginal settlements.”
Definition of the problem
Previous studies have been limited in examining the geographical and sociological circumstances of rural
communities in mountainous areas. First, most previous studies in demography and geography have been based
on aggregated data. However, precisely describing the “U-turn phenomenon” is difficult when using aggregate data
(Oe 1995). In economics, individual data from official statistics on employment are often used (Abe 2011).
However, such data include scant information on personal career trajectories. Tsuburai’s study (1998) used
individual data, but only data from males; moreover, regional differences, such as between metropolitan or local
areas, were not taken into account. Furthermore, Tsuburai did not define generations by birth year, and only used
the year of first employment to classify the population into three generations: before, during, and after the period
of rapid economic growth.
In this paper, we describe migration patterns by home prefecture, sex, and generation, and clarify how the children
of farmers—that is, members of the second generation—have chosen their occupations and places of residence.
METHOD OF ANALYSIS
Data
We used data from the Social Stratification and Social Mobility Survey 2005.2 Indices of occupational mobility type
and regional migration type were created in reference to indices formulated by Tsuburai (1998).

Region
Region (hometown) was considered a respondent’s place of residence at the time they finished compulsory
education (i.e., at the age of 15). Out of all the respondents (N = 5742), respondents whose place of residence at
the end of compulsory education was in one of the three MMAs (Kanto-MMA: Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba, and
Saitama; Chukyo-MMA: Aichi, Gifu, and Mie; Keihanshin-MMA: Osaka, Hyogo, Kyoto, and Nara) were grouped in
the Metropolitan (n = 1972) group, whereas others were grouped into the Local (N = 3770) group.
Occupational mobility type
The dataset, which included respondents’ prefecture and life stage, including the following information: (a) father’s
main occupation, (b) first occupation, and (c) current occupation. This study analyzed the occupational mobility of
respondents whose fathers’ main occupation was agriculture. Four types of occupational mobility were
constructed:
Type AA-I: First job was farming, and did not switch to another occupation
Type AA-II: First job was another occupation, but switched to farming
Type AO-I: First job was farming, but switched to another occupation
Type AO-II: Another occupation
Regional migration
The data contained four places of residence at the prefecture level at various life stages in the following:
A) Place of residence at the time the respondent finished compulsory education (i.e., at the age of 15)
B) Place of residence at the time the respondent was pursuing higher education
C) Place of residence at the time the respondent was engaged in their first job
D) Place of current residence
Six migration types were constructed based on the above four places of residence:
Type MH-I: Stayed in their hometown and did not move to another prefecture
Type MH-II: Returned to their hometown but moved to another prefecture for higher education
Type MH-III: Returned to their hometown but moved to another prefecture for their first job
Type MO-VI: Moved for higher education
Type MO-V: Moved for their first job
Type MO-VI: Moved after their second job or later
Respondents in each type were analyzed by region (MMAs/local), sex, and year of birth cohort.
RESULTS
Tables 2 and 3 show the percentage of each occupational mobility and regional migration type by region (MMAs/
local), sex, and birth cohort (year of birth). All three of Tsuburai’s findings mentioned previously were confirmed
using the data from 2005. The characteristics of occupational mobility propensity and regional migration
propensity are summarized as follows.
Occupational mobility
1) In terms of intergenerational occupational mobility, eschewing agriculture as a career reached a peak in the
1956–1965 birth cohort.
2) The number of people who chose farming as their first job decreased between the birth cohort of 1956–1965
and the birth cohort of 1946–1955.

Table 2 . Percentage of each type of occupational mobility by region (MMAs/local), sex, and birth cohort
(year of birth)
Father's main occupation=Agriculture All regions All respondents

Region Sex Cohort AA-I AO-I AA-II AO-II % n OA-II N
Local Male 1935-45 14% 17% 6% 64% 100% 169 1% 727
1946-55 10% 12% 8% 71% 100% 146 0% 631
1956-65 4% 3% 7% 86% 100% 72 1% 523
1966-75 6% 6% 0% 88% 100% 16 1% 490
1976-85 13% 6% 6% 75% 100% 16 0% 289
Total 10% 12% 6% 71% 100% 419 1% 2660
Female 1935-45 9% 15% 6% 70% 100% 195 2% 796
1946-55 3% 2% 8% 88% 100% 178 2% 787
1956-65 0% 3% 3% 95% 100% 78 1% 594
1966-75 0% 0% 0% 100% 100% 29 0% 559
1976-85 0% 0% 0% 100% 100% 11 0% 346
Total 4% 7% 5% 83% 100% 491 1% 3082
Table 3. Percentage of each type of regional migration by region (MMAs/local), sex, and birth cohort (year
of birth)
Current Residence Types of Migration Total
Region Sex Cohort Hometown Other MH-I MH-II MH-III MO-IV MO-V MO-VI % N
Local Male 1935-45 72% 28% 58% 6% 8% 4% 14% 10% 100% 489
1946-55 70% 30% 53% 11% 6% 6% 22% 3% 100% 435
1956-65 78% 22% 53% 19% 6% 6% 14% 3% 100% 327
1966-75 77% 23% 59% 13% 4% 6% 11% 6% 100% 298
1976-85 86% 14% 63% 19% 4% 6% 2% 7% 100% 169
Total 75% 25% 57% 12% 6% 5% 14% 6% 100% 1718
Female 1935-45 72% 28% 60% 3% 9% 2% 10% 17% 100% 546
1946-55 72% 28% 59% 6% 7% 3% 14% 10% 100% 555
1956-65 79% 21% 66% 11% 2% 7% 7% 7% 100% 389
1966-75 79% 21% 61% 15% 3% 5% 7% 10% 100% 345
1976-85 82% 18% 61% 17% 5% 8% 2% 7% 100% 217
Total 76% 24% 61% 9% 6% 4% 9% 11% 100% 2052
Regional migration
1) As a general trend in regional migration, the number of people whose place of current residence and the place
of residence at the end of compulsory education are the same has increased (male 72%–86%, female 72%–
82%).
2) The number of those who have stayed in their hometowns without moving to other prefectures (MH-I) has
been stable at around 60%.
3) Although the percentage of those who moved to other regions for their first jobs (MH-III and MO-V) has
decreased, the number of those who moved for higher education (MH-II and MO-IV) has risen significantly.
4) An increase in the number of those who returned to their hometowns after moving to another prefecture for
higher education (MH-II) has contributed to the increase in the number of people whose place of current
residence and place of residence at the end of compulsory education are the same.
DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS

The results indicate a national trend: children of farmers tend to eschew agriculture as a career, but also tend to
live near their parents. These findings have certain implications for our project. We are pessimistic about the
likelihood that farming will be taken up by the second generation; we believe that traditional communities will be
forced to change. The goal of our project consists of three parts: to sustain farming in the target region, to keep the
community active, and to maintain residents’ health. It is far from easy to satisfy these three sub-goals
simultaneously. Agriculture without community (such as corporate farming) and community without agriculture
are also possible in the future, depending on the community’s decision.

However, the second generation is attempting to maintain a connection with their parents. The strength of these
ties is dependent on the location of the children’s residence, and distance between the community and
metropolitan areas; however, it is clear that there is an extended social network that includes members of the
second and third generations that is centered on the community. Our project is intended to enable the local
community to gain time in formulating its next step.
Notes
1
This project is funded and currently in progress as an R & D Project 2011-–2014, “Innovations in age-friendly farming
(development of the “Farming, Easy and Pleasant” method for elderly farmers)” by the Research Institute of Science and
Technology for Society (RISTEX) of the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST). The details of this project are as follows:
http://www.ristex.jp/korei/en/02project/prj_h23_08.html
http://www.nara-wu.ac.jp/scc/tochihara/english.html
“Column 2-2 Working for life by cultivating persimmons—efforts made by the Tochihara District in Shimoichi Town, Nara
Prefecture,” in Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, White Paper on Science and Technology 2013:
Science and Technology as a Foundation for Innovation, 94.
http://www.mext.go.jp/component/english/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2013/10/30/1340804_05.pdf
2
The data for the secondary analysis, “Social Stratification and Social Mobility Survey, 2005, the 2005 SSM Research Group,
Data Management Committee,” were provided by the Social Science Japan Data Archive, Information Center for Social Science
Research on Japan, Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo.
REFERENCES
Abe, Y. 2011. “Women’s employment and residential decisions: the impact of the Equal Employment Opportunity
law (in Japanese),” Economic Review. Vol. 62. No. 4. pp. 318–330.
Itoh, T. 1984. “Recent Trends of Internal Migration in Japan and ‘Potential Life Time Out-Migrants’” (in Japanese).
Journal of Population Problems. No. 172. pp. 24–38.
Kawabe, H. 1985. “Some Characteristics of Internal Migration Observed from the Cohort-by-Cohort Analysis” (in
Japanese), Journal of Population Problems. No. 175. pp. 1–15.
Nawata, Y. 2008, “Migration and Economic Growth in Postwar Japan (Sengo Nippon no Jinkou Idou to Keizai
Seicho),” Keizai no Purizumu, No. 54. pp. 20–37.
Oe, M. 1995. “Cohort Analysis of Population Distribution Change in Japan: Processes of Population Concentration
to the Tokyo Region and its Future” (in Japanese), Journal of Population Problems. Vol. 51. No. 3. pp. 1–19.
Teraoka, S., Hamasaki, S., Mizugaki, G., Obitani, H. 2014. “Redesigning farming communities for an aged society
(1): Multidisciplinary perspectives and industrial-academic-government cooperation.” Paper presented to
the 5th International Conference of the Asian Rural Sociological Association.
Tsuburai, K. 1998. “A Historical Study on Migration in Postwar Japan: From a Point of View of Social Stratification.”
Misumi, K. (ed.). The Spatial Structure of Social Stratification (the 1995 SSM Research Series 4). The 1995
SSM Research Group. pp. 27–49.

AN ISLAND IN THE OCEAN? THE RSPO AND OIL PALM PRODUCERS IN SARAWAK
Fumikazu Ubukata
Okayama University
Email address: ubukat-f@cc.okayama-u.ac.jp
ABSTRACT
Palm oil is currently one of the booming industries in Southeast Asia, and there have been global demands for sustainable
production both in terms of environment and society. Reflecting this, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the non-
profit organization that consists of various stakeholders in palm oil sector, was established in 2004 for the promotion of
sustainably produced palm oil. Based on field surveys and relevant information, the author examines how oil palm producers
and relevant actors in Sarawak, Malaysia have perceived and got involved in the RSPO scheme. The result shows that both pros
and cons of this non-state, market-based governance arrangement to control global commodity chains. The RSPO scheme has a
good potential in “enclave” area, or in estate/mill level. On the other hand, its ability to control has significant constraints
outside the enclaves. As the local people get involved in the production, the gap between autonomous development processes
in the frontier area and the RSPO style of voluntary control from the downstream will become more serious, at least in the short
to mid-term. In the past, plantations have been “enclaves” in local societies but now we are witnessing some changes. In this
regard, it seems that the role of the “translators” of these different network systems is becoming increasingly important in the
area, and has some potential in the longer term.
INTRODUCTION
It is believed that the recent proliferations of environmental certifications have more or less affected global
commodity chains. Agriculture and resource-based industries in the south are not in exceptions. In the case of palm
oil, which is currently one of the booming industries in Southeast Asia, there have been global demands for
sustainable production both in terms of environment and society. Reflecting this, the Roundtable on Sustainable
Palm Oil (RSPO), the non-profit organization that consists of various stakeholders in palm oil sector, was established
in 2004 for the promotion of sustainably produced palm oil.
For such schemes to attain an effective shift of practices in the production area, it should coexist with different level
of governance systems in that society. In this regard, the existing studies have mainly focused on the institutional
effectiveness itself or state of governance among stakeholders involved (c.f. Paoli et al. 2010). However, the
governance in such schemes often excludes stakeholders that are not actively involved in these schemes, which
sometimes seriously affect environment and society in the area. In that sense, it is clearly important to examine
whether such scheme has a sort of “spillover effects” or not.
In this paper, the author tries to look at the introduction of certification schemes in particular area as the
introduction of different networks within existing social networks in the area. It is because the scheme often tries to
change production and marketing practices through vertical network from downstream, while different social
networks should also be activated for the scheme to expand in the area, at least in the short to middle term. Based
on field surveys and relevant information, the author therefore examines how oil palm producers and relevant
actors in Sarawak, Malaysia have perceived and got involved in the RSPO scheme, and how their network can
coexist or collude with the existing social network.
Thereafter, the author briefly explains about the development of palm oil sector and the establishment of the RSPO
scheme. Then how oil palm producers, notably an estate company and neighboring smallholders, and relevant
actors in Sarawak have perceived and got involved in the scheme is described. Finally, both pros and cons of this
non-state, market-based governance arrangement to control global commodity chains are pointed out within the
context of resource frontier society.
EXPANSION OF PALM OIL SECTOR AND THE RSPO
Palm oil sector has been very rapidly expanded during the past several decades (Fig. 1). Thanks to the world
population growth and increased per capita consumption, the global production of palm oil has increased more
than nine-fold since the 1980s, and has become the highest among the edible oils since 2005 (Teoh 2010). In

Fumikazu Ubukata
addition to the global demand of edible oil, palm oil and

palm kernel oil can be processed into various final
products such as soap, cosmetics and even biofuel. This
potentiality of the products, as well as the highest per
hectare productivity among the oil crops makes oil palm
one of the promising plantation crops in tropical region.
Indonesia and Malaysia are two dominant producer

countries from which 85 percent of its global production
comes, and its major markets include India, China, EU,
Pakistan and so on. In Malaysia, Palm oil and palm oil-
based products shares nearly nine percent of total
commodity export value in 2013, following the electrical
and electronic products, and petroleum products (DOS
2013). Similarly in Indonesia, palm oil accounts for
nearly nine percent of total commodity exports in 2013
(Statisitics Indonesia 2014).
Figure 1: Development of the World Top Five Palm Oil
Producing Countries Source: FAOSTAT
The development of this sector has been so rapid that
has arisen controversies which questions social and environmental sustainability. These critiques include
deforestation, haze problems, land conflicts and biodiversity loss which are mainly responsible for the upstream of
the industry: oil palm plantations and oil palm mills (Cramb and Curry 2012, Colchester and Chao 2013). Reflecting
these controversies, some companies and organizations such as Malaysian Palm Oil Association (MPOA), Unilever,
AAK UK and Migros started to discuss the institution that ensure sustainable production of palm oil, under the
proposal by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Finally, the RSPO was established in 2004.
The RSPO has following four official missions, 1) To advance the production, procurement, finance and use of
sustainable palm oil products, 2) To develop, implement, verify, assure and periodically review credible global
standards for the entire supply chain of sustainable palm oil, 3) To monitor and evaluate the economic,
environmental and social impacts of the uptake of sustainable palm oil in the market, and 4) To engage and
commit all stakeholders throughout the supply chain, including governments and consumers. In order to fulfill
these missions, it has set principles and criteria (P&C) for certified products. Currently, the members of the
scheme reaches over 1,400 in 71 countries, and Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO) accounts for more than 16%
of the total palm oil globally.
IMPLEMENTATION OF RSPO SCHEME IN SARAWAK, MALAYSIA

As described above, commodity certification schemes like RSPO often tries to change production and marketing
practices through vertical network from downstream. So how does the stakeholders perceived and got involved in
the scheme? Here the author shows a case in Sarawak, Malaysia. Sarawak is believed to be the last production
frontier of raw material (oil palm) in Malaysia, and has increased palm oil production most recently (Fig.2). At the
same time, it is also a frontier of the RSPO scheme. There are only seven certified mills in Sarawak in a total of 116
mills nationwide.
Figure 2: Expansion of Planted

Area under Oil Palm
Source: Official Portal of

Malaysian Palm Oil Board
(MPOB)

Fumikazu Ubukata
A Mill
The company A acquired 100 year contract of its concession area in the early 1980s, and started its planting
program in the late 1990s. The plantation is relatively small compared to the others in Sarawak, but the
productivity of the plantation is relatively higher. The company has an oil mill plant on its property which produces
both crude palm oil and palm kernel oil. The company procures the materials for its oil production with 55% from
its own plantation, 5% from the smallholders and 40% from other plantations.
Another point of note for the company A is that it obtained the RSPO certification, which is a progressive effort in
Sarawak. Prior to certification process, the company recruited Mr. B from the other company as a person
responsible for the process. As a first step, the company collected fundamental data regarding whole production
process and management. Based upon this data, the company tried to improve its production process by applying
good practices through meetings, trainings, and implementations. Through the process of certification, the
company was scrutinized by a third party (company C) for its qualifications. The company was assessed from
various angles: production process, quality management, working condition, labor welfare, ecological measures
and its commitment to the local communities etc. It took almost two years from initial step to final assessment.
Finally the company obtained certification in 2010.
What this certification process has done is that the company reviewed its whole production process so that it can
meet P&C of the RSPO scheme. What Mr. B emphasized is, however, the importance of the process that discuss
with various stakeholders. One example is about the discussion over plantation land. During the process it was
found that the area includes customary land (temuda) for neighboring villagers. The company decided not to utilize
this part of land after a series of discussions with the villagers. According to him, the biggest issue in the process of
certification is the company’s “social responsibility” to the communities. Technical and managerial part (i.e.
chemical use and creation of buffer zone) is not challenging because the company alone can cope with. Through the
certification process, the company thus began seeking a way seriously to harmonize with its local society and
employees. This company’s intention to connect its “enclaves” with the adjacent world may be one of the biggest
positive results of certification.
Smallholders
Mr. B’s emphasis on “social responsibility” has another meaning. Up to the present, the company has no decisive
measures on how to improve social issues. For instance, the company donates cash or facilities to neighboring
communities as a “social responsibility” measure, a common practice of plantation companies in the area. But it
may be difficult to distinguish this with a mere purchase of community support. Another instance is that the
company provides a group scheme to aid smallholders in the area through training and input provision (with
discounted price).
The RSPO has also promoted to get smallholders involved in the certifications. Actually, number of smallholders has
been increasing in the area. Oil palm is generally considered to be suitable for plantations by a company because
FFB has to be pressed soon after its harvest to avoid oil degradation. Actually, the number of smallholders who
grow oil palm is increasing in various countries (Cramb and Curry 2012). However, Mr. B hesitated to commit
further toward the scheme by saying that the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) is responsible for smallholder
certification, though he admits its importance. So what made him reluctant? One reason probably lies on the
company’s resource procurement itself.
As mentioned above, the company relies only five percent of raw material (fresh fruit bunch: FFB) from
smallholders. This seems to reduce company’s motivation to further commit smallholder’s production. Another
relates to the company’s image toward smallholders. Table 1 provides some examples of the smallholders in the
area. First, all the smallholders are local villagers which reside in adjacent area, though some non-residential
smallholders make informal tenure contract with the village head to allow villagers’ holdings to plant oil palm.
Second, they are independent in terms of their management and autonomy. Most of them are self-reliant in terms
of initial capital, which was accumulated from the profit of logging and cash crops. They can freely choose where to
sell FFB. The company’s commitment to RSPO therefore does not necessarily attract them.

Fumikazu Ubukata
Informality is another characteristic. Half of them are not registered and licensed by MPOB, not to mention that
most of them do not know about the RSPO scheme. Some seedlings are also not from licensed agents (sometimes
they produce seedlings by themselves). Their technical knowledge is provided informally through their friends and
relatives. And their sale of FFB therefore relies on middlemen (Chinese origin) or informal network through
relatives and friends who have licenses. Finally, some of their profiles and management of oil palm vary greatly.
Planted palm tree ranges between 100 and 2,800. One has good experience of growing commercial crops, while
others are not. Material inputs and labor costs significantly vary according to their situations.
These overall characteristic may well create an image that smallholders’ operations are hard for standardization
and institutionalization that is required for the certification. This exemplifies the fact that company staffs and
government officers often hold somewhat ambivalent views on smallholders. On the one hand, they admit the
importance of their involvement from social point of view. On the other, they also express concerns over the
(imagined) characteristics of smallholders. For instance, a company director told me that smallholders are not
reliable partners because their continuous commitment to oil palm is questioned, especially when their children
inherit the management. A MPOB officer mentioned to the difficulty of their involvement to the RSPO scheme
because they are not likely to meet required standards. From their eyes, smallholders’ world is somewhat
“uncontrollable” and “illegible” one while companies’ plantations are opposite (cf. Scott 1998).
Overlapping Two Different Networks in the Production Frontier

But is smallholders’ world really “uncontrollable”? From the eyes of smallholders, things may be rather opposite
(i.e. price fluctuations). Their world is not anarchy. It is constituted by autonomous order/network rather than
planned and institutionalized order/network. Modestly saying, it may be more appropriate to say that the two
different worlds are now overlapping each other. In the past, plantations had been “enclaves” in local societies of
resource-rich insular part of Southeast Asia (cf. Boeke 1953). The modern “enclaves” had almost no relationships
with “traditional locals”. Now we are witnessing some changes, though the structures still remains similar. The
development of oil palm smallholders is one phenomenon to cross this duality.
Whether or not the RSPO certification scheme has spillover effects has to be examined from this regard. The RSPO
scheme has a good potential in “enclave” area, or in estate/mill level. On the other hand, its ability to control has
significant constraints outside the enclaves. As the local people get involved in the production, the gap between
the autonomous development processes in the frontier area and the RSPO style of voluntary control from the
downstream will become more serious, at least in the short to mid-term. This is partly because of the nature of
frontier area in which uncommitted smallholders and plantation companies can easily choose “exit options” such
as expansion of cultivation rather than “voice” to change the governance systems (cf. Hirschman 1970).
CONCLUSION: ISLANDS IN THE OCEAN?
Based on field surveys and relevant information, this paper examined how oil palm producers and relevant actors
in Sarawak, Malaysia have perceived and got involved in the RSPO scheme. The results imply both pros and cons of
this non-state, market-based governance arrangement to control global commodity chains. The RSPO scheme has
a good potential in “enclave” area, or in estate/mill level. On the other hand, its ability to control has significant
constraints outside the enclaves. As the local people get involved in the production, the gap between autonomous
development processes in the frontier area and the RSPO style of voluntary control from the downstream will
become more serious, at least in the short to mid-term. It is as if the islands of “controlled” oil palm are afloat in
the ocean of “uncontrolled” oil palm.
In this regard, it seems that the role of the “translators” of these different network systems, such as middlemen,
pioneer smallholders, some company staffs and government officers who have less bias in understanding the
smallholders’ world, is becoming increasingly important in the area. If someone wants to mitigate above gap and
promote spillover effects of RSPO scheme, two measures may be effective in the longer term. One is to utilize
these “translators” of above two different networks. And the other is to set minimum regulatory requirements for
all those who engage in the business in order to close exit options.

Fumikazu Ubukata
But is it really enough to merely expand the area under the island? Sometimes the ocean can be more livable than
the island, especially when one does not know what the ocean is. In that sense, uncovering the narrative of
smallholders may hold a key if company staff and officers want to be good “translators”.
ENDNOTES
1
Washington DC: The World Bank.
2
Information from RSPO homepage.
3
ibid.
4
Information from Official Portal of MPOB. Data is based on 2010 directory of oil palm related industries in Malaysia.
5
In order to ensure anonymity, the author does not provide detailed information of the mill.
6
MPOB is the government agency entrusted to serve Malaysian oil palm industry. Its main role is to promote and develop
national objectives, policies and priorities for the wellbeing of the Malaysian oil palm industry (Official Portal of MPOB).
7
Per. Comm. with Prof. Ryoji Soda (19 April, 2014).
8
There are several other categories of smallholders other than independent smallholders in Sarawak, such as group/managed
smallholders. The latter is under the government scheme project scheme, and has lower degree of management autonomy
than the former (Cramb 2011).
9
Every stage of engagement in oil palm business (i.e. planting, intermediary, seedling production, etc.) basically requires
MPOB’s registrations and licenses.
REFERENCES
Boeke, J. H. 1953. Economics and Economic Policy of Dual Societies. Haarlem: Tjeenk Willnik.
Colchester, M. and Chao, S. (eds.) 2013. Conflict or Consent? The Oil Palm Sector at a Crossroads. Moreton-in-
Marsh: FPP, Sawit Watch and TUK INDONESIA.
Cramb, R. A. 2011. “Re-Inventing Dualism: Policy Narratives and Modes of Oil Palm Expansion in Sarawak,
Malaysia.” Journal of Development Studies Vol.47. No.2. pp.274-293.
Cramb, R.A., and Curry, G.N., 2012. “Oil Palm and Rural Livelihoods in the Asia-Pacific Region: an Overview”. Asia
Pacific Viewpoint Vol.53. pp.223-239.
Department of Statistics, Malaysia (DOS) 2013. Monthly External Trade Statistics, December 2013. Department of
Statistics, Malaysia Homepage. http://www.statistics.gov.my/portal/index.php?
option=com_content&view=article&id=2248&Itemid=111&lang=en (July 9, 2014).
Hirschman, A. O. 1970. Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States.
Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Official Portal of Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB). http://www.mpob.gov.my/ (July 9, 2014).
Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) Homepage. http://www.rspo.org/ (July 9, 2014).
Paoli, G. D., Yaap, B., Wells, P. L. and Sileuw, A. 2010. “CSR, Oil Palm and the RSPO: Translating Boardroom
Philosophy into Conservation Action on the Ground.” Tropical Conservation Science Vol.3. No.4. pp.438-446.
Scott, J. C. 1998. Seeing like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed. New Haven
and London: Yale University Press.
Statistics Indonesia 2014. Statistics Indonesia 2014. Statistics Indonesia Homepage. http://www.bps.go.id/eng/
hasil_publikasi/SI_2014/index3.php?pub=Statistik%20Indonesia%202014 (July 9, 2014).
Teoh, C. H. 2010. Key Sustainability IssuEs in the Palm Oil Sector. A Discussion Paper for Multi-Stakeholders
Consultations,

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYZING IMPACTS OF FAIRTRADE ON
PEOPLE AND COMMUNITY
Koichi Ikegami
Faculty of Agriculture, Kinki University, Japan
ikegami@nara.kindai.ac.jp
ABSTRACT
Fairtrade is basically aiming to make an equal trade partnership between marginalized small producers and conscious
consumers, so that it can propose an alternative way for removing and reforming problems caused from “mega competition”
on the ground of the economic thoughts of neo-liberalism. As the market size of fair trade is expanding rapidly in the world, its
impacts on producers and their community seems to be considered from the economic viewpoints. Although it is important, fair
trade can give wider effects of direct and indirect, positive and negative, or tangible and intangible. Accordingly, this paper
tries to create the common framework for analyzing the impacts of fair trade on small producers for the moment, which can be
used to evaluate in the different places. At first, this paper refers the view of “five capitals” initially adopted by DFID of UK, and
next supposes the idea of “regional capital”, because they are useful to understand the whole being of the rural society and to
grasp what aspects and how such capitals are influenced by Fair trade.
Keywords: Fairtrade, Impacts assessment, Poverty Reduction, Five Assets, Regional Capital, Poverty Reduction Index
INTRODUCTION
This modern world is facing two major problems, namely environmental issues, and extension of poverty.
Environmental issues, such as global warming and climate change, are paid relatively higher attention to than
poverty reduction. Poverty reduction became a political issue in the 1990s with the failure of structural adjustment
policies introduced in many developing countries. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank
requested the governments of developing countries to prepare Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP).
However, generally speaking, this policy could not succeed very well, and a poverty issue has still been taken over
to the 21st century. Although the total population in poverty seemed to decrease slightly mainly due to economic
development in China during the first half of the 2000s, it increased in Sub-Saharan Africa and remained constant
in South Asia (Figure 1).
Sub-Saharan African countries recorded

high growth rate in terms of Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) in the last two
decades, especially in the latter half of
the 2000s, as Mckay argues (2011). In
fact, this growth rate is more than that of
Asia. According to the World
Development Indicators (WDI) by the
World Bank, the average growth rate in
the African countries has been 2.5% per
annum due to increase in production of
oil, diamonds, and other minerals.
However, such sectors create practically
less job opportunities and have less
multiplier effects because of lack of
supporting industries.
On the contrary, economic gaps both within and in countries have expanded drastically under globalization led by
neo-liberal economics. According to WDI 2009, the Gini Indexes of 20 countries were more than 50. Namibia had
the highest Gini index of 74.3. It had a Gross National Income (GNI) per capita of 3,450 US$ in 2007, and the GDP
growth rate between 2006 and 2007 was 5.9%. Namibia is regarded as an ‘emerging country’ in Sub-Saharan
Africa, meanwhile only a few people enjoy the fruit of economic growth.

Koichi Ikegami
At the beginning of 2014, Oxfam issued a briefing paper warning about the world’s wealth concentration and
expansion of the economic gap. “Almost half of the world’s wealth is now owned by just one percent of population.
The wealth of the one percent richest people in the world amounts to $110 trillion. That’s 65 times the total wealth
of the bottom half of the world’s population…..Seven out of ten people live in countries where economic inequality
has increased in the last 30 years” (Oxfam, 2014).
Expansion of economic inequality suggests that a conventional economic system has not necessarily functioned
well. International trade has accelerated the concentration of the wealth, though the World Trade Organization
(WTO) Agreement aims at ‘raising standards of living, ensuring full employment and a large and steadily growing
volume of real income and effective demand, and expanding the production of and trade in goods and services’.
Accordingly, it is necessary to develop alternative measures for resolving a poverty issue. What are the strategies
required for poverty alleviation in the global South and the international community? There are a lot of trials from
which we can learn.
SIGNIFICANCE OF FAIRTRADE
One of them, but the most possible one, is so-called Fairtrade movement. This is the reason why this paper takes
Fairtrade as a target to be examined. However, this paper does not explore actual practices and cases of Fairtrade
movement itself, but tries to create the initial conceptual framework for analyzing the impacts and effects of
Fairtrade. The main purpose of Fairtrade is basically to empower the capacity for escaping the trap of poverty
through making an equal trade partnership between marginalized small producers and conscious consumers, so
that it can propose an alternative way for removing and reforming problems caused from “mega competition” on
the ground of the economic thoughts of neo-liberalism.
In order to judge whether Fairtrade can be a new strategy for alternative way or not, it is necessary to discuss the
effects of Fairtrade on people and communities involved in the movement, namely, how and what extent Fairtrade
can contribute to alleviating poverty, who are the beneficiaries of Fairtrade, and how people and communities are
changing. These questions are closely related with the perspective of Fairtrade. In 2001, FINE, an informal
association of four main Fairtrade networks, defined Fairtrade as a trading partnership, based on dialogue,
transparency, and respect, that seeks greater equity in international trade. It contributes to sustainable
development by offering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of, marginalized producers and
workers, especially in the Global South.
In other words, Fairtrade is an approach to re-integrate the relationship between international trade and poverty
alleviation in the global South, based on a strategy of “trade not aid”. Fairtrade markets form close linkage of
ethically minded Northern consumers with democratically organized groups of poor Southern producers. The goal
of this alliance is to provide disadvantaged producers a chance to “increase their control over their own future,
have a fair and just return for their work, continuity of income and decent working and living conditions through
sustainable development .
Success of Fairtrade depends on how well the Northern consumers understand its meaning and their willingness to
buy Fairtrade commodities even at higher prices. Thus, awareness should be increased about development issues
among consumers in richer countries. It is also necessary that marginalized people produce with responsibility,
including food safety, environmental conservation, and production without child labor. These are closely related
with ‘virtue’ from both side of consumers and producers. Finally, whether it is possible to raise awareness about
“virtue” and embed economy of virtue in the market based economy?
Figure 2 shows the framework for drawing the whole picture of Fairtrade. The background is serious poverty issues
and the rise of Fairtrade movement as an alternative solution. Several studies on Fairtrade have focused only on
the scope of Fairtrade with few concerns on the economic thoughts because the Fairtrade study is required to
pursuit a practical goal. However, it is important to explore the ideal aspect of Fairtrade through the economy of
virtue, which is a fundamental aspect of the movement. Accordingly, this study finally aims at combining Fairtrade
with the economy of virtue, and adding a new perspective on economics thorough it. Economy of virtue means the
economy based on consideration and sympathy, human relationships such as mutual blessing or reciprocity and
trust, and non-tradable value like environmentally sustainability.

Koichi Ikegami
Some economists have considered economy of virtue from various viewpoints. Adam Smith is prominent among
them. He argued on the character of virtue in “The Theory of Moral Sentiments”. His idea was further studied by
John Stewart Mill, Alfred Marshall, etc. We also need to study Karl Polanyi, John Rawls, and Amartya Sen because
Polanyi deepened the idea of reciprocity, and Rawls and Sen examined the concept of ‘justice’. However, this study
does not cover the significances of these economic thoughts so far.
Deepening Poverty Rising Fairtrade
Purpose Actor Analysis
Combining Fairtrade with Formation of Fairtrade Sector

Economy of Virtue
Thought Independency of Fairtrade Producers

(Production side)
Economics of Virtue
A. Smith, K. Polanyi, Social Responsible Buying
J. Rawls, A. Sen
Expanding Fairtrade Business
(Bridging Side)
Figure 2. Framework of the Study

Source: Drawn by Ikegami
PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION OF IMPACT STUDY
Fairtrade can be analyzed from two viewpoints: actor analysis, and impact study on producers and their
communities, and consumers. Actors involved in Fairtrade are categorized into producers, consumers and
Fairtrade organizations. It is necessary to examine socioeconomic characters, value system, and standards of daily
behaviors of actors. As for impact study, it is important to include both direct and indirect effects on individuals
and their community (Minoo, 2012). Presently, there is no standard framework for such comparisons. This study is
a preliminary step towards creating it.
One of important characteristics of Fairtrade is to aim at self-reliance of poor people in the global South by the
burden of concerned consumers in the global North in general, floor price setting (price premium) and provision of
money for social development (social premium). Therefore, Fairtrade is required accountability for informing the
effects of Fairtrade to the consumers. However, effect assessment by Fairtrade organization is questioned because
it is done by a main stakeholder.. Although there are some academic researches on impact assessment (Nicholas &
Opal, 2005, Ruben, 2008), most of them are case studies or trial analysis.
Accordingly, it is necessary to create a general and synthetic framework for assessing the impacts of Fairtrade on
the context of current academic arena. Previous researches tend to put focus on the direct and economic effects,
namely income increase and improvement of living conditions from viewpoint of material life, otherwise
improvement of economic and social infrastructure such as ware houses, tractors, irrigation pump, or school
building, clinics, library, and so on. However, Fairtrade can give wider impacts than economic aspects or
infrastructure. As they are measurable and visible, it looks easy to grasp and compare different examples.
However, income increase might affect the value system and change social structure. These impacts are indirect
and difficult to look over. Then, it is necessary to specify potential impacts definitely.

Koichi Ikegami
Other important point for creating conceptual framework is to know actual situation before introducing Fairtrade
movement. “Impact is defined as the (positive or negative) changes in living conditions of the target group,
including both primary and long-term implications, direct and indirect effects as well as intended and unintended
outcomes”.(Ruben, 2008, p.23)．Then, it is very important to evaluate baseline of individuals, households, and
community. In this regard, proposal of “five assets” could be useful for baseline approach.
The idea of five assets was conceptualized and brought to the sphere of development cooperation by UK’s
Department for International Development (DFID, 1999). Originally, five assets were introduced to understand the
livelihood of rural people (Scoones, 1998). Those are social, human, financial, physical and natural capitals, which
can be employed in understanding rural settings (Utting, 2009). Later, Jules Pretty developed such idea more
synthetically (2006). Pretty, based on the results of actual condition surveys taken from across the world, describes
that agriculture, with emphasis on sustainability, depending upon the merits from the five resources of natural
capital, social capital, human capital, material capital and financial capital. Ikegami (2009) also discussed the idea of
regional capital, composed of three aspects, namely economy, lifestyle(social aspect), and nature, by referring to
five assets and Pretty’s idea.
As for evaluation of poverty reduction, PPI (Progress out of Poverty Index) developed by Grameen Bank has been
actually used in the various organizations all over the world. PPI is very simple, just using 10 questions. It is easy to
take a so-called participatory research procedure. PPI implies possibility of joint assessment of Fairtrade impact.
CONCLUSION
For the purpose of assessment of Fairtrade impact, it is fundamental to investigate the original situation of people
and community. Although what time we consider original remains difficult question, a baseline survey should be
conducted. Concepts of five assets and regional capital may be useful for a baseline survey. Question is what
factors/elements are suitable for measuring the difference between before and after involvement in Fairtrade.
.Table 1 indicates some important factors to be taken into consideration for creating framework.
Even if we create the framework, it is natural that “the impact assessment framework cannot be facilely used to
compare different initiatives and conclude that any one approach (e.g. fair trade versus ethical trade) has a greater
development impact “ (Utting, 2008, 132).. However, it is certain that we cannot discuss about impacts of Fairtrade
on the common base without assessment framework. We have to use it carefully and reform better to extend the
range of application.
Table1. Basic aspects to be considered for creating assessment framework of Fairtrade impacts
①Difference among actors (producers and consumers)）

②Direct and indirect effects
③Quantitative and qualitative effects
④Effects of certification, issue of information
⑤Five assets（Human, Natural, Social, Physical, Financial capitals）
⑥Effects of price premium and social premium of Fairtrade,
⑦Effect on environmental conservation
⑧Effect on cultural aspect
Source: Ikegami drew important factors from various literatures.

Koichi Ikegami
ENDNOTES
1
The Toronto Summit in 1985 dealt this issue first in the international society. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climatic Change
(IPCC) was created in 1900.
2
World Bank, 2009. Survey years were different.
3
Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization. A full text is available at the WTO’s website. (http://www.wto.org/
english/docs_e/legal_e/final_e.htm)
4
A paper for explanation Fairtrade Foundation was provided at the time of visiting an office in 2009.
REFERENCES
Arihiro Minoo, 2012, Anthropological Study of Impacts on Producers Involved in Fair Trade: A Case Study of Village
producing Coffee in Bolaven Plateau, Southern Part of Laos, Doctoral Dissertation submitted to the graduate
School of Waseda University (in Japanese)
DFID, 1999, Sustainable livelihoods Guidance Sheets, (http://eldis.org/vfile/upload/1/document/0901/

section2.pdf) (Accessed on 15 December, 2013)
Jules Pretty, 2006, Farm Work will change the World － Sustainable Agriculture and Revival of Commons, Tsukiji-
shoten, pp.102-105 (Translated from AGRI-CULTURE, 2002).
Koichi Ikegami, 2009, The Re-evaluation of Community Affluence and Introduction of the Concept of Regional
Capital –Chairperson’s Address, Journal of Rural Problems, 44-4 ( issued by the Association for Regional
Agricultural and Forestry Economics, Japan (in Japanese)
Mckay, A., 2011, Growth and Poverty Reduction in Africa in the last Two Decades: Evidence from an AERC Growth-
Poverty Project and beyond, Journal of African Economies, 22, Supplement 1.
Hanley, R. P., 2009, Adam Smith and the Character of Virtue, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
Ian Scoones, 1998, Sustainable Rural Livelihoods: A Framework for Analysis, IDS Working Papers – 72, Institute of
Development Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK (http://www.ntd.co.uk/idsbookshop/details.asp?
id=419.) (Accessed on 20 Februray, 2014
Karla Utting, 2008, Assessing the impact of fair trade coffee: Towards an integrative framework, Journal of Business
Ethics, 86
Oxfam, 2014, Working for the Few: Political capture and economic inequality
http://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/bp-working-for-few-political-capture-economic-inequality-
200114-en.pdf (Accessed on February 2, 2014.)
Ruerd Ruben, 2008, The Impact of Fair Trade, Wageningen Academic Publishers, Wageningen, The Netherlands
World Bank, 2009, World Development Indicators 2009

THE IMPORTANT CULTURAL LANDSCAPE SELECTION SYSTEM AS A MEANS FOR
MAINTAINING THE TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY OF A RURAL COMMUNITY: A CASE STUDY OF
THE COMMUNITY OF HARIE IN TAKASHIMA CITY, SHIGA PREFECTURE, JAPAN
Takehito Noda
Graduate school of Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
noda@waterscape.or.jp
ABSTRACT
This report clarifies why villagers against this system accept the cultural landscapes preservation system selected by Japanese
Government. Japanese government founded the selection system of important cultural landscapes preservation because of
rising concern of the preservation of cultural landscapes as cultural properties. This system is expected as one of the community
development policies by local government. It is because the selected cultural landscape can be valued not just as land owners
property but as regional property. So, local governments use the system as a chance to increase a community value and use the
area as a tourism resource. However, it is not going well against local government expectation. It is because this system often
causes the villagers opposition. The Important Cultural Landscapes selected under the law are supposed to be protected
permanently and be open in the public. And it has been debated the system may affect the life of people in the region and the
Important Cultural Landscapes become out of their real life. In other word, people in the region are wondering whether they
should position the cultural landscapes preservation law. Particularly at the Harie village, highly private area, water spring sink
(kitchen), is subjected to the Important Cultural Landscape. In spite of the law require to disclose the private area and the
people was against accepting the law, why villagers decided to accept. In this report, I clarify the logic of villagers who accept
the cultural landscapes preservation law.
POLICY ISSUES OVER THE PRESERVATION OF WATERSCAPES
The purpose of this paper is to identify the reason why a community initially unwilling to be selected by the
government as an important cultural landscape finally accepted the selection. On the back of the growing
attention to cultural landscapes in recent years, the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan has instituted a system to
select important cultural landscapes for their preservation. This is a new approach to cultural property protection
introduced by a partial revision of the Act on Protection of Cultural Properties in 2004.
The system is also one of the policies on which local governments, among others, lay their hopes, since “cultural
landscapes are not only the assets of individual building owners but add value to local society. In other words,
cultural landscapes can be positioned as local assets” (Kaneda 2012, 33). Thus, local governments are planning to
preserve unique local landscapes to use them as tourism resources or promote local development with them.
However, the reality often goes contrary to their expectation, and it is not unusual for such a system to provoke a
backlash from local residents.
As suggested by accumulated studies on the conservation of historical environments in environmental sociology,

the reasons for local objections to such preservation systems can be explained as follows. Cultural properties
(cultural heritages) are assumed to be preserved and exposed to the public and, once preserved, they are expected
to be permanently maintained for the public (Ogino ed., 2002). Therefore, there have been concerns about their
possibility to cause trouble to local society and discussions on problems with the objects of preservation being far
removed from the daily lives of local residents (Makino, 1999; Ogino, et al., 2002; Adachi, 2010). That is, how the
preservation system should be positioned has become an issue on the scene. Particularly in the case discussed
below, a very private living space, or “kitchen,” unlike conventional buildings, was an object of preservation. Still,
why did people decide to accept the selection? This paper aims to clarify the logic of acceptance among the
residents in a case where people initially took a negative stance but finally expressed their acceptance in reversal.
THE IMPORTANT CULTURAL LANDSCAPE IN THE COMMUNITY OF HARIE
Harie, located in Shinasahicho, Takashima City, Shiga, is a lakeside community northwest of Lake Biwa. With
groundwater springing since old times as it is on an alluvial fan formed by the Ado River, which runs through the
city, people have called the water Shōzu (living water) and used it as daily life water at a unique spring facility, or

Takehido Noda
kitchen, called kabata (riverfront). Currently, the community
has 170 households with 660 people, of which 110 households
use kabata.
Harie, together with the neighboring community Shimofuri,

was selected as an important cultural landscape, namely, the
waterscape of Harie and Shimofuri, Takashima City, by the
Agency for Cultural Affairs in 2010. The selection includes
kabata as well as water channels flowing across the
communities, rice paddies and a waterscape continuing to
Lake Biwa. However, what was valued most in the selection
was its standpoint as a social element.
The reason the community of Harie was highly appreciated as

a social element lies in waterfront maintenance activities by Figure 1. kabata (photo by Author, 12 Apr 2010)
the community residents. There are two organizations leading
those activities in the community: one is Harie-ku, a
10000
9196
residents’ association, which directs annual ditch cleaning 8688
with the participation of all households and quarterly 8000 7440 7648
cleanup activities along the Harie Ōkawa River running
through the community, and the other is the Harie Shōzu no 6000 5339
Sato Committee, a community NPO formed in 2004 only
with the community residents. 4000
2721
The NPO deals with environmental conservation and other 2000
1119
community issues that the residents’ association cannot fully 800
address. Actually, its formation was triggered by an issue in 0

the community. Many people have visited the community 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
since its kabata was introduced in an NHK program in 2004. Figure 2. The number of participants in kabata tour
Kabata is a kitchen for the residents. (made by Author, based on interview to NPO)
To avoid trouble with visitors, the NPO projected the kabata tour, in which visitors make a round of kabata visits
with a volunteer guide. One thousand yen is collected as the fee from each visitor and the sales are allotted to
environmental conservation activities. The number of participants in the tour has been increasing each year since
2004, nearing 10,000 annually. It is a community business, so to speak, launched to address a challenge to the
community. Such activities by the residents were highly appreciated.
A CHALLENGE TO THE COMMUNITY IN ITS SELECTION AS AN IMPORTANT CULTURAL LANDSCAPE
People in the community, however, showed a negative response to the offer from the government. This is because
kabata, a private kitchen, was included in the selection as an important cultural landscape. In fact, however, they
had a larger problem in accepting the offer: a struggle inside the community (Noda, 2013). Though it was never
open, a conflict of opinions over the kabata tour continued between the NPO and the other locals including the
residents’ association. More specifically, while the NPO was running the tour as an activity to protect the
community, many residents saw that the NPO was actively engaged in tourism to make money.
The residents hoped their community to always be their living space and never become a tourist spot. The NPO
well understood that, but its attitude of hospitality invited the residents’ misunderstanding. Assuming the role of
an important cultural landscape without resolving the struggle was expected to lead to further increase of visitors,
which they were afraid might turn the community into a tourist spot and deepen the rift among the residents. That
is, the issue of accepting the important cultural landscape selection represented concerns raised by a struggle
inside the community about the possibility of becoming a tourist site, rather than problems with inconvenience in
life possibly caused by the selection.

Takehido Noda
Then, what concerns did they specifically have about the possibility of becoming a tourist site? Just around the
time of the offer from the government, a drying-up incident occurred at some kabata springs in the community.
Since a project to install a groundwater-used snow melting system along National Route 161, which runs east of
the community, was then carried on by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan, a trial
well 60 meters deep was suspected to have involved in the drying up of kabata springs. In those days, the NPO’s
office frequently got phone calls inviting it to sell the spring water as a business or asking it to sell land. In short, the
NPO was getting alarmed by outsiders who might hunt for land in the community to get access to the groundwater.
It was worried that, if they pumped up volumes of water from land in the community on the strength of their
proprietary rights, the community would face a crucial situation and that, if the community accepted the offer, it
would become even more famous, which, in turn, might lead to an increase of prospective land buyers. In other
words, it was the challenge how the territorial integrity of the community should be maintained.
THE REASON FOR ACCEPTING THE IMPORTANT CULTURAL LANDSCAPE SELECTION
The NPO, participating from 2008 in a government committee to discuss important cultural landscapes, gradually
conceived a bright idea. On behalf of the community, two board members of the residents’ association and two
members of the NPO were appointed to the committee. Board members of the residents’ association are replaced
annually, so the two NPO members practically served as representatives of the community. Attending the
committee meetings, the NPO gradually became aware that the selection as an important cultural landscape could
be useful for maintaining the territorial integrity of the community. Here is a narrative by an NPO member.
At first, Shōzu (the NPO) disagreed with the selection. However, through discussions in the committee, we began to
notice that we’d be better off using this project they were kindly offering. About that time, incidents like a Chinese
company’s buying of mountains in Japan were reported in the media. Harie was in a similar situation. We had many
inquiries suggesting that we sell land, and we were seeking for a solution. Originally, the net of the important
cultural landscape selection did not cover farmland, water channels and farm roads, but we believed they also
must be covered at any cost.
Here we should note two points. One is that the NPO tried to position the important cultural landscape selection
system in a way different from its original purpose. That is, it tried to use the selection system to protect the
territories of the community from outside developers. Yet, it did not restrict the residents’ sale of land to outsiders.
The NPO acknowledges that the community residents may sell their land due to inevitable circumstances. On that
basis, to “make assurance double sure,” it utilized the system as the logic for fighting against outsiders. The other
is that the NPO submitted a request for expansion of the selection range. Because the challenge to the community
was to maintain its territorial integrity, it tried to cover not only individual kabata springs and houses but the entire
land of the community with the net, which was not single-layered. As the NPO says, it was a three-layered net.
What does it mean?
The NPO considers like this. The first layer is provided by the Agricultural Land Act. Rights to farmland cannot easily
be transferred because its transfer requires certain procedures. Farmland in the community is thus already covered
with a legal net. Then, it positioned the important cultural landscape selection as the second layer. And the third
layer is the Harie Satoyama Water Museum project. This project sees the community of Harie in whole as a
museum. Though called museum, it does not mean a confined space but uses the existing living space as satoyama
(undeveloped woodland near populated areas) with waterfronts to promote activities for environmental and life
conservation. Actually, the NPO leads environmental conservation activities in bamboo groves as well as inland
lakes in the community.
The NPO sees that it won the understanding of the community residents by positioning the important cultural
landscape selection as one layer of the three-layered net, and that this positioning played a decisive role in
accepting the offer as the community. Although not all residents approve of the selection as they had a struggle
over the NPO’s activities as mentioned earlier, the NPO has some 80 members as of the end of 2012, gaining
support from roughly half of the community residents. It was the trust of the residents that enabled the NPO to act
as the window to the community in the selection process. Anyway, under the NPO’s initiative, the community
decided to accept its selection as an important cultural landscape.

Takehido Noda
THE IMPORTANT CULTURAL LANDSCAPE SELECTION SYSTEM AS A MEANS FOR LIFE CONSERVATION
This paper clarified the logic for a community, which was initially unwilling to be selected as an important cultural
landscape, to accept the selection. The community early had concerns raised by a struggle inside it about the
possibility of becoming a tourist site. Particularly, it was the challenge how the territorial integrity of the
community should be maintained. To cope with this, the NPO deviated from the original purpose of the important
cultural landscape selection system so that it could use the system to maintain the territorial integrity of the
community, creating a new meaning of the system as a solution to the challenge to the community. In this process,
it prepared a three-layered net to prevent outside developers from buying land in the community, and positioned
the selection system as one layer of the three-layered net. The NPO utilized the system as the logic for fighting
against outsiders.
In conclusion, the selection of Harie as an important cultural landscape was accepted by its people because it was
positioned not just for “landscape conservation,” the original purpose of the selection system, but for “life
conservation” as a solution to their living issue of protecting the territories of the community.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This research was supported in part by the River Fund in charge of The River Foundation, Japan
REFERENCES
Shigekazu, Adachi. 2010. Gujyo-Hachiman dentou wo ikiru: Shinyosha
Akihiro, Kaneda. 2012. Cultural Landscape: Nikkei Publishin.
Atsushi, Makino. 1999. “The Position of history on conservation of historical environments”: Journal of
Environmental Sociology, Japan. No.5.
Takehito, Noda. 2013. “Community conflict brought by community Tourism”: Journal of Rural Studies, Japan.
No.39.
Masahiro, Ogino ed., 2002. Sociology of Cultural Heritage: Shinyosha.

Socioeconomic and Cultural Transformation

A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RURAL HOUSEHOLD POVERTY AND SOCIOECONOMIC
CHARACTERISTICS IN RURAL AREAS, SOUTHERN LAOS
Inpong Siliphouthone
The United Graduated School of Agricultural Sciences
Tottori University, Japan
Email: inpong007@gmail.com
Kumi Yasonobu
Faculty of Agriculture, Tottori University, Japan
Email: yasunobu@muses.tottori-u.ac.jp
ABSTRACT
One of the main targets of the Lao government is freeing the country from the status of Least-Developed Country by 2020, in
which the poverty incidence must be less than 19% by 2015. A number of challenges still remain, in particular in the rural areas
where the poverty rate accounted for 31.7 %. This study aims 1) to examine the situation of the rural household poverty and
food security and 2) to determine the important factors explaining the rural poverty. A total of 148 households across three
villages in Sekong and Champasak provinces were randomly surveyed using semi-structured questionnaires in January and
September 2013. The poverty was analyzed using monthly per capita consumption expenditure, while per capita daily calorie
intake was employed for food security analysis. Principle Component Analysis (PCA) was applied for the second objective. The
findings show that the poverty gap was extremely high (0.60) compared with the national average (0.07). About 54% and 30%
of respondents were categorized under chronic poor and food insecure households, respectively. Of the 24 variables related to
the rural poverty, 17 were retained to have a significant relationship with poverty indicator. These variables were subsequently
grouped by the rotated component matrix of PCA into six components namely upland livelihoods, lowland rice cultivation,
market access, human capital, source of income, and labor availability. The findings can be suggested that the agricultural
sector is not only the factor addressing the rural poverty, but also human capital, market access, source of income and labor
availability.
INTRODUCTION
While food insecurity and poverty do not share the same meaning, they both are a strongly correlated
phenomenon. Besides measuring food insecurity, understanding poverty is important in improving the living
conditions of rural people (Joshi, 2011). In Laos, poverty or “Thuk” is defined as the situation of household or
individual who are deficient in a certain of food (2,100 kcal/capita/day), adequate clothing, permanent housing and
access to health, education and transportation services” (Lao PDR, 2012). Laos is among the poorest countries in
the Southeast Asian region, where poverty remains as the fundamental problem that impedes the national socio-
economic development (Keomany, 2011).
With a total population of 6.3 million people, approximately 68% are living in rural areas, 24 % and 14 % were poor
and experiencing food insecurity respectively (Nolintha et al., 2012). Reducing the poverty incidence to 19 % by
2015 has been indicated as the primary target of the seventh five-year National Socio-Economic Development Plan
(NSEDP) for 2011-2015. However, the government attempts to challenge the problem centered on the high level of
poverty in rural areas and the poor living conditions of rural people has not improved for several generations
(Jonathan, 2005).
Rural poverty, where the ethnic groups compose the majority of population, accounted for 31.7 % compared with
17.4 % in urban areas (Department of Statistic, 2010). This means that the rural areas have benefited less from the
economic growth (Kakwani et al., 2001). Therefore, there are many kinds of projects from governments and
international organizations have been focusing on the rural development. As a result, the rural poverty has been
declined during the last decade from 42.5 % in 1992-93 to 31.7 % in 2007-08. However, the percentage of poor
people remains high due to several reasons. For instance, Oraboune (2008) reported that poor Lao households are
characterized by the amount of rice insufficiency, lack of land for cultivation, natural disasters (flood and drought),
livestock loss, less water for agriculture, and less cash investment to make livelihood improvement.

Inpong Soliphotoune and Kumi Yasonobu
The studies conducted by Anderson (2006) and Phomtavong (2010) pointed out that there were many kinds of
variables significantly related with the poverty, including non-irrigated land area, grazing land area, female literate
levels, household business, education, agricultural mechanism, dependency ratio, male head of household, age of
household head, number of livestock, and etc. However, these studies paid no attention to the weight of factors
that correlate with the proxy of the rural poverty (Asian Development Bank, 2001). In other words, the poverty’s
intervention will be effective if the correct poverty causing factors are identified. Thus, the aim of this study is 1) to
examine the situation of the rural household poverty and food security, and 2) to determine the important factors
explaining the rural poverty.
POVERTY AND FOOD SECURITY IN THE LAO PDR
Over the past decade, the Lao PDR’s national economy has continued to grow significantly with an average annual
rate of 8.1 % in the year of 2010-2011 compared with 6.8 % in the last five years. Increasing in household
consumption, investments, value of exports, agricultural production, industrial sector, and number of tourists have
significantly contributed to the economic growth (Nolintha et al., 2011). Consequently, the incidence of poverty,
calculated based on the Lao Expenditure and Consumption Survey (LECS), has been gradually declining from 39.1 %
in 1997-98 to 27.6 % in 2007-08, and the government expects this to fall to 19% in 2015. According to the LECS, the
highest number of poor people among the four regions is mainly found in northern (32.5 %), followed by central
(29.8 %), southern (22.8 %) and Vientiane capital (15.2 %) as shown in Table 1.
1997-98 2002-03 2007-08 Change

Overall poverty incidence Unit
(LECS 2) (LECS 3) (LECS 4) 97/98 – 07/08
Total poverty % 39.1 33.5 27.6 -11.5
Rural poverty % 42.5 37.6 31.7 -10.8
Urban poverty % 22.1 19.7 17.4 -4.7
Poverty by regions
Vientiane capital % 13.5 16.7 15.2 1.7
Northern % 47.3 37.9 32.5 -14.8
Central % 39.4 35.4 29.8 -9.6
Southern % 39.8 32.6 22.8 -17
Table 1. Estimates poverty incidence by region in the Lao PDR

Source: Author’s calculation based on Lao Expenditure and Consumption Survey, 1992/3; 1997/98; 2002/03; 2007/08
METHODOLOGY
Research site, data collection and data analysis
This study was undertaken at the selected site in two

agro-ecosystems (lowland and upland areas) in
southern Lao PDR. A total of 148 households across
three villages, Ban Tok-Ong-Keo of Lamam district in
Sekong province as a representative of rural upland
area, Ban Nathong and Ban Hauykoh of Pathoumphone
district in Champasak province as representative of the
rain-fed lowland, were randomly surveyed using semi-
structured questionnaires (Figure 1). The summarize
information of the study areas is presented in Table 2.
Figure 1: Study area
Source: URL, www.commons.wikimedia.org

Table 2: Characteristics of the study villages .
Description Ban Nathong Ban Hauykoh Ban Tok-Ong-Keo

Agro-ecosystem Lowland Lowland Upland
Total households 82 37 93
Population 590 210 813
Interviewed households 57 31 60
Ethnic group LaoLoum Lawae Alak
Distance to town 60 Km 54 Km 37 Km
Source: Author’s aggregation based on household survey 2013
For the data analysis, Principle Component Analysis (PCA) was used to form a large number of variables that has
statistically correlated with the proxy of poverty (per capita expenditure), into a smaller number of ‘components’.
The VARIMAX rotation was used to minimize the number of variables that have high loadings on a factor
(Mousseum, 2005). Before running the PCA, it was firstly looked at the coefficient correlation between outcome
variable and independent variables. Of the 24 variables that are sensible in explaining the possibility of poverty, 17
had a statistically significant correlation as presented in Table 3.
Table 3. Correlation between benchmark variable and other indicator variables for poverty.
Dependent variable Measurements Coeff correlation
Per capita expenditure Monthly per capita expenditure (Kip) 1.0
Independent variable
Household characteristics
1 Age Age of household in year 0.109
2 Dependent ratio Ratio aged less than 15 or more than 65 -0.202 *
3 Ethnic groups 1 if household are to Lao-Loum; 0 otherwise 0.342 **
4 Economics members Number of economics members (person) -0.335 **
5 Gender of HH head Female HH head 0.025
6 Number of migrants Number of migrants (person) 0.033
7 Literacy 1if head of HH can read and write Lao; 0 otherwise 0.275 **
8 Year of education Number of year in school enrollment 0.265 **
Factors of production
9 Lowland & upland rice 1 if HHs grown lowland & upland rice; 0 otherwise -0.204 **
10 Lowland rice only 1 if HHs grown only lowland rice; 0 otherwise 0.367 **
11 Upland rice only 1 if HHs grown only upland rice; 0 otherwise -0.486 **
12 Cash crops growing Number of cash crop grown 0.054
13 Lowland farm size Cultivated areas in hectare (ha) 0.327 **
14 Upland farm size Cultivated areas in hectare (ha) -0.469**
15 Number of pig Number of pig (Tropical livestock unit) -0.152
16 Number of cattle Number of cattle (Tropical livestock unit) 0.011
17 Rice yield Average rice yield (kg/ha) 0.544 **
18 Possession of tractor 1 if household possess tractor; 0 otherwise 0.222**

Cont. Table 3.
Dependent variable Measurements Coeff correlation
Physical access
19 Market access all season 1 if HHs access to MK in all season;0 otherwise 0.382 **
20 Market access in DS 1 if HHs access to MK in dry season; 0 otherwise 0.292 **
Economic opportunity
21 Farm cash income Real capita farm income (Kip) 0.324**
22 Off-farm cash income Real per capita off-farm income (Kip) 0.024
23 Non-farm cash income Real per capita non-farm income (Kip) 0.441 **
24 Forest income Real forest-farm income per capita (Kip) 0.250 **
Source: Author’s calculation based on household survey 2013
Measurement poverty and food security status
This study was used per capita expenditure as the indicator of poverty because it is more consistent with economic
theory and accurate compare with income-based measure (Warr, 2005; Andersson et al., 2006). Firstly, per capita
expenditure data was calculated based on the sum of the real total food and non-food items expenditure on an
annual basic and on a monthly basis for some expenditures, and the value of rice production produced was also
taken into accounted. Secondly, the aggregate of total household expenditure was adjusted by the number of
household members. Lastly, monthly per capita expenditure was compared with the national poverty line for the
rural area of 180,000 Kip/person/month or US$ 23 (Lao PDR, 2012). In addition, food security was investigated
based on the daily calorie intake.
First of all, the amount of own production, food purchased, borrowed, home garden, food aids, and received in
kind were collected over the past 12 months and on a monthly basis for some kinds of food purchased. Then, the
aggregate total foods consumed was converted into kilocalorie (kcal) and adjusted based on the number of
household’s members (per capita/day). Lastly, the average calorie requirement of 1976 kcal/capita/day in the rural
areas, set by the LECS 1997/98, was compared with the surveyed households. Those households which per capita
daily calorie intake is less than the minimum requirement were categorized as food insecure. Magnitude of food
security and poverty was assessed using head-count ratio and poverty gap index (James et al., 2010).
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Situation of poverty and food insecurity
The surveyed findings illustrates that about 54 % and 30 % of total sample were classified as chronic poor and
chronic food insecure, respectively (Table 4). The poverty gap was 0.6, indicating that about 60 % of poverty line
(108,000 Kip/capita/day) is required to out of poverty in the research site. Chronic poverty was mainly found in the
upland areas, accounted for 90% of upland sample compared with 29.5 % in the lowland areas (Table 4). In
addition, the poverty gap index of poor upland households (0.75) was different from the lowland areas (0.45),
implying that rural upland households require an amount of 135,000 Kip/capita/day to out of poverty.
Similarly, the food insecurity gap of the upland households was 0.42, indicating the average of 830 kcal/capita/day
is needed for rural upland households in achieving food security status. Consequently, the results clearly show that
rural households in the upland areas have significantly higher level of poverty and food insecurity. The reason is
because of the different agro-ecosystem between upland and lowland rice cultivation and source of income. As
compared with lowland households, most of upland people have less opportunity in creating additional source of
income due to lack of market place, poor road access especially in the wet season, unskilled labors, and low
financial asset for investment such as livestock rearing and cash crop cultivation.

Table 4. Poverty and food security status
Poverty status Lowland (N=88) Upland (N=60) Total (N=148)

Non-poor 31.8 % 1.7 % 19.6 %
Transitory poor 38.6 % 8.3 % 24.4 %
Chronic poor 29.6 % 90.0 % 54.0 %
Poverty gap 0.45 0.75 0.60
Aggregate expenditure gap (Kip/ 81,000 Kip 135,000 Kip 108,000 Kip
capita/month)
Food security status
Food secure 37.5 % 8.3 % 25.6 %
Transitory food insecure 40.9 % 48.3 % 44.0 %
Chronic food insecure 21.6 % 43.4 % 30.4 %
Food insecurity gap 0.38 0.46 0.42
Aggregate calorie gap (kcal/capita/ 750.8 kcal 908.9 kcal 829.9 kcal
day)
Result of principle component analysis
The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure (KMO) of sampling adequacy is a measure for comparing the magnitudes of
observed correlation coefficients with the magnitudes of partial correlation coefficients. The value of the KMO was
0.673 and illustrated the appropriateness of the model which is within an acceptable range for a well-specified
model and which good to warrant interpretation of results (Table 5).
Table 5: KMO and Bartlett’s Test

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy 0.673
Bartlett’s Test of Approx.Chi-Square 1331.869
Sphericity Df 136
Sig. 0.00
The eigenvalues and screen test were used to determine the number of extracted components from the observed
data. The size of an eigenvalue indicates the amount of variance in the principle component explained by each
component. The orthogonal rotated solution was selected to obtain uncorrelated components using varimax
rotation method. The rotated component matrix of PCA led to the selection of six components explaining rural
poverty. These components reflect poverty thorough different indicator. The components are extracted from a set
of indicators by the application of the PCA.
The first principle component develops the largest proportion of the total variability (21.6 %) in the set of
indicators used which consists of upland rice only, upland rice & lowland rice, upland farm size, rice yield,
possession of tractor and ethnic group (Table 6). Therefore, it is called as upland livelihood and farming practice.
The second component explained by 12.5% of total variance, can be regarded as lowland rice cultivation. The third
component, including education level, literacy and per capita non-farm income, can be termed as human capital
explaining by 11.4% of total variance. In addition, market access in all seasons and market access only in the dry
season were clearly associated with the forth component. Thus it can be labeled as market accessibility. Per capita
farm income and forest income were closely related with the fifth component and it is called source of income.

Finally, the last component consists of dependency ratio and number of economic members, it is regarded as labor
availability. The output of PCA can be explained based on the value of factor score (positive and negative) and the
weighs for each variable (Vyas and Kumaranayake, 2006). For instance, the component of lowland rice cultivation,
human capital, market access, and source of income were positively correlated with per capita expenditure,
implying that increasing the value of these four components leads to increase the probability of being non-poor
households. Conversely, the negative variables in the first component indicate that reducing the value in these
variables results in an increase non-poor household.
Table 6. Rotated Component Matrix (a)
Component
Upland
livelihood Lowland
Variables and farming rice culti- Human Market Source of Labor
practice vation capital access income availability
Upland cultivation -0.895
Ethnicity 0.859
Upland farm size -0.805
Upland & lowland rice growing -0.719
Rice yield 0.562
Possession of tractor 0.539
Lowland rice cultivation 0.911
Lowland farm size 0.807
Education level 0.915
Literacy 0.855
Per capita non-farm income 0.427
Market access all season 0.925
Market access only dry season 0.858
Per capita forest income 0.819
Per capita farm income 0.717
Dependency ratio -0.776
No. of economic members 0.771
% of variance 21.6 12.5 11.4 10.9 9.1 8.0
Note: 1) Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization.
Factor analysis distribution among different poverty status
Table 7 presents the significant variable distributes according to poverty status. As compared with non- poor
households, the majority of chronic poor households do not belong to Lao Loum group, and they are mainly
engaged in shifting cultivation. The average upland farm size of chronic poor household was 0.8 ha, and the
average rice yield (1,000 ton/ha) was lower than non-poor households (2,910 ton/ha). About 96% of non-poor
households were found to rely on lowland rice cultivation with an average farm size 0.81 ha/household. In
contrast, the percentage of chronic poor households cultivating lowland rice was 53 % with a small farm size (0.39
ha/household) due to lack of appropriate area. On the other hand, some of chronic households, in particular in the
upland lacked of technical knowledge and skills of land preparation, fertilizer application, transplanting methods,
water control, and etc. As a result, the productivity was very low (904 kg/ha) as compared with the average rice
yield in the provincial level (2,900 kg/ha).
Table 7 revealed that education level, literacy and per capita non-farm income are lower for chronic poor
households. Non-poor households have an average non-farm income of 1,400,000 Kip/capita/year compared to
chronic poor at 192,472 Kip/capita/year. Most of non-poor participated in permanent non-farm job such as
masonry, teachers, handicraft, petty trade, and etc. Conversely, the majority of chronic poor households are
unskilled workers with a construction company. The finding showed that there are only 22% of chronic poor
households reported with access to markets in all season as compared with 76% of non-poor households.

It can be explained that most of the chronic poor live in the upland area where the public transportation is limited
as a result of poor road condition, particularly in the wet season. The average farm and forest income of non-poor
household are higher than transitory and chronic poor households (Table 7). The majority of farm income is mainly
from selling livestock (poultry, pig, and cattle), rice, and cash crops, which accounted 67 %, 18 %, and 15 % of total
farm income, respectively. With regard to forest income, selling wide life (e.g. wild pigs) was the major source of
income for the upland areas, while in the main forest income in the lowland areas was selling Mak-Jong (Sterculia
lychnophora), timber, and fish.
Table 7: Factors distribution among different poverty status.
Poverty status
Significant variables Transitory Chronic
Non-poor Total
Number of poor poor
(n=29)
factors (n=39) (n=80)
Upland livelihood Upland cultivation (%) 13.0 33.0 78.0 54.0
and farming Ethnicity (Lao Loum) 68.0 58.0 21.0 41.0
practice Upland rice size (ha) 0.07 0.27 0.80 0.51
Upland & lowland rice cultivation (%) 0.10 0.23 0.37 0.28
Rice yield (tonn/ha) 2.91 1.79 1.0 1.58
Possession of tractor (%) 37.0 43.0 8.0 24.0
Lowland rice Lowland rice cultivation (%) 96.0 82.0 53.0 69.0
Lowland farm size (ha) 0.81 0.76 0.39 0.57
Human capital Education level (Year) 4.44 3.51 2.57 3.19
Literacy ratio (%) 0.79 0.64 0.46 0.57
Per capita non-farm income(Kip) 1,400,000 761,903 192,472 577,512
Market Market access all season (%) 76.0 51.0 22.0 0.40
Market access only dry season (%) 79.3 59.0 42.5 0.54
Source of income Per capita forest income (Kip) 422,083 349,560 95,457 226,417
Per capita farm income (Kip) 556,016 426,587 61,813 254,773
Labor availability Dependency ratio 0.95 1.04 1.30 1.16
No. of economic members (person) 2.51 3.25 4.53 3.80
The findings presented above leads to the conclusion that the poverty and food insecurity in the rural areas remain
as a crucial problem for local government if they are to achieve the government’s target by 2015. In the rural
Southern Laos, the incidence of poverty and food insecurity accounted for 68.4 % and 74.4 % of the total
respondents, respectively. The evidence from Principle Component Analysis indicates that rural poverty is directly
determined by agro-ecosystem especially upland farming, in which the majority of chronic poor households are
non-Lao Loum ethnic mainly living in upland areas where the paddy areas are limited and its productivity is also
inefficient due to the lack of technical knowledge, inputs, and machineries. Thus, providing training on increasing
rice productivity for upland farmers is likely to be one of the sustainable solutions for poverty alleviation.
Moreover, poverty is also related to unskilled human capital, poor market access, less sources of income, and lack
of labour availability.
This can be suggested that policy by all levels of government should give priority to other aspects. For instance, low
educational level and high literacy which mostly found among chronic poor households are related the low non-
farm income. As a result, chronic poor households should be provided with a vocational training program to
support them to participate in non-farm employment. Another important observational point is that rural poverty
and food insecurity have deeper roots that go further than simply problems in farming method and market access.
For the further research, it is thus important to study the local institutional capacity in eradicating poverty.

REFERENCES
Andersson, M., Engvall, A., and Kokko, A. 2006. '' Determinants of Poverty in Lao PDR ''. Working paper. Sweden:
Stockholm School of Asian Studies Press.
Asian Development Bank. 2001. Participatory Poverty Assessment in Lao People Democratic Republic (Lao PDR),
Manila, Philippine.
Department of Statistic. 2010. ''Poverty in Laos 2008: Lao Expenditure and Consumption Survey 1992/93 – 2007/08
''. Ministry of Planning and Investment.
James, E.F, and Joel, G. 2010. '' The Foster-Greer-Thorbecke (FGT) Poverty Measures: Twenty-Five Years Later''.
Institute for International Economic Policy Working Paper Series, Elliott School of International Affairs, The
George Washington University Press. http://econdse.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Foster -poverty-
index-survey.pdf (December 24 2013)
Jonathan, R. 2005. Living with Transition in Laos: Marketing Integration in Southeast Asia. Routledge, London and
New York press.
Joshi, Niraj P. 2011. Climate Change in Nepal: Poverty Analysis in Far-Western Rural Hills, Doctoral Dissertation,
Hiroshima University in Press.
Kakwani, N., Sisouphanthong, B., Souksavth, P., and Dark, B. 2001. '' Poverty in Lao PDR '' Presented paper on the
Asia and Pacific Forum on Poverty: Reforming Policies and Institutes for Poverty.
Keomany, V. 2011. '' Scoping Study on Food Security and Nutrition Information in Lao PDR''. Food and Agriculture
Organization.
Lao PDR. 2012. '' Poverty and Development Classification, Prime Minister’s Instrument No. 201 of April 25 th 2012. ''.
Vientiane: Prime Minister Office (In Lao).
Mousseum, F. 2005. '' Impact of Market Access on Food Security: Application of Factor Analysis'.' Food Security,
Poverty, and Nutrition Policy Analysis, Oakland Institute, pp 89-111.
Nolintha, V., Sengarloun, S., and Soukkhamthat, T. 2012. '' Macro-Economy in 2011 and the Outlook 2012 ''.
National Economic Research Institute, Ministry of Planning and Investment, Lao PDR
Oraboune, S. 2008. '' Infrastructure (Rural Road) Development and Poverty Alleviation in Lao PDR''. IDE Discussion
PAPER No. 151. Institute of Developing Economies.
Phomtavong, S. 2010. ''The impact of rural road Investment on Poverty Reduction in the Lao PDR''. Journal of Rural
Problems. Vol. 46. No. 3. pp. 325 – 333.
Sricharoen, T and Buchenrieder, G. 2005. '' Principle Component Analysis of Poverty in Northern Thailand ''.
Presented paper in Conference on International Agricultural Research for Development, Stuttgart-
Hohenheim, Octorber 11-13, 2005.
Vyas, S and Kumaranayake, L. 2012. ''Constructing Socio-Economic status indices: How to use principle component
analysis''. Oxford University Press, pp. 459 – 468.
Warr, P. 2005. '' Road Development and Poverty Reduction: The Case of Lao PDR ''. Asian Development Bank
Institute, Working Papar. No.25.

ON THE NEW DEVELOPMENT OF JAPAN’S RURAL
INDUSTRIALIZATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Weihong Zhou
Professor
Beijing Foreign Studies University
syuiko@hotmail.com
ABSTRACT
From the perspective of economic history, the process of modernization in rural areas can be divided into two categories. One is
the modernization of agriculture itself, and the other is the modernization of the rural economy. In the category of
modernization of the rural economy，the author used to Reintroduced and define the concept of rural industrialization, And
use it as a prerequisite to study the history of the development of rural industrialization in Japan. In this paper, on the basis of
these studies，the author will doing Further analysis and summary of the latest developments of rural industrialization in
Japan since the 21 century. This paper mainly uses the quantitative analysis methods. To find the nearest rural economic
statistics, we mainly chose the local level statistics of 2003 before the Big Heisei merger. Specifically, it is the book of "cities,
towns and villages Information Overview" (2003), prepared and published by the Cities, towns and villages information
Network Center. We drew the statistics of 1990 machis and 568 villages as data of rural areas from it and divided 39 Statistics
items into three categories: 5 background data of rural industrialization, 4 progress data of rural industrialization, and 30
structural data of rural industrialization. Firstly, the paper will using the process data to measure the progress of
industrialization in rural Japan, then using the structural data for structural analysis of rural industrialization in Japan , and
finally using the background data to do the factors speculation of rural industrialization in the 21st century Japan. Through
statistical analysis, this paper found out that: Compared with the 1990s, Japan's rural industrialization continues to promoted
and expanded by 5 % in 2000. This has been confirmed by both the traditional indicators and new indicators.
INTRODUCTION
The process of rural modernization, from the economic history perspective, can be divided into two categories.
One is the modernization of agriculture itself; another is the modernization of rural economy. The author used to
puts forward the concept of rural industrialization in the rural modernization category, and take this as a premise
to study the history of the development of rural industrialization in Japan. This paper will be on the basis of these
studies, further summarized the latest progress of Japanese rural industrialization since twenty-first Century.
Before entering this study, we first give a illustration on the basic concept of rural industrialization.
CONCEPT AND METHODOLOGY
Rural industrialization is not a new word. But so far it has not defined very clearly as an academic concept. In
general, it is understood as a extend industrialization that from the center of the city to the countryside. In Japan,
probably the word is widely used in 20 century 70's, and then Japanese rural conducted a large-scale promotion
activity of city industrial investment. The investment activities are often referred to as "rural industrialization". The
author thinks, the process of modernization of rural economy, is the process of transforming from a single
agricultural economy to a composite economic structure of rural which by industrial centered and with agricultural
and commercial. Therefore, the rural industrialization also can define as the process of the modernization of rural
economy. By which the Research on this process also can called the study of rural industrialization.
Actually we can find some similar thinking’s from existent studies in the research field of rural economy. First is
the proto-industrialization theory. This is theory put out by America scholar Mendelssohn in the 60’s of twentieth
Century. He thinks that the industrial originally rise from rural and the early stages of industrialization of the city
are built on the basis of the developed rural industrialization. So that he named the rural industrialization in the
initial stage of modernization as a proto-industrialization. This theory pointed out that the rural industrialized is the
starting point of modern industrialization, and left a lot of research and achievements on rural industrialization in
the early modern times. However, it ignored the rural industrialization after the initial stage of modernization.

Weihong Zhou
The second is the postwar Japanese rural industry theory. Before 20ages, accompanied by the deterioration of
rural problems, Japanese society appeared to promote rural industrial theory. These rural industry theories are
mainly divided into three types. The First rural industry theory, which summed up from the Japanese government’s
rural industrial incentive policy in the rural reconstruction movement, is focusing on the processing of agricultural
products for the content of the traditional rural sideline. Second rural industry theory, with representative of
Okouchi masatoshi, a famous industrialist, is focus on import the machinery industry to the rural area. Third, is
rural industry theory of the agronomists. According to their regulations, rural industrialization so-called must meet
three conditions: first, the location of development in rural areas; two, their own business; three, the pure
industrial production. According that, the most ideal form of management organization of rural industry is
cooperative. This kind of thought of rural industry has already become a kind of social thought. Along the rural
relief policy to the socialist road of development, prewar rural industry theory, could explain its necessity, but it
can't explain its inevitability.
The third is the theory of the post-war economic geographers. After the war, in the rural industrialization process
which conduct the city industrial to rural areas they created some new theory of industrialization in rural areas,
and the concept is very close to the concept of mine. The representatives are the below of the three person's view
point.
First is the rural area industrialization theory of Mr. Ukida Noriyoshi's. Mr. Ukida proposed the concept of
industrialization in rural areas in his article “rural industrialization and farmers reply”, focus on the rural area in the
overall respect, it defines three factors: one is the direct management the industry; two is farmers engage the
industry as a sideline labor (work at home); three is the industry related with agriculture. the concept of Mr.
Ukida's is very suitable for Study of economic history, but his content limit to industrialization is somewhat similar
to agronomists views of the pre war.
The second is the Mr. Itakura Katsutaka's theory. Itakura published a paper "the possibility of a integrated rural” in
1984. In this paper, he pointed out the necessity of economic integration in rural areas and advocated that the
agricultural production structure should be transition from simple agriculture to comprehensive production
structure combining agricultural product processing and industry. Try to grasp the rural modernization from the
angle of rural economic structure, the author's idea is very close to mine, just for industrial components in
economic structure, Itakura Katsutaka seem to focus on the 1.5 industry of agricultural products processing, rather
than manufacturing, cannot deny this point is the continuation of government's rural rehabilitation policy in the
war time.
The last is a theory of complex of multi-industries in rural areas advocated by Mr. Sakamoto Keiichi. Mr. Sakamoto
Keiichi and other economy geography scholars published a book named "development of local area industrial
complex” in 1986. In this book, Mr. Sakamoto through the study of rural economy structural change of Dan Go area
in Kyoto, show the mode of integration of multi industry in the rural area. According to Sakamoto's view, we should
not use a single perspective analysis the economy of rural areas. Only the agricultural economics angle will
emphasize the revitalization of agriculture and can not explain the phenomenon of farmer’s
concurrent business behavior.
View from the local industry point, will emphasize a specific industry sector and cannot explain the association and
other industries. From the Dan Go region to see, in countryside, due to land constraints, the small farmers cannot
rely on agriculture for their livelihood, the local industry also influenced by the market and capital, can not be
stability. Therefore, at all levels of the family, the village, the region, the most ideal management status are
reasonable complex of multi-industries and rational comprehensive use of land, labor, capital and natural, human
resources. This "multi industry complex" (see below of complex of multi-industries of the Dan Go areas ), basically
achieved a status in headed with textile industry and agriculture, with a organic combination of internal and
external tourism, industrial and commercial, service industry.

Weihong Zhou
林渔建商
筑业
业业
业
纺织业以外
纺织业农业
制造业
其金融公旅游
保险务服务
他
业等业
町村、地区级
Figure 2.1 Multi Industry Complex of Dan Go areas

Source: Sakamoto Keiichi “development of local area industrial complex ",
Meibunshyobo, in 1986, p293
The theory of economic structure of Mr. Sakamoto, focuses on the whole area complex of the industrial including
agriculture and organic combination with other industries, this point can be said the most close to the rural
industrialization theory of mine. but Consider concept of rural industrialization of author‘s is widely than it, ,
therefore more suitable for study of rural economic history.
Next this paper will mainly uses the quantitative analysis methods. To find the nearest rural economic statistics, we
mainly chose the local level statistics of 2003 before the Big Heisei merger. Specifically, it is the book of "cities,
towns and villages Information Overview" (2003), prepared and published by the Cities, towns and villages
information Network Center. We drew the statistics of 1990 machis and 568 villages as data of rural areas from it
and divided 39 Statistics items into three categories: 5 background data of rural industrialization, 4 progress data of
rural industrialization, and 30 structural data of rural industrialization. Firstly, the paper will using the process data
to measure the progress of industrialization in rural Japan, then using the structural data for structural analysis of
rural industrialization in Japan , and finally using the background data to do the factors speculation of rural
industrialization in the 21st century Japan.
ANALYSIS OF JAPANESE RURAL INDUSTRIALIZATION IN RECENT 10 YEARS (1995-2005)
Background
Before coming to the new development of Japanese rural industrialization in the past ten years (1995~2005) , it is
necessary to summary the Background of the prewar and postwar. To analyze Japanese rural industrialization, we
used to use two kinds of quantitative indicator. One is the rate of non-agricultural income and the other is a rate of
the former with by-business. The first one, can calculate the degree of dependence on agricultural economy, is
depth index, the second one, can be used to handle the rural agricultural economy popularity, is breadth index of
rural industrialization. According to these indexes, the prewar and postwar Japanese rural industrialization were
summarized as follows.
The progress of rural industrialization of Japan prewar
From the statistical index of the almost every ten years, we can see the prewar Japanese rural industrialization is
still in the initial stage, the farmers with by-business rate in roughly 25% to 50%, the non-agricultural income of
about 20% as shown in Table 1.

Weihong Zhou
Table3.1 Japanese farmers rate with by-business and in non-agricultural income rate (1884 ~1946 years) (million
households, %)
Year All farmers Farmers with by- farmers rate with non-agricultural
business by-business income rate
1884 341.9 86.3 25.24

1903 515.8 157.3 30.50
1912 552.1 175.8 31.84
1926 555.8 165.5 29.79 18.88
1936 559.8 142.1 25.38 17.14
1946 569.8 264.2 46.37 11.8
Source: According to the Toyo economic news " Overview of Syowa situations ",the Ministry of agriculture and
forestry,” Farmers economic survey report", and Kayo sinbun "agriculture basic statistics" .
The progress of rural industrialization of Japan postwar

From every five-year figure, we will find that the rural industrialization has been developed. The rate of farmers
with by-business in the late 60’s is already more than 80%. Non-Agricultural income are depth of more than 80% in
the mid 80's.. From an overall point of view can be said that the in 80ages Japan has completed the rural
industrialization.
Table3.2 Japanese farmers rate with by-business and in non-agricultural income rate（1950-1995）
(million households, %)
Year
All farmers Farmers with by- farmers rate non-agricultural
business with by-business income rate
1950 598.4 309.0 51.16 31.71
1955 604.3 393.8 65.17 28.62
1960 598.5 413.2 69.04 46.71
1965 557.6 442.8 79．41 52.00
1970 534.2 451.1 84.45 63.54
1975 495.3 433.7 87.56 66.43
1980 466.1 403.3 86.53 78.91
1985 437.6 375.0 85.70 80.63
1990 383.5 336.2 87.67 82.38
1995 344.4 276.6 80.31 79.1
Source: According to the Toyo economic news " Overview of Syowa situations ",the Ministry of agriculture and
forestry,” Farmers economic survey report", and Kayo sinbun "agriculture basic statistics" .

Weihong Zhou
Analysis of Japanese rural industrialization in recent 10 years (1995-2005)
Analysis of the traditional index
According to the data of white book of the Japanese Ministry of agriculture, the traditional index of rural
industrialization in 2000 to 2010 as shown in the following table. Data from: the Ministry of agriculture”
agricultural economic survey “of” the white paper of food, agriculture, and rural problem “the famer households
After the 2004 are sales famer households. Through the observation data we found that after entering the twenty-
first Century the number of all farmers of full-time farmers are declining, number of Farmers with by-business and
non-agricultural income rate of farmers increased concurrently. The former is increased by 5%, the second is
increased by 7%. Only in 2010 farmers non-agricultural income has decreased, which may be due to the influence
of economic crisis. Overall, the Japanese rural industrialization in two traditional indicators both reached 85%.
Table3. Japanese farmers rate with by-business and in non-agricultural income rate（1995-2010）
(million households, %)
year
All farmers Farmers with by- farmers rate with non-agricultural
business by-business income rate
1995 344.4 276.6 80.31 79.1
2000 302.8 252.8 83.49 86.91
2005 284.8 241.9 84.93 86.98(04)
2010 252.8 216.8 85.75 73.6
Advances analysis in the new index
The new index includes the labor of rural second industry and the third industry, the Number of enterprises, and
Total production value etc.The change of these indexes can reflect the progress of rural industrialization, therefore
this part we will through these indicators see about rural industrialization progress. First we through employment
indicators see the progress of industrialization. From the employment number, we can see that after entering the
twenty-first Century, non-agricultural industries in the rural of Japan still has a big part as 84.63%, towns are
85.11%, the villages are 78.2%. In The following we will see the rural industrialization progress through production
indicators. From rural average total industrial output value, the gross output value of non agriculture accounted for
94.71%, about 10 percentage points more than reflected in the number of employees in the process of
industrialization.
Table 4 Japan rural employment number in 2002.

Total The working Employment The first % The second % The third %
population of population of number of industry industry industry
town and town and town and employment employment
employment
52518869 28206849 27782674 4270748 15.37 9502592 34.20 13522463 48.67
town
Average
12233 6561 6482 965 14.89 2217 34.20 3175 48.98
villages
Average
4348 2399 2298 501 21.80 779 33.90 1024 44.56

Weihong Zhou
Table 5. Total output value of Japanese rural in the 2002 (million yen)
Agricultural % Manufacturing % Annual %
rough yield shipments sales of
Total output value 11586678 5.37 128842323 59.72 75306678 34.91

town Average 2588 4.99 31218 60.13 18114 34.89
villages Average 1431 10.29 8611 61.89 3871 27.82
town and villages 4520.748 5.29 51640.21 60.43 29290.81 34.28
Advances analysis on rural industrialization structure

Through the whole data, we have been seeing the high completion of Japan's rural industrialization in twenty-first
Century. But how to achieve this high finish degree, that is to say, what exactly the rural industrialization of Japan's
roads are? Next, we use the industrial structure data of statistics, through the structure method, analysis the non-
agricultural industry structure, the main form of rural industrialization. The non-agricultural industries mainly
divided into the second industry and the third industry. We can through the basic statistics of employment,
production, Number of enterprises, to see the overall structure of non-agricultural industries. View to the basic
structure, the number of employees of the rural non-agricultural industry and output still reflects the
characteristics of industrialization of the first half stage (the second industry as the center), but from the point of
the number of non-agricultural enterprises, seems to have entered the industrialization the second stage (the third
industry as the Center).
Table 6. The Japanese rural non agriculture basic data in 2002

employment % Number of % production %
enterprises
second 9502592 34.20 390572 16.51 128842323 60.43
industry
third 13522463 48.67 1974281 83.48 75306678 34.28
industry
Structural analysis of Japanese rural second industry

How is the Structure of Japanese rural second industry? Next we see some related data. From the Data we can see
that Japan's rural second industry is constitute by the mining, construction, manufacturing industry. Among them,
the mining both employment and enterprises numbers are only a small proportion. Construction and
manufacturing, are opposite in the number of employees and the enterprises。 Construction scale is small, and
the manufacturing scale is relatively large.
Table 7. The Japanese rural second industry structure in 2002

Mining % constructio % manufacturin %
industry n industry g
employment 56754 2.8 2307909 14.11 5283103 83.07
enterprises 2175 0.6 324830 83.17 63567 16.28

Weihong Zhou
Structural analysis of Japanese rural third industry
Then we analysis the three industry with the same data. In statistics, the third industry is divided into six
departments. Basically commercial and food sector is the biggest in the both of employees and enterprises,
accounting for more than half. Then is the service industry, accounting for nearly 40%. the third is the transport and
communication sector, accounted for 10%, this three parts constitute the basic rural third industry.
Table.8 Japanese rural third industry structure in 2002
employees % enterprises %
Electricity, gas, 52443 0.56 2175 0.13

heating, water
Transportation, 880082 9.31 63567 5.73

communication
Wholesale, retail, 4322436 45.71 923201 54.10
food and bever-
Finance, insur- 224378 2.37 26728 1.57

ance
property 113008 1.20 536974 37.33
service ; 3864849 40.87 636974 37.33
9457196 100 1706443 100
The transfer of employment

In the environment of market economy, the transfer of employment is an important way of rural industrialization.
Especially occupies the special position in the area of underdeveloped third and second industry. So let us come to
have a look on the status of this area. From the statistical data, we can see that mobile employment occupies a
large proportion. In the employment population, nearly 60% people are in the local employment; about 40%
people are go out for the employment. In addition, the local employees accounted for 26% of from out places.
Table 9. The transfer employment of the Japanese rural population in 2002.
Employees % Number of % Number of % Number of %

local work work out work from
Total 27782674 100 16151140 58.13 11121055 40.03 7342659 26.42

town and 10860.94152 6311.828 4348.887 2870.235
villages
Average
town Average 6482 3748 2597 1722
villages 2298 1463 858 547
Average

Weihong Zhou
In the above we used statistical data to analyses the status of rural industrialization in Japan in 2002. Through the
analysis we can say that: first, compared with 90s, the Japanese continue to promote rural industrialization, and
expanded almost 5% in 2000s. This is confirmed by both new index and traditional index. Two, industrialization is
mainly because the development of the second and third industry, at income side, second industries accounted for
the center; at employment side third industry occupies the center. Three, the second industry are centered by
manufacturing industry , the third industry are centered by the commercial and service industry. Four, mobile
employment reached more than 40%, the employee from out is also close to 30%. It can be said that the transfer
labor has very important significance in the countryside.
ENDNOTES
1
Data from: the city, town and villages network information center "city, town and villages Overview" (2003).
2
3
4
Data from: the city, town and villages network information center "city, town and villages Overview" (2003)
5
6

THE TRANSFIGURATION ACCOMPANYING THE GLOBALIZATION OF THE TRADITIONAL
FESTIVAL “NOWRUZ” AND THE TRADITIONAL BEVERAGE “KUMISS” IN THE
REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN
Takahiro Iwagaki, MA
Graduate School of Human Sciences, Waseda University, hodai@akane.waseda.jp
Atsushi Saito, MA
Graduate School of Human Sciences, Waseda University.
Faculty of Oriental Studies, Kazakh National University named after Al-Farabi, chouhi@ruri.waseda.jp
Zhanar Amantay, MA
Faculty of Oriental Studies, Kazakh National University named after Al-Farabi, janikojp@gmail.com
Taeko Shimoda, Ph.D.
Faculty of Healthcare, Tokyo Healthcare University, t-shimoda@thcu.ac.jp
Atsushi Ogihara, Ph.D.
Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, aogi@waseda.jp
ABSTRACT
The globalization associated with the economic growth of the post-independence in Central Asia have occurred a lot of the
transfiguration of traditional culture. The purpose of study was to clarify the transfiguration of the traditional culture and foods
of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In this time, we discussed about Nowruz, a traditional festival of Kazakh and the traditional
beverage called “Kumiss” (liquor made from horse milk). The study period was from March 2012 to October 2013. We
conducted participant observations about events related to Nowruz and the interviews residents with a semi-structured
interview technique in Almaty city. Nowruz is carried out at the initiative of the government, however, was banned during the
Soviet era. Residents wore traditional clothes and sang ethnic songs with dancing on stage. It was thought to one of the strong
messages of the reconstruction of Kazakh culture. Utmost respect and consideration for other ethnic groups contributed to
ethnic harmony. Nowruz-koje, a traditional dish, was made at home. It was common in all homes to put in seven ingredients,
including horsemeat and white ingredients, in order to wish for familial prosperity and happiness. Three types Nowruz
celebrations existed in the Soviet period; the character of each celebration depended on the political distance from the Soviet
government and population density of Kazakh people. Kumiss was thought to be a valuable source of vitamins for the Kazakh
people who hardly eat vegetables through the ages. This traditional beverage, which has a probiotic effect, was used in the
treatment of various diseases. However, most of young people now only drank it a few times in a year. It is thought that the
population is concentrated in urban areas (the horse is no longer familiar in the Kazakh people) and a variety of beverages is
now available through globalization.
INTRODUCTION
The Republic of Kazakhstan (hereafter, Kazakh) is a country situated in Central Asia, having a population of
16,381,000 (as of 2012) with an area of 2,725,000 km 2 1). Since 2000, it has been undergoing rapid economic
changes owing to foreign trade resulting from an abundance of mineral resources such as uranium and rare earth.
In Kazakh, celebrations commemorating various turning points in life such as marriage, funerals, etc., are called Toi
and so on. In such ceremonial occasions, the seasonal Toi held every March is called Nowruz. Nowruz has been
celebrated from olden times as the nation’s largest festival, and is a festival celebrated with all residents of Kazakh
for having survived the bitter winter 2). In the days of Sassanian Persia, this celebration spread worldwide as a
Zoroastrian festival, and in modern times, more than 300 million people, primarily in West and South Asia, Central
Asia and Caucasus, commemorate this event. In 2009, it was registered as one of UNESCO’s world intangible
cultural heritage 3).
In addition, for the Kazakhs whose livelihood has been stock-farming from of old, fermented mare’s milk (called
kumiss), a traditional beverage indispensable to the Kazakhs’ Nowruz, has been said to be an important source of
vegetable-derived vitamins which tend to be deficient in their diet 4). Kazakhs always drink kumiss when people
gather together on festive occasions, and strong human relationships have been built by traversing Asia and
showing concern for others while drinking the beverage. Furthermore, kumiss includes an abundance of lactic acid
bacteria and is consumed as a health drink which conditions the intestinal environment with probiotic effect.

Takahiro Iwagaki et al
However, up to the present, there has been no factual investigation conducted on the traditional culture and
cuisine of the Kazakhs, thereby necessitating the understanding of the present situation and changes. Thus, the
objective of this study is to clarify the reality of the above by investigating Nowruz, the traditional festival of the
Kazakh people, and the transformation and succession of kumiss, a traditional beverage of fermented mare’s milk.
SUBJECTS AND METHODS

A survey on Nowruz was conducted in Almaty City (Bostandyk District). We used a participant observation method,
and analyzed on festive occasions carried out in Almaty city and houses. In addition, we carried out interviews
regarding Nowruz celebrations in the Soviet era on 8 residents of Almaty (8 persons A～H，2 male, 6 female, ages
30-84). Interviews on 20 subjects were requested by the snowball sampling method, and of them, 8 agreed to be
interviewed. The investigation period was March 2012. Almaty City is part of the Almaty oblast which situated in
the southeastern region of the country. Until 1998, the transfer of the capital to Astana, Almaty functioned as the
nation’s capital.
A survey on kumiss was conducted from September to October, 2013. We selected as the subject a stock farm in
Issyk, located 70km east of Almaty, and carried out a participant observation and an interview with the stock farm
owner. The reason we conducted survey on a stock farm was because most of the kumiss consumed is not an
industrial product, but is handmade on farms in Kazakh. Even in recent times, the production and sales of kumiss
are primarily carried out at farms. Thus, by surveying the farms, we could observe the effects that social changes
had on kumiss.
In the previous report, we mainly examined the food culture that was practiced during the celebration of Nowruz 5).
The target area and subjects in this report were the same as in the last one; here, we analyzed the practices of
Nowruz among the Kazakhs. In addition, we studied about kumiss, which is an integral part of Nowruz celebrations.
Nowruz in public places
In Kazakh, Nowruz day was established as an official

national holiday on March 22, 1992. Therefore, a
participant observation was conducted on March 22, 2012.
Holidays related to Nowruz differ according to the schools
or institutions, usually spanning 1 day to 1 week.
Bostandyk District, the subject of the survey, had an area
of 2,777km2 and a population of 285,394 6). It was the
second most populated district in Almaty City, with the
ethnic constitution being 58% Kazakh and 32% Russian
(Figure 1). Nowruz events in public places were carried out
according to the administrative district. In each district, Figure 1：Demographic Composition of Bostandyk
personnel in charge of managing the event were (Made by authors based on the statistics of Almaty City) 6
designated, and they were involved in determining the
budget, scope and the program, etc.
The Nowruz festival at the public square was managed by
administrative personnel, and emphasis was placed on
displaying Kazakh’s unique culture (Photo1). On the other
hand, Nowruz being a festival for all ethnic groups living in
Kazakh was also stressed, showing utmost respect and
consideration for ethnic groups other than the Kazakhs.
Photo 1: The Nowruz festival at the public square

(Shot by Iwagaki T. (Author) on March 2012)

It is said that over 130 ethnic groups live symbiotically in Kazakh, which is evidence of the masterfulness of the
government’s ethnic policy which has managed to unite these groups without major ethnic conflicts. Can we not
catch a glimpse of how efforts are made to buffer various political conflicts by creating a conciliatory atmosphere
at these cultural festivities?
Nowruz celebration in the homes
On the day before Nowruz, people prepared Nowruz-koje

(photo 2), and families, relatives and neighbors came and
went each house. Some families started preparation for
Nowruz-koje from early March or one week before Nowruz.
The ingredients for Nowruz-koje differed according to the
household or the region. The flavoring and preference of the
cook, or the special, local produce give it characteristics each
district. However, two features, namely adding 7 types of
ingredients and adding a white food ingredient last were
common to the Nowruz-koje in all households.
In the homes we visited, rice, noodles, horse meat, mung

beans, millet, buckwheat seeds, katyk (dry dairy product),
Photo 2: Nowruz-koje
potatoes, onions, salt, kaimak (similar yogurt) were used as (Shot by Iwagaki T. (Author) on March 2012)
ingredients. Ingredients do not have to be exactly 7 items as
long as it is 7 items or more; however, there seemed to be a trend in adding ingredients of an odd number. The
grains which added in the Nowruz-koje were harvested in the vast northern land under the steppe climate. In
addition, the meat which added to the Nowruz-koje was the winter food supply and people prepared it in the
previous autumn. When winter approaches in Kazakh, people prepared one animal and shared among family and
relatives as food to survive the extreme cold. As times past, procuring food became more difficult, and many
Kazakhs froze to death and could not survive winter. Thus, it is considered good luck to rejoice in having been able
to welcome the spring and to add as much meat as possible into the Nowruz-koje. Furthermore, right before the
dish is complete, a white ingredient is added and the overall color is adjusted. The white color represents the color
of the milk of the livestock precious to the Kazakhs. It is a symbol of prosperity. At the Nowruz festival to celebrate
the beginning of the year, by adjusting the color of the Nowruz-koje to the color of the milk which the newborn
livestock first consumes, prosperity and happiness for the year is wished for.
SURVEY REGARDING THE NOWRUZ DURING THE SOVIET ERA
During the Soviet era, Nowruz was celebrated roughly in 3 different ways. Subjects A, B, C, D, and E celebrated
Nowruz in public and made Nowruz-koje. Subjects F did not celebrate Nowruz, either in public or in the home, and
did not make Nowruz-koje. Lastly, subjects G and H only had the celebration with relatives within the home and
made Nowruz-koje (Table 1). Based on the replies to each item, the hometown of each subject was plotted on the
map to understand the status of the celebration according to the region. The distribution can be observed in Figure
3, which redesigned our reference number 2
Table 1: How to be celebrated in Nowruz during the Soviet era

Subjects A, B, C, and E were situated an agricultural area near the border of Kyrgyzstan and China, more than
150km away from Almaty City. During the Soviet Era, ethnic composition in the agricultural area in Kazakh was
predominantly the Kazakhs, and because influence from the Soviet government was weaker in such areas in
comparison to the inner-city, Nowruz was celebrated in a relatively free atmosphere. Subject B had lived in times
which had passed since World War II and food ran scarce occurred soon after the independence. However, in the
agricultural area, the Nowruz-koje tradition never ceased. Thus, even in the Soviet Era, in agricultural areas with a
high density of Kazakhs, Nowruz was celebrated enthusiastically, and even in hard times, people cooperated in
making Nowruz-koje and carried on the tradition.
Subjects F, who neither celebrated Nowruz at all nor

made Nowruz-koje, were from the center of Almaty
City. Almaty City, under the Soviet rule was subject to
much Soviet political influence, and regulations on
Kazakh ethnic culture were imposed 7). Subjects G
and H, who had celebrated Nowruz at home and
made Nowruz-koje were from an agricultural area
near Semey in eastern Kazakhstan. They celebrated
Nowruz with family and relatives living under the
same roof, but did not have people coming and
going, nor did they have any outdoor events.
In other words, Nowruz celebration and Nowruz-koje-

making activities were carried out in a restrictive
manner in the northern area with a relatively large Figure 3: Hometown of the subjects
Russian population, such as we see with G and H. It was also
observed that in inner-city areas where people were subject to political influence as with E and F, Nowruz was not
celebrated at all, and the custom ceased to be passed on to future generations. According to subject H who moved
to Almaty from an agricultural area after the independence, there were many people who did not celebrate
Nowruz, and had never eaten Nowruz-koje, much less knew how to make it. We went to the public square to
distribute Nowruz-koje free of charge and taught people how to make it. The reason the Nowruz-koje in Almaty
City has so many flavors is because after the independence, those who came from the provinces brought local
flavors along with them. The fact that Nowruz has been revived and celebrated enthusiastically as we see in recent
times is evidence of the hard work of people who have strived to protect such traditional culture.
Field survey regarding Kumiss at a stock farm
The stock farm, which had 120 ha grassland, breeds approximately 100 horses, and approximately 30 mares for
milk. The workers in charge of this work were mainly the farm owner, his family, relatives and friends. On
September 28, 2013, the work started early in the morning from 4 a.m. First of all, the mares which were in the
stable were let out for exercise. Then, the stables were cleaned. These works was done before sunrise. The mares
were milked 5 times a day in 2 hour intervals. The milking was completed in 1 hour per time, and before the next
milking, the mares were given food and exercised. Because 1 mare produced only 1 liter per milking, they were
milked 5 to 6 times a day. In this stock farm, approximately 150 liters of milk were produced daily.
The mare’s milk immediately after milking is called Sut (can refer to livestock milk in general), and has no distinct
acidity, is sweet and easy-to-drink, somewhat like human milk. As a starter (an ingredient to cause fermentation), a
previously made strong, old kumiss (contains an abundance of lactic acid) is added to the sut, and stirred 2-3 hours
continuously. Thereafter, by leaving it overnight, the yeast ferments, producing kumiss (Photo3). Kumiss can be
refrigerated for 2 weeks. It is low in acidity when it is first made, but day by day, the acidity increases 8). When
drinking the kumiss on an ordinary basis, it is placed in an aluminum container; however, when guests come, a
container called Pipsek made from Arca (a type of wood) is used 9). The microbes found within the mare’s milk
differ completely according to the starter and storage container 10).
The period when kumiss sells the most was in May and June, when milking begins. During this period, kumiss was
transported to the city bazaar every day to be sold. For example, 230 liters were sold at 400 tenge a liter, which is
sold out immediately in a day.

May and June, after being deprived of kumiss during the
winter months, and when people can drink kumiss until their
stomachs are full, is an extremely happy season for the
Kazakhs. Fermented mare’s milk generates ethanol when
lactic acid is being fermented and therefore has a 1~3%
alcohol component. However, more than being an alcoholic
beverage, a variety of people, ranging from infants to the
elderly, drink kumiss for their health and for rehydration in
place of water. In modern times, kumiss was consumed
during such events as Toi (festive event) in great quantities.
During Toi, meat and other fatty dishes were served in
abundance. Therefore, by drinking kumiss after the meal, the
body can be conditioned. In addition, kumiss was also used in Photo 3: Kumiss
the treatment of cholelithiasis (gallstones) and malignant (Shot by Iwagaki T. (Author) on September 2013)
bacteriosis of the large intestine at sanatoriums, and its
medicinal effects were the focus of much attention 11,12).
CONCLUSION
In this study, we clarified how traditional culture and food, which are peculiar to an ethnic group has been
transformed, succeeded in Kazakh, and reached the current state, after having experienced 2 great social changes
during the 1990’s, namely amalgamation into the Soviet Union, and globalization accompanied by post-
independence economic growth. Festive events in public places convey a strong message toward the revival of
Kazakh culture. At the same time, utmost respect and consideration for other ethnic groups have been shown to
achieve an ethnic symbiotic relationship. Kumiss has been handmade in all processes at the stock farm. It is a
traditional beverage with high nutritional value and can potentially be used in the treatment of illnesses. However,
the younger generation, in particular, have little opportunity to drink kumiss, and so the issue remains as to how
familiarity with this traditional beverage can be revived.
ENDNOTES
1
Data Book of the World. Ninomiya Bookstore. Tokyo. 2013 ; 25 : 184.
2
Әлімқұлов Б, Әбдіраманов Е. Күйеу келтір. Қыз ұзат, Тойыңды қыл. Әдеби-этнографиялық таным. Алматы. 1989 : 77-84.
3
Lists of intangible cultural heritage and register of best safeguarding practices. United Nations. http://www.unesco.org/
culture/ich/en/lists. Accessed July 1, 2014.
4
Ishii S, Konagaya Y. Beneficial role of kumiss intake of Mongolian nomads. Journal of Japanese Society of Nutrition and Food
Science. 2002 ; 55(5) : 281-285.
5
Iwagaki T, Saito A, Amantay Zh, Shimoda T, Ogihara A. The cultural and historical characteristics of ethnic cuisine served at
Nowruz in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Journal for the Integrated Study of Dietary Habits. 2014 ; 24(4) : 254-260.
6
Almay City Bureau of Statistics. Численность населения города Алматы по отдельным этносам на начало 2013 года. 2013
7
Fujimoto T. Yomigaeru shisha girei : Gendai Kazah no Islam hukko. Kazehibikisha. Tokyo. 2011 ; 274-277.
8
Ishii S. Some microbiological findings on kumiss and their functions. Journal of the Brewing Society of Japan. 2002 ; 97 (3) :
210-215.
9
Shimoda T. Shoku to daichi to Silk Road : Koudai na daichi ga umidashita kazakhzoku no shokubunka (2). Shokuseikatsu.
1998 ; 92 (1) : 94-97.
10
Ishii S. Nairiku Asia no yubokumin no seizosuru nyushu ni kansuru biseibutsugakuteki kenkyu. JACAS Renkei Kenkyuseika
Houkoku. 2003 ; 4 :103-122
11
Gil'mutdinov AR. Efficiency of kumiss in combined spa rehabilitation of patients after surgical intervention in cholelithiasis.
Voprosy kurortologii, fizioterapii, i lechebnoi fizicheskoi kultury. 2008 ; 1 : 4-21.
12
Dugina NI, Mitrokhin SD, Chebotareva TV. Efficacy of cow's kumiss in the treatment of large intestine dysbacteriosis and its
impact on tolerability of antituberculosis agents in patients with respiratory tract tuberculosis. Antibiotiki i himioterapiia.
2004 ; 49 (12) : 5-31.
THE MEANING OF AND CHANGES IN “ТОЙ” IN LIFE EVENT CEREMONIES IN THE
REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN
Atsushi Saito
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Oriental Studies,
Al-farabi Kazakh National University,
ts.centralasia@gmail.com)
Atsushi Ogihara
Associate Professor, Ph.D. in Medicine,
Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University
aogi@waseda.jp)
ABSTRACT
The Republic of Kazakhstan, located in Central Asia, attained independence in 1991. Recently, the economy of the country has
rapidly improved because of its valuable underground resources. Consequently, the living standard of its people and their
culture have been changing. However, few studies analyze the culture of Kazakhstan. In the Republic of Kazakhstan, there are
various traditional ceremonies called “Дәстүр”, especially “ТОЙ.” They are classified into ТОЙ for religions, ТОЙ for seasonal
festival, ТОЙ for life milestones, and ТОЙ for workers. In this study, we conducted interviews to clarify the actual status and
consciousness of ТОЙ to celebrate life milestones, as part of our more general study of cultural aspects in Kazakhstan. From
March 2012 to March 2013, we conducted participant observations of and interviews with two Kazakh families. In this period,
they conducted 4 ceremonies, “Қырқынан шығару,” 40 days after childbirth, “Тұсау Кесер,” when a child begins to walk, “Tіл
ашар,” when a child enters a school, and “Сундет ТОЙ,” when a male child is circumcised. In this conference, we analyze the
current status of traditional ceremonies and explain the participation of families and relatives in them.
BACKGROUND OF A STUDY
The Republic of Kazakhstan (here after, Kazakhstan), located in Central Asia, attained independence in 1991.
Kazakhstan has population of 16,381,000 (as of 2012) with an broad land area of 2,725,000 km2.1) Since 2000, it has
been undergoing rapid economic changes owing to foreign trade resulting from an abundance of valuable
underground resources such as uranium and rare earth. Consequently, the living standard of its people and their
culture have been changing.
There are various studies about aspects of Kazakhstan. However, current studies about Kazakhstan have focused
on mainly public health issues, such as the health problems in the Aral Sea region or near the Semipalatinsk nuclear
test site. Very few studies analyze the cultural aspects of Kazakhstan. As mentioned above, Economic in
Kazakhstan has been changing rapidly. With these changes, living standards of Kazakhstan has also been changing
and it is possible that culture and social network in Kazakhstan are acculturated.
Currently, members in our team are conducting various studies on the cultural aspects of Kazakhstan. To analyze
social relationships among the Kazakh people, I have been conducting a study on celebration ceremonies in their
lifetime.
SUBJECT AND METHODS
As first step of our studies, we are conducting participant observation and interviews regarding some traditional
ceremonies. From March 2012 to March 2013, I observed and interviewed two Kazakh families who live in Almaty
oblast, southeastern region in Kazakhstan.

The Traditional Ceremonies
In Kazakhstan, there are many traditional events called “Дәстүр”. Since olden days, people of Kazakhstan have
been holding various Дәстүр. “ТОЙ” is one of those traditional events. When Kazakh people get happy occasion,
they hold ТОЙs to share it. ТОЙs are classified into ТОЙ for religions, ТОЙ for seasonal festivals, ТОЙ for
milestones in life, and ТОЙ for workers. In each ТОЙ, people have a party called “Дастархан.” In Дастархан, they
cook meals such as “Бешбармақ,” and they often make speech
for wish named “Тілек сөз”. There are various patterns in “Тілек
сөз”, and people choose a phrase which suits the situation.
They hold ТОЙ parties in their house or in large restaurants called

“Мейрамхана.” In case people hold ТОЙ in Мейрамхана, there
are various patterns about purveyance. These days, Kazakh
people living in Almaty tend to have a ТОЙ party in a
Мейрамхана.
From March 2012 to March 2013, they celebrated ceremony

called “Қырқынан шығару,” as Дәстүр, and ceremonies called
“Тұсау Кесер,” “Tілашар“, and “Сундет ТОЙ,” as ТОЙ. I observed
these ceremonies and interviewed those families. Photo 1 “Бешбармақ”
(Shot by author on March, 2013)
“Қырқынан шығару”
“Қырқынан шығару” is one of Дәстүр and held for a newborn infant, forty days after its birth. Generally, people
conduct “Қырқынан шығару” 40 days after child’s birth. Until 40days after child’s birth, people think children are
vulnerable. This idea are called “көз тию”. According to this idea, to compliment and to take photo are not
desirable. People believe if children, who are before 40 days after birth, are complimented or taken photo, they
will fall ill. People believe that after 40 days child’s personality will be change and child move to next phase in his
life.
In the interview, informant told that in case the newborn is male, Қырқынан шығару is held a few days earlier
than forty days since his birth. In case the newborn is female, Қырқынан шығару is held a few days after forty days
since her birth. She said there are religious reason, but she didn’t know in detail. In Kazakhstan, there are other
ceremonies for newborn infants such as “Шілдехана” and “Бесік ТОЙ”, but they are not indispensable. If those
ceremonies are not held, “Қырқынан шығару” can be the first essential ceremony held in his or her lifetime.
“Қырқынан шығару,” which I observed was held in March 2012. In this ceremony, generally only female relatives
or friends can attend. Participants were mother of child, 26 years old and from Тараз city, Jambyl oblast, older
sister of child’s father, and relatives. Because they don’t know procedure, they operated Қырқынан шығару by
taking relative’s advice.
They gather in the house of organizer and eats “Бешбармақ”. After taking break, participants start “Қырқынан
шығару.” Firstly, they wash the infant’s body, shave its hair using a razor, and trim its nails. There are no order of
shaving and trimming, but they have to complete all procedure in a day. In this ceremony, newborn child is shaved
and trimmed for the first time in his lifetime. After shaving and trimming, they gathered hair and nail and burned.
Moreover, participants pour or dip warm (not so hot) water on the infant’s body. They also sets forty pieces of
sheep dirt and silver coins or other accessories in the hot water. Dirt is washed and dried beforehand. They don’t
use other animal’s dirt. By using silverworks, People pray that the baby’s life should shine like silver. In each
dipping, participants recite a “Тілек сөз.” For example, in “Қырқынан шығару”, participants calls “May you grow
healthy!”, or “Stay in good health!” Participants dip forty times and touch every part of the infant’s body.
In this ceremony, difference of procedure from another region was found. In similar study in Pavlodar oblast, north
-east region in Kazakhstan, Fujimoto observed procedure of “Қырқынан шығару”2). In those area, people used

silverworks in dipping, but they think silverworks signify purity. In addition, sheep dirt were not used. Moreover,
people used shaved hair and trimmed nail as charm or lay them in ground which nobody step on. Furthermore,
there are no information about temporal difference for having Қырқынан шығару ceremony between male and
female child.
“Тұсау Кесер”
Тұсау Кесер is one of ТОЙs. In the interview, the family who hold Тұсау Кесер told that “Тұсау” means legs or
walking, and “Кесер” means cutting. In another information, “Тұсау” means shackle. 3) “Тұсау Кесер” is a ТОЙ held
for celebrating the child’s first walk. Kazakh people believe that child can walk well by holding “Тұсау Кесер”. One
such ТОЙ was held on September 7, 2012. The ТОЙ party was held in the host family’s house. The host family was a
married couple. Husband was 29 years old and from Кеген city, Almaty oblast. Wife was 30 years old and from
Талдықорған city, Almaty oblast. They operated “Тұсау Кесер” by taking relatives advise who live in Талдықорған
city. There is no rule about participants for this ТОЙ, and the host family invited 30 their relatives, friends, and
others.
In this ТОЙ, the host family held a “Дастархан” party and served attendants. In “Дастархан”, Husband’s
grandmother made “Тілек сөз” speech. Usually they choose a person who has the disposition that they hope their
child should ideally take after. Not only relatives but also acquaintances and friends can play that role. Since the
husband’s grandmother had a vibrant personality, many grandchildren and relatives showed her respect, and the
host family asked her to perform that role.
During this “Тұсау Кесер”, the host family spread a white cloth over the floor. The white cloth doesn’t have specific
name but come from tradition called “Ак Жол.” It means white road, safety, and no problems in future. Second,
they bind the child’s leg with a band by figure-eight knot. That band called “Aла жіп”, and people make it by
twisting white and black strings. Black strings represent sad, dark day in life and white strings delightful, bright day
in life. Twisting both strings means good days and bad days in his life.
After binding “Aла жіп” strings, the husband’s grandmother cuts the strings. She cut strings using scissors. In this
family, they cut only once, but relative of husband commented that they used to cut three times in the husband’s
home province. For the first cut, the raw bowel of sheep was used. Strings made of grass were used for the second
cut and “Aла жіп” strings were used for the third cut. They cut using a knife.
In olden days, people made that string of various flowers, or plants, or bowel of farm animal. Flower meaned the
baby's life would blossom like that flower, plants meaned that the baby would have many decsendant like plants in
the fields, and people hope that the baby would become wealthy man using bowels. 3) After cutting, the host
family makes the child walk on the cloth. When the child walks, two women helped the child to walk. The host
family chooses them from among the married women relatives.
Photo 2. Cutting “Aла жіп”

(Shot by author on September, 2012)

“Тілашар”
“Tілашар” is ТОЙ which is held to celebrate child’s entering a school. When children have to enter school, people
give new cloths and stationeries, and hold Tілашар. Frequently, this ТОЙ is held while people conduct another
ceremony. Tілашар which I observed also held 7th September 2012, all together Тұсау Кесер I mentiond above.
There is no specific event to mark this, and people have a “Дастархан” party and make “Тілек сөз” speeches.
“Сүндет ТОЙ”
“Сүндет ТОЙ” is observed as an announcement and celebration of circumcision. In the Republic of Kazakhstan,
male children have to be circumcised. Generally, people have circumcised when they are young and odd-
numbered years old, for example, 3, 5, or 7 years old. Traditionally, people asked religious leader and got
circumcised in their house. Nowadays, people also get circumcised in hospitals. Kazakh people think that a
circumcision is obligatory from the religious and hygienic point of view.
In case people hold Сүндет ТОЙ in a restaurant, this ТОЙ is held when the wound of the child heals. If people hold
this ТОЙ in their house in rural regions, they hold this on the same day when they conduct the circumcision. They
hold this ТОЙ at their own expenses or through donation from close relatives. In Сүндет ТОЙ, there are no
specific ceremonies to mark, but people have “Дастархан” party and pay money called “Көрімдік.” for unveiling
circumcised child.
In the case I observed, “Сүндет ТОЙ” was held on January 27, 2013. The host family was a married couple; the
husband was a 33-year-old Kazakh, who hailed from Aral region, Karakalpakstan and the wife was a 32-year-old
Kazakh, and hailed from Узынагаш, Almaty oblast. Their child was circumcised in hospital. They held Сүндет ТОЙ
two years after they performed the circumcision. In this family, husband played leading role for procedure of
Сүндет ТОЙ. They held Сүндет ТОЙ in Мейрамхана and host family served beverage, sweet stuff. 150 to 200
people attended this ТОЙ. In this ТОЙ, the host family paid about 5,000 dollars and celebrated lavishly.
CONCLUSION
In this study, we observed several traditional ceremonies. In this process, we found some differences about
procedure and recognition of ceremony. About those difference, some informant mentioned about regional
difference. She told that north region in Kazakhstan are affected by Russian culture. Moreover, we found
tendency that young people don’t know detailed information about procedure for ceremonies. In other study we
conducted, informant told that practicing traditional events were severely restricted in urban area such as Almaty
in the Soviet era. For this reason, it is possible that traditional knowledge were not inherited smoothly.
Now we have only now started studying about ceremonies of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and observed only
several ceremonies held in Almaty oblast, the south-east region of Kazakhstan. More precisely, I have also only
observed ceremonies held by the Kazakh people. The Republic of Kazakhstan is a large country and there are
various ethnic groups and various social economic situations. Because of those diversities in Kazakhstan, it is
possible that there are also various patterns how they hold ceremony. For this reason, now there is much to see
what caused those differences. For further study to clarify factors of those diversities and to understand each
situation in Kazakhstan, we plan to expand our study objects and area in the Republic of Kazakhstan.
ENDNOTES
1
Data Book of the World (25), 2013, Ninomiya Bookstore, Tokyo, p.184.
2
Fujimoto T, 2011, Yomigaeru Shisha Girei Gendai Kazakh no Islam Hukko, Fukyosha, Tokyo, pp143-145.
3
Сейіт Кенжеахметұлы, 2007, "Жеті Қазына" жиған-терген, Алматы, Ана тілі, pp.5-6.

Dynamism and Challenges in Rural Lao PDR

ETHNIC TOURISM IN LAO PDR: INTERSECTIONS OF GENDER AND ETHNICITY IN
ECOTOURISM FOR POVERTY REDUCTION
Saithong Phommavong, PhD

Faculty of Social Sciences, National University of Laos
P.O.Box: 7322, Dong Dok Campus
Vientiane Capital, Lao PDR.
Email: sai7512@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
This study examines gender relations in two different ethnic tourism villages in Laos. It argues that traditional cultures plays
important role in determination of the differences in division of labor in tourism activities. Drawing on feminist geography, it
found that gender relations in particular spatial division produce different gender divisions in the way in which traditional
beliefs and practice of two ethnic groups effected to unequal tourism works between women and men. This makes women and
men experiences tourism work differently at these two tourism villages. This practice implies that the intellectual sense of the
subordination of women to men and critically sexism taking men to be greater value than women shaped the different
gendered practices in the tourism works. The intersections of division of labor through these two social identities: gender and
ethnicity in two tourism trekking trials in the northern Laos (re) produces unequal role and power of women and men in tourism
work and benefit and contribute different effects to poverty reduction.
Keywords: gender, ethnicity, intersectionality, space/place, traditional culture, patriarchal, poverty reduction, Laos.
INTRODUCTION
Much of the research on gender in ethnic tourism village is related to impact and change on women employment in
different divisions of tourism work (Neudorfer, 2007, Morais, et al., 2005, Wilkinson & Prawiti, 1994). The same
authors insert that tourism development has influenced gender roles and relations in a way that the economic
improvement is occurred to women by engaging in self-employed in the informal sector. Women can be partially
economically independent and control over their own lives and their families’ survival in a community with a
significant predominance of poverty (Wilkinson & Prawiti, 1994). However, only women employment was brought
into account in assessing these impacts and change in this case. Women employment is rather focusing on mass
tourism rather than ethnic tourism or ecotourism. Only a community was taking into account.
The study of Morais, et al. (2005) in two ethnic tourism villages in Yunnan province, China conclude in similar vain
to Wilkinson & Prawiti (1994) that Bai women gain more positive and negative impacts than Mosuo women. The
specific economic impact for Bai women were revenue sources available to women, children and the old, while it
was referred to family income for Mosuo women. So that Bai women can share family’s economic burden with
their husband and the Mosuo women have always been responsible for managing the finances of their households.
A generalization is that tourism provides a platform for gender equalizer through increased access to income to
women (Morais, et al., 2005).
The argument by Walsh (2001) who argues that the study of gender relations in division of work in particular in the
region of Asia and Pacific is much in relation to the impact by traditional ethnic minority gender hierarchies is still
applicable in this regards. Instead of following the general framework for women and tourism (Kempadoo, 1997,
Sinclair, 1997, Kinnaird & Hall, 1996), this needs to focus more on factors effect on women’s work in tourism.
Traditional patriarchal order of social dominance, decision making and cultural traditions that exists in developing
world is still determining women’s work in tourism (Timothy, 2001). This has also well recognized that the research
on this topic is needed to consider the historical and socio-cultural factors influencing local gender relations (Swain,
1995, Morais, et al., 2005) and the importance of non-economic factors influencing change in gender roles (Hsu,
1997, Morais, et al., 2005) and the complexity of gender relations in traditional communities (Gibson, 2001, Swain,
1995, Walsh, 2001, Morais, et al., 2005). Thus it is critical for researchers to delve deeper into the symbolic
meanings and values ascribed by traditional societies (Pearce, Moscardo, and Ross, 1996, Swain, 1995) to
understand the socio-cultural underpinnings and power relations that have created gender disparities (Timothy,
2001).

Saithong Phammavong
Neudorfer (2007) puts effort to identify the traditional culture in influencing women in tourism. In her study of
Akha women and tourism in northern Laos Neudorfer concludes that the traditional culture is promoted as an
attraction for community-base tourism and that does not enhance women’s position, but rather women who
follow independent tourism activities from development agencies and official do change women’s roles in Akha
villages. This also highlights by Suntikul (2007) that women in remote area are hindering of information of guide
training offered by development agencies and official and usually that men become guide. Akha women thus make
use of traditional culture for instance sewing handicraft and sold for tourists instead of following official community
-based tourism (CBT) activities and there seems contradiction in cultural preservation regarding the headdress for
instance for CBT project and promotion of gender equality by actively engaged in all official tourism activity
(Neudorfer, 2007).
Based on several field works, this study argues that traditional beliefs and practice are factors effecting women’s
lives in tourism and create the differences in experiences and inequalities between men and women which are still
hindered the gender relations of the division of tourism works (Phommavong and Sörenssen, 2012). This study thus
takes Laos as a case study to examine the factors impact gender relations intersecting through two different ethnic
groups in Laos. This study focuses on traditional ethnic minority belief and practice or gender hierarchies impacted
on gender relations in tourism (Walsh, 2001) intersecting through two ethnic groups. Using in-depth interview and
life-history this study enhances more insight and in-dept of the meanings and values ascribed by traditional
societies (Pearce, Moscardo, and Ross, 1996, Swain, 1995) to understand gender relations in division of tourism.
This study thus questions what make the difference in the division of labor intersecting through gender and two
ethnicities. The paper after the introduction section, it provides the literature on gender in tourism follows by
methodology, gender and tourism in Laos, finding and ends with conclusion.
GENDER IN TOURISM
Traditional ethnic minority gender hierarchies affect on women’s work in tourism so that unequal role between
women and men can be observed. Despite the potential improvements in economic status that women may attain
as a consequence of involvement in tourism-related employment, strong cultural barriers constraint them from
aspiring to political and communal leadership roles (Kinnaird & Hall, 1996). In general, the historical and socio-
cultural factors are influencing local gender relations (Swain, 1995, Morais, et al., 2005), in particular to gender
relation in division of tourism work (Timothy, 2001). To understand the relationship of the unequal opportunities
for women and men, this study takes feminist geography perspective as a point to departure. Commonly feminists’
perspective is used as a way to understand gender relation (Wilkinson & Prawiti, 1994, Swain, 1995, Leung, 2003,
Sörensson, 2008, Phouxay, 2010).
Feminists examine the differences between the power, social position, attitudes and behaviors of men and women
and explore ways in which current practices in society might be changed in order to release women from their
subordination (WGSG, 1984). However, study of gender does not focus only on women as many earlier tourism
studies concerned (Kinnaird and Hall 1996, Swain, 1995 Sinclair 1997, Timothy, 2001), but also on the relationships
between women and men (Wilkinson & Prawiti, 1994, Sörenssen, 2008). Men are gendered too (Massey, 1984).
Feminist geographers focus on the gender relation and spatial variation that is still largely ignored by feminists who
focused more on studying women from anti-sexist perspectives (Massey, 1994). Feminist geographers invent three
concepts space, place and nature in study of gender relation (McDowell, 1993). Feminist geography investigates
the relationship between gender divisions and spatial division to examine the extent to which women and men
experience spaces and places differently (McDowell, 1999: 12). That argument on thinking of space is constructed
out of social relation and ‘stretch out’ (Massey, 1994). In another way round, the focus of feminist geography is to
the discipline of spatializing the constitution of identities, contextualizing meanings of places in relation to gender,
and demonstrating how gender as a social construction intersects with other social constructed categories within
particular spatialities (Moss, 2002).
In applying of the western feminist geography to the Asia Pacific region where there is rich cultural diversity and
unique host/industry/state relations (Cohen, 2001, Pearce, 2004, Wood, 1997), particular attention should be given
to the impact of the traditional ethnic minority gender hierarchies impacted on gender relations in tourism (Walsh,
2001). Sörenssen (2008) and Khouangvichit (2010) legitimize good examples of how to link concepts of space and
place to tourism and gender relations. In attempting to adopt these kinds of Western feminist into study of tourism

Saithong Phammavong
in Laos Khouangvichit (2010) found that the framework is not directly applicable to the context. Instead of
following public and private spheres as theoretical stand points, three analytical concepts: economic, the
household, and the political/community sphere are proposed by the same author (Khouangvichit, 2010). Although,
the basic conclusion is made that tourism provides economic livelihood for women in a way that they can improve
their families’ incomes, women’s role in household and the political/community spheres have been decreasing due
to the high involvement of women in economic sphere. The change of livelihood in this case is rather following
majority Lao women who are based on the mass tourism context, which cannot be applied to the case of the ethnic
minority tourism village who are still following traditional culture in a more patriarchal dominance in decision
making and other livelihood. This study thus still finds that the gender relation in division of tourism work in this
case is rather more place-base social construction. That is different places have unique identity in construction of
social relation which in this case the different ethnic minority groups create their own ethnic identities in
construction gender relation in tourism work.
METHODOLOGY
As a part of qualitative research, thematic analysis is employed for this study. The thematic analysis, on the other
hand, is used to sense themes from the interview data, which requires an explicit code that may be a list of
themes, a complex model with themes, indicators, and qualification that casually related; or something in between
these two forms (Boyatzit, 1998). The implication is that themes are not influenced by researcher’s theoretical
perspective, interest, mode of questioning, and personal characteristics. Instead it is based on the objective of the
study or called “objectivist modes of analysis” (Riessman, 2008: 59). For this point, it is inductive approach or
bottom-up way of inquiry that themes are identified strongly related to data themselves (Braun and Clarke, 2006:
83). The excerpt from interview is then support the themes emerged (Breakwell, 1995, Kitzinger and Willmott,
2002).
Several field works have been carried out to other ethnic villages including Khmu and Lao Huay since 2008, in this
study the focus is on two ethnic groups, the Akha and Hmong. Akha group joined the trail joint initiated by German
Development Organization (Gtz) and transferred to Exotissimo, a private ecotourism company. Hmong group
participated in Mekong Development Tourism Project (MDTP) and is now running under the Tourism Service Unit
(TSU) of Lung Namtha Provincial Tourism Department (PTD). These two trekking villages are located in the
mountain in the northern region of Lung Namtha province, the first night stay for two nights-three days trekking
trail of two different trekking agencies initiated since 2005, and both have distinctive ethnic culture that is still
practiced strictly.
This study employs semi-structure expert interview, life story and observation as data collection tools. The semi-
structure expert interview is used to interview village administrative staff, tourism manager, villagers. Life-story
method was used to get in-depth experience of women before and after they work with tourism that is relevant to
the case of ethnic minority women. The observation was made at the fieldwork at the village, in particular for the
service at the lodge, local guide while trekking, and other activities at the villages. The interview was designed to be
balance between women and men. In total number of interview for the study are 14 persons of which 7 for each
ethnic and 4 were women.
The interview with some ethnic minorities’ villagers was possible with the help of interpreters. The tape recorder
and diary were used in order to be ‘neutral’ to the data that collected. This can be justified as the ‘reflexive’
interview for feminist research that could open dialogue interview with local without create the depress
atmosphere to the informants as stranger and represent any organization, but as a researcher. The result is
interpreted by using direct hand coding method.
TRADITIONAL NORMS AND PRACTICE
Spirit worship: hindering women educational opportunity and leading tourism work
Practice of spirit worship of two ethnicities is indirectly influencing division of labor in tourism. Lieng Phi or
ancestral offerings has been continuously practiced for both Akha and Hmong.

Saithong Phammavong
The ritual is important for Akha for three reasons: for entering new house, when illness, and sacrificed for the good
luck (interviewed Mr. Nuepa, Lao Khao, January, 2009) and it is also important for Hmong for the continuity of the
clan and lineage (interviewed Mr. Konglao, Mr. Touya, Samyord, July, 2010). The practice in both groups are only
led and performing by men, particularly the head of the household. The reason is, for Akha, women are very strictly
prohibited to touch the house’s altar, and women could only prepare sacrifice things for men and follow them
including eating after ceremony. This is also similarly to Hmong that only the men who can lead the clan and
perform this ancestral offering. Women have to leave their own houses and stay with other’s men after married.
This belief thus influenced the thought that women were not property of the house after marriage. They have
lower opportunities to get promoted for education than men. As this thought, the parents would invest in only for
men who will stay in house and not for women who will leave house. Therefore, women were kept in house for
helping housework and feeding parents as long as they can before marriage.
When it comes to tourism work, women have lower opportunity to work in leading position like manager and guide
due to low education. Working in those positions need some basic education and Lao language, thus only the men
who promoted for education working as manager and guide in these ethnic villages. As it was shown in the
following excerpt that Mrs. Teelor was told by the elderly people that women were not allow to perform Lieng Phi,
which is actually no any principle to guide this belief if what is wrong if that is performed by women. This was
indirectly to prevent her from school, she could follow her brother to school if there was no such belief and support
by parents. This ended up that Teelor was illiterate and could hardly even speak Lao language. She was lucky
enough for being low education but who was later selected as head of village women union, a local mass
organization. Being active in that work help her to be again selected as assistant to village tourism manager, this is
however still not the top position. Teelor admitted that:
I was told by elderly people that women could not do Lieng Phi or house spirit sacrifice just only men that can do
that, can catch the house’s altar, and become the successor of the house,…,thus I was not promoted to study, I
wanted to, but the school was far from home and only my brother could go,…,I had to help housework instead of
studying,…, I left my home then after I got married, just only my brother stay with my parents (Mrs. Teelor, Ban Lao
Khao, January, 2010).
This is opposite with Mr. Veapha who could go out for soldier and got the opportunity to educate and learn Lao
language and later he had been selected as village tourism manager. After the tourism project was set up in the
village, a lodge was built; a village tourism manager was sought after. It was told that the criteria for being manager
was simple that time, only a person who can speak Lao could be a manager. Apart from headman, that time
Veapha was only a man can speak Lao, so he was selected as manager. Actually, the manager could have this
opportunity because he was a man so that he got promoted from his family to study and work outside family.
Veapha went out and join the army during 1983 to 1988 and got promoted to an army position before he left.
Veapha had no formal education at school that time too, but he took the opportunity to learn Lao language himself
while he was serving as a solder. Veapha had to return home in 1988 because his eldest brother separated to live
his owned house, as a last son of the family, only Veapha who could be successor of the family to perform annual
Lieng Phi for house’s altar even he still had another older sister living at the same village, who was never had the
right to stay and lead the family. Being ability in speaking Lao and soldier working experience, Veapha was selected
to be manager in 2005. Veapha contended:
I went out and work in army for five years, I got a soldier position there, but I had to leave that work and return
home because my eldest brother lived separately at his own house, only me as a last son, who could become heir
and perform ‘Lieng Phi’,…,I continued to worked as a village army too after return, in 2005, I was selected as village
tourism manager, that time because nobody could speak Lao language, I was only the one that time apart from
Naiban [headman],…, as the manager I receive regular salary of 30000 kip per month (Mr. Veapha, Tourism
manager, January, 2010).
This kind of belief is continual nowadays and might result to the next generation in inequality in education and
working opportunity in this regard for tourism. The men is still preferable and promoted for high education than
women in the Akha society due to this belief and practice, and thus hindering opportunity for women to share
equal position in tourism as men. All the above passages were exposed that the nature of the family of the Akha
follows rather strict patrilineal line system as well as the Hmong (PPA, 2000) in which one belongs to one’s father’s
lineage (Chazée, 1999: 124) mainly leading by men. As such only the sons of the family either the first or the last
son allow to do Lieng Phi. Actually, this view is still continuing that women are unacceptable to become heir and

Saithong Phammavong
they are unlikely to promote for education as in case of Mrs. Machor. The Akha men also acknowledge that women
will belong to other families after marriage, who has to move to stay with their husband, and thus the parents
should not invest in education for girls and that is free investment for other (Nuepa and Veapha, January, 2009).
Just men as Mr. Veapha who even had good position in army, he still returned to the family for the purpose of
performing this belief and the continuity of his family. The opportunity of women to be promoted to work outside
their houses like Veapha is limited as well as in leading position in tourism, directly limited by the level of
educational level.
The situation is similar to the case of Hmong that practice in spirit worship is at the heart of the continuity of the
clan and only men can perform that. Thus only men can promote to be the successor of the house and become
heir and receive the spirit of the clan. To lead the clan, only the man can become heir and perform of the house’s
spirit. The performing of the house’s spirit and ancestral is lesser intense than Akha in terms of the performing of
the house’s altar for women. Most of the case the prohibition of women is not for the touching the altar, but that
leading the clan. This means women are not totally accepted to lead the clan, only the men are needed for the
head of the clan and to perform the house’s altar ceremony. The relation is to keep the continuity of this kind of
performing, house’s spirit ceremony, is to show the sign of the continuity of the clan. As only the men who can do
this, thus the man is the most important for the family to be heir and successor of the lineage. In Samyord, now
only two main clans, Konglao and Touya are leading community of 16 families in the village. Touya is now an eldest
man who led his clan. As a man he was thus promoted to study and go out off village for work. He used to work as
army during his young age, but he had to return to the village. A purpose of the returning is to lead the clan, perform the
ancestral spirit and keep the continuity of his lineage. Touya contended that:
Successor of the clan must be men to receive the spirit of the clan, so that only women moved to men’s house after marriage
(Mr. Touya, July, 2010)
Touya’s clan is the oldest one in the village, who also used to be a leader to establish the village and be the first
head of the elder association, a local mass organization. Touya is now not in the leading position of tourism
committee however he becomes guide for his family when they are on the rotational house service. Apart from
cooking in the lodge for tourists, Touya worked as a guide to tourists to send them to next village. As an author
observation was made during the visit to the village in January 2010, we met him while returning from guiding
tourists. Being the head of the clan and educated person thus he has the opportunity to take this tourism work
rather than other family members particularly his wife. The second clan, Konglao who is the eldest man in the clan
perceived of how women cannot do Lieng Phi.
Women cannot do it because they married to other clans already, she belongs to other Phi, even she returns home
but she has to build and stay at another house, women were not allowed to stay at their parents’ house after
married (Mr. Konglao, July 2010 file 3: 23:00).
The statement from Konglao also reveals the attitude of men toward women that this kind of belief is still
dominating men’s thinking. Women are subordinated to men even after they get married and divorce. According
to Konglao, after marriage, women are already belonging to other clan and holding other Phi or house spirit they
are not allowed to return to their home. The Phi or spirit is used as a mental border to separate people between
clan and hinder women after marriage life. Women are not allowed to return home to live with their parents’
house which has another Phi and thus another separated house is needed.
Women is subordinated to men for this reason and make them unequal role in the family in this sense, which is
totally not accepted woman in any status to become powerful person in the house and clan. Only men are thus
promoted to lead the clan and received education. When tourism was introduced to the village, then men were
certainly got the opportunity to promote for leading position like manager. As in case of Konglao, who had more
freedom and got the chance for education as well as working opportunities by his parents than his sister, Mrs.
Vung well before the start of tourism in the village. This opportunity is thus provide the conditions for him to hold
leading position in tourism after he returned to village.
All passages above highlight that the division of labor for some specific tourism positions including manager and
guide are originally related to beliefs in spirit worship and practices of these two ethnic groups. This partly hinders
the promotion of women for receiving education and only men were promoted. Men in these two ethnic groups
thus have directly selected to work in tourism leading position.
Saithong Phammavong
The Akha tourism manager, for instance is now holding by Mr. Veapha who was considered as most educated
people and had ability in speaking Lao language. The case is similar to Hmong, as the so call ‘current manager’, Mr.
Konglao was once used to go out for study some technical skills and worked with government for about ten years,
but he had to return home, which was partly to receive the spirit of the clan and continuity of his lineage. He is now
holding tourism manager in the village together with other two men.
Belief and practice have been ongoing within these two ethnic groups long time ago. When tourism introduce into
these village, even though, tourism project staffs try to set up and balance gender relations in division of tourism
work, the traditional gender hierarchies still directly influence gender relation in division of tourism works. Tourism
project is thus relying partly on knowledge and head of clan of ethnic group to manage tourism which is
discriminated women for all cases. Based on ethnicities in these two different places, gender relation is
constructed from these social relations in the way in which traditional belief and practice still influencing these
social relations thus produce different division of labor in tourism between women and men. This kind of gender
relation is thus challenging the target of poverty reduction in the areas.
CONCLUDING DISCUSSION
The discussion so far is contradiction between tourism authenticity and gender equity policy. Tourism authenticity
needs traditional ethnic identity for tourists, but hinder gender equality particularly women who feel more ethnic
rather than men. On the other hand, gender equity is promoted equal role of women and men in tourism, so that
ethnicity is eradicated and integrated into majority Laos. Ethnic identity needs to be maintained for tourism
authenticity, poverty is but one. If the feminization of poverty in ethnic tourism is applied, women’s role in
tourism is still perceived as lower position, only reproducing handicraft and subordinated under the men in tourism
work. A paradox is that ethnic culture is needed for tourism, but gender equity needs to be improved in order to
eradicate traditional culture of ethnic minority group.
In this case, the role of external neoliberalism produces the paradox through the foreign investment and donor
agency. Men can capitalize with the ethnicity in control overall tendency and process. Actually, the new economic
mechanism (NEM), first introduced during 1980s, has significant role to play in improving these ethnic culture and
livelihood. Through various development programs in improving education, health, and other infrastructure in
improving basic human need. After 1990 since the ethnic culture formed the lives of women and men who work in
tourism the life of women is changing. Women take the role in making decision to change. Some ethnic women are
eagerly to adapt to the change because they admit that ethnicization reproduce poverty (Wells-Dang, Simmala
2006).
Another key issue is about the limited access to education. Promotion of gender balance in ethnic tourism is
realized if the ethnic women can have access to education. Much of the bottleneck of unequal gender distribution
of work in tourism is thus elucidated by this education provision. The promotion of ethnic tourism for poverty
reduction is not yet realized for all. Quality growth is needed to reach the poorest ethnic group. The quality of
education and gender balance are issues to be improved for the ethnic villagers before they involve with tourism.
In order to make tourism work for the poor particularly the women, they need to exercise of the power over the
traditional belief and cultural curtain over influencing power group.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We would like to thank SIDA/SAREC research project who give funding support for this research project. Thank you
for all advisors and colleagues at Umea University, Sweden to give very instructive comments and supports during
the stay to write this research paper. Thank you also for colleagues from Faculty of Social Sciences, National
University of Laos who shared my fieldwork and the villagers of Luangnamtha for your valuable time to give me
interviews.

Saithong Phammavong
REFERENCE
Boyatzis, R E. (1998). Transforming Qualitative Information: Thematic Analysis and Code Development. Thousand
Oaks, California: Sage.
Braun, V., Clarke, V. (2006). Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology 3(2): 77-101.
Breakwell, G M. (1995). Interviewing. In G M. Breakwell., S. Hammond., C. Fife-Shaw. (Eds). Research Methods in

Psychology. London: Sage.
Chazée, L. (1999). The People of Laos: Rural and Ethnic Diversities. Bangkok: White Lotus Press.
Cohen, E. (2001). Ethnic Tourism in Southeast Asia. In T. Beng-Chee, S.C.H. Cheung & Y. Hui (Eds), Tourism,
Anthropology and China (pp. 27-54). Bangkok, Thailand: White Lotus Press.
Gibson, H.J. (2001). Gender and Tourism: Theoretical Perspectives. In Y, Apostolopoulos, S. Sönmez, & D.J.Timothy,
(2001). Women as Producers and Consumers of Tourism in Developing Regions (pp. 19-46). Westport:
Praeger.
Hsu, M, (1997). Change and Adaptation: An Anthropological Study of a Matrilineal Society in Taiwan. Taiwan,
Republic of China: Academia Sinica.
Kempado, K. (2001). Freelancers, Temporary Wives, and Beach-Boys: Researching Sex Work in the Caribbean. In:
Feminist Review, No. 67, 39-62
Khouangvichit, D. (2010). Socio-Economic Transformation and Gender Relations in Lao PDR (Doctoral dissertation).
GERUM Kulturgeographi 2010:1, Umea University, Sweden.
Kinnaird, V., & Hall, D. (1996). Understanding Tourism Processes: A Gender-Aware Framework. In: Tourism
Management, Vol. 17, No. 2, 95-102.
Kitzinger, C., Willmott, J. (2002). ‘The Thief of Womanhood’: Women’s Experience of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome.
Social Science & Medicine, 54: 349-361.
Leung, A.S.M. (2003). Feminism in Transition: Chinese Culture, Ideology and the Development of the Women’s
Movement in China. In: Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Vol. 20, 359-347.
McDowell, L. (1999). Gender, Identity & Place: Understanding Feminist Geographies. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Massey, D. (1994). The Conceptualization of Place. In Doreen Massey & Pat Jess (ed), A Place in the World?, Ney
York: The Open University, pp 45-85.
Morais, D.B., Yarnal, C., Dong, E., & Dowler, L. (2005). The Impacts of Ethnic Tourism on Gender Roles: A
Comparison Between the Bai and the Mosuo of Yunnan Province, PRC. In: Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism
Research, Vol. 10, No. 4: 361-367.
Moss, Pamela. (2002). Feminist Geography in Practice: Research and Methods. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
Neudorfer, C.F. (2007). Tourism, Gender and Development in the Third World: A Case Study from Northern Laos,
in: Tourism and Hospitality Planning & Development, Vol. 4, No.2: 135-147.
Pearce, P.L., Moscardo, G., & Ross, G.F. (1996). Tourism Community Relationships. Oxford: Pergamon.
Pearce, P.L. (2004). Theoretical Innovation in Asia Pacific Tourism Research. In: Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism
Research, Vol. 9, No.1: 57-70.
Phommavong, S., Sörensson, E. (2012). Ethnic Tourism in Lao PDR: Gendered Divisions of Labour in Community-
Based Tourism for Poverty Reduction. Current Issues in Tourism, DOI:10.1080/13683500.2012.721758.

Saithong Phammavong
Phouxay, K. (2010). Patterns of Migration and Socio-Economic Change in Lao PDR (Doctoral dissertation). Umea
University, Sweden.
Riessman,C.K. (2008). Narrative Methods for the Human Sciences. California, Sage Publication.
Sinclair, M.T. (1997). Gender, Work & Tourism. London: Routledge
Sörensson, E. (2008). Making a Living in the World of Tourism: Livelihoods in Backpacker Tourism in Urban
Indonesia (Doctoral dissertation). Umea University, Sweden.
Suntikul, W. (2007). The Effects of Tourism Development on Indigenous Populations in Lung Namtha Province, Laos.
In R. Butler & T. Hinch, (Eds.), Tourism and Indigenous Peoples: Issues and Implications. (pp. 128-140).
Amsterdam: Butterword-Heinemann.
Swain, M.B. (1995). Gender in Tourism. In: Annals of Tourism Research, Vol. 22, No. 2: 247-266.
Timothy, D. J. (2001). Gender Relations in Tourism: Revisiting Partriarchy and Underdevelopment. In Y,

Apostolopoulos, S. Sönmez, & D.J.Timothy, (2001). Women as Producers and Consumers of Tourism in
Developing Regions (pp. 235-247). Westport: Praeger.
Walsh, E.R. (2001). Living with the Myth of Matriarchy: The Mosuo and Tourism. In T. Chee-Beng, S.C.H. Cheung &
Y. Hui (Eds), Tourism, Anthropology and China (93-124). Bangkok, Thailand: White Lotus Press.
Wells-Dang, A., Simmala, B. (2006). Economic Integration and Social Development of Ethnic Minority Communities
in Laos: Case Studies from Lung Namtha and Savannakhet. Juth Pakai, Issue 6, 16- 26. Retrieved from NGO
website: http://www.undplao.org/newsroom/factsheets/juthpakai/JP6%20online%20English.pdf.
Wilkinson, P.F., & Prawiti, W. (1994). Gender and Tourism in An Indonesian Village. In: Annals of Tourism Research,
Vol. 22, No. 2: 283-299.
Wood, R.E. (1997). Tourism and the State: Ethnic Options and Constructions of Otherness. In M. Picard & R.E. Wood
(Eds), Tourism, Ethnicity, and the State in Asian and Pacific Societies (pp. 1-34). Honolulu, HI: University of
Hawaii Press.

SIMULATION OF CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT ON LOWLAND PADDY RICE PRODUCTION
POTENTIAL IN SAVANNAKHET PROVINCE, LAOS
Somkhit Boulidam
Department of Geography and Information Science
Faculty of Social Sciences
National University of Laos
ABSTRACT
Lowland paddy rice in Laos is the main crop grown during the rainy season. Climate change is considered as one of the main
environmental problems of the current century and it affects directly crop growing conditions such as for rice. This study focus
on two objectives which are 1) to estimate the impacts of climate change on rice production in a rice growing region of
Savannakhet province and 2) to explore adaption options of local farmers to climate change. To assess the rice yield potential
under climate change conditions, the DSSAT CERES-Rice model was applied under three General Circulation Models (GCMs)
such as CSMK3, HadCM3 and HadGEM with high and low climate sensitivity, respectively. The resulting six climate change
scenarios were the base for the generated daily weather data input for the rice yield simulation of the 21 st century (2001 to
2100). Three periods out of these 100 years were finally selected for comparison of the results (2001 to 2030, 2030 to 2065, and
2070 to 2100). The results show that rice yield (of the same selected cultivar) under all six climate change scenarios will
increase between +6.8% and +12.8% compared with observation years (1995 to 2009), mainly determined by increasing
temperatures from currently sub-optimum level for the simulated cultivar TDK 1. However, if comparison between the three
simulated periods, the second period (2035 to 2065) will reach the highest yields and in the third period (2070 to 2100) yields
will not further increase. According to the results the rice growing period of the same cultivar will be shortened by
approximately 5 to 14 days to between 134 and 143 days in average by the end of the 21 st century. Adaptation in rice farming
practices may include cultivar change, soil preparing, sowing and transplanting date, weeding, timing and amount of
fertilization. Farm technologies and cultivar breeding supporting local rice farming will be further challenges beyond the farm
level to ensure or further increase rice production for future climate change conditions.
Keywords: Crop Simulation, climate change scenarios, rice yields, low land paddy rice
INTRODUCTION
Climate change is considered as one of the main environmental problems of the 21st century. Over past three
decades, green house gases such as Carbon dioxide (CO2) and Sulfur dioxide (SO2) have increased affecting change
in temperature and rainfall and affecting agriculture. According to the measurement records, the global
temperature has already risen by 0.3 - 0.6°C since 1860 and the last two decades have been the warmest. Over the
past 100 years the mean surface temperature has increased by 0.3 - 0.8°C across the Asian region. Nowadays, most
scientists agree that global warming is inevitable. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth
Assessment Report (AR4) states that global average surface temperature has increased by 0.74 ± 0.18 °C in the last
century and is projected to increase by another 1.1 - 6.0 °C in this century (IPCC, 2007); (Reidsma et al., 2010), and
that it will have major impacts on the climate worldwide including agricultural productivity (Twomlow et al., 2008).
Agriculture productivity in Asia is likely to suffer from losses caused by weather factors such as high temperatures,
drought, flood, and soil degradation. The crop yield in many countries of Asia has declined in the past decade,
particularly due to rising temperature and extreme climate events (Cruz et al., 2007). Impacts of climate change on
crop productivity are generally assessed with crop models (Easterling et al., 2007; Reidsma et al., 2010). The crop
models are generally used to assess climate impacts on crop productivity and were developed for simulations at
field level. Crop models strongly emphasize biophysical factors, such as climate and soil conditions. (Tubiello and
Ewert, 2002., Reidsma et al., 2010). The dynamic nature of climatic effects is well understood for potential, water
and nitrogen limited growth and yield (Van Ittersum et al., 2003; Reidsma et al., 2010). The crop model for rice
used in this study belongs to the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) crop models which
were already applied in worldwide.

Somkhit Boulidam
Savannakhet province is the largest rice production region in Laos accounting for over 20% of the national
production (Bestari et al., 2006), and frequency faces significant climate variability impacts. When climate will
change it might affect rice yield in positive or negative ways. Therefore, it is an important issue to investigate how
rice productivity performs in term of impacts of climate change, and to develop guide information for farmer’s
adaptation options. The potential impacts of climate change and climate variability on crop yields at field level can
be assessed by crop models. In this study Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT V.4) crop
models were applied for assessing rice production potentials in Savannakhet province, Laos under several climate
change scenarios. The objectives of study are to estimate the impacts of climate change to rice production in a rice
growing region of Savannakhet province and to explore adaption options of local farmers to climate change.
LITERATURE REVIEW
There are some case studies of rice yield predictions in Asia (Matthews et al., 1995). In India, China, Malaysia,
South Korea, and the Philippine were applied the same methodologies, particularly models and climate factors,
and models General Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL), Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), and United
Kingdom Meteorological Office (UKMO) General Circulation Models (GCMs). The ORYZA1 model was applied for
rice simulation for several climate change scenarios of 1.5 x CO2, and 2 x CO2 of the current level (assumed 340
ppm) and increases of temperature by +1oC, +2oC, and +4oC above the current temperature recorded.
For the Mekong River Basin, rice yield simulation under climate change scenarios was carried out by Crop
Environment REsource Synthesis (CERES – Rice) model for the Savannakhet province (Inthavong et al., 2004).
Under the different climate conditions atmospheric CO2 increased to 540 ppm and 720 ppm or proximately 1.5 and
2 times from the baseline of 360 ppm. Many assumptions were taken for this simulation e.g crop calendar, crop
management scheme and seed types which were assumed to be homogeneous throughout the province.
According to the simulation results rice yield would change under future climate conditions such as the trend of
rice yield will increase for minimum yields from 1800 to 2000 kg/ha, and for maximum rice yields from 5100 to
5900 kg/ha for 540 ppm of CO2 concentration. For the scenario of 720 ppm of CO2 concentration in the atmosphere
the yields again declined, e.g. to 5600 kg/ha in case of the maximum yields (Inthavong et al., 2004).
MATERIALS AND METHODS
This study will focus on rice yield assessment by application of a crop model under climate change scenarios within
100 years (2001 to 2100) developed from Global Climate Models (GCMs) such as Commonwealth Scientific and
Industrial Research Organisation, Australia V3. (CSMK3 or CSIRO-Mk3.0), Hadley Centre Coupled Model version 3
(HadCM3), Hadley Centre Global Environment Model (HadGEM) with high and low climate sensitive and increasing
CO2 concentration (applied stepwise, all 5 years) in the atmosphere. Three different time slices of 30 years in the
21th century are analysed regarding simulated crop yields, including a sensitivity analysis for eight scenarios on the
effect of temperature and precipitation change. The crop simulation considers the direct effect of increasing CO 2
concentration in the atmosphere by time scale of every five years on rice yield. Therefore, this study is different
from the previous studies in the method of applying CO2 increment for rice yield simulation and by using updated
GCMs with six scenarios in three climate models.
Application of DSSAT Model
The DSSAT modeling system contains an advanced physiologically based rice crop growth simulation model and
has been widely applied to understanding the relationship between rice and its environment related. The model
estimates yield of irrigated, non-irrigated rice and other crops like wheat, potato etc, determine duration of growth
stages, dry matter production and portioning, root system dynamics, effect of soil water and soil nitrogen contents
on photosynthesis, carbon balance and water balance (Ritchie et al. 1989) and (Hoogenboom et al. 2004).
The input data required to run the DSSAT models include daily weather data (maximum and minimum
temperature, rainfall, and solar radiation); soil characterization data (physical, chemical and morphological
properties for each layer); a set of cultivar coefficients characterizing the cultivar being grown in terms of plant
development and grain biomass; and crop management information, such as the established plant population, row
spacing seeding depth, and application fertilizer and irrigation. The soil water balance is determined on a daily

Somkhit Boulidam
basis as a function of precipitation, irrigation, transpiration; soil evaporation, runoff, and drainage form the bottom
of the profile. The soil water is distributed in several layers with depth increments specified by the user (Ritchie and
Godwin, 1989; Ritchie, 1998).
Simulation and analysis
The three main groups of crop model input data are climate data, soil data and crop management data which were
prepared for the rice simulations. Model validation was done by comparison to the rice yields record from
Department of Agriculture and forestry for 39 years from 1971 to 2009. After successful validation the model was
applied to the climate change scenarios.
A change of Tmax, Tmin and SRAD under climate scenarios will affect crop growth and production. The crop model
therefore simulates the impacts of climate on crop growth and production comprehensively, for example by
including the effects of temperature change and the impact of solar radiation change. Both of these are key
processes that substantially affect crop growth and production (Rosenzweig et al., 1995., Tsuji. et al 1998). The
potential biomass yield of a crop is the product of the rate of biomass accumulation and the duration of growth.
The rate of biomass accumulation increase from a base value and decrease beyond an optimum limit.
There are six scenarios of rice yield simulation for 100 years (2001 to 2100), divided to three analysis periods 2001-
2030, 2035-2065 and 2070-2100 for comparison of changing rice yield levels.
Climate change signal under the CSMK3, HadCM3, and HadGEM models in Savannakhet Laos
Air temperature: The six climate scenarios were calculated for 100 years, in general the results of the 100 year
period show that the air temperature will increase between +0.64oC and +2.40oC compared with the reference
period of observed temperatures range between 21.17oC to 31.35oC (1971 to 2009). The mean of minimum air
temperature and maximum air temperature of the six scenarios ranges between 22.60oC and 32.77oC. The mean
temperatures of the three high scenarios is 28.35 °C and will increase by +0.13 oC. The mean temperature of the
three low scenarios is 27.02 °C and show an increase by +0.12oC. Although the average maximum temperatures will
increase to the highest maximum of 34.62oC till 2100 in HadCM3 (HCHI) scenario, it is still in the range of air
temperatures for rice growing conditions not over 36oC (Linquist et al., 2005).
Precipitation: The amount of precipitation almost decreased in all models projections, which is in the range
between -1.03% to -11.39% in HCHI and HGHI scenarios, in next 100 years compared with mean of rainfall in
observation years of 1426 mm (1971 to 2009). The rainfall of CSHI scenario will decrease by -.35%, CSLO by -
1.78%, HCLO by -1.08%, and HGLO by -5.05%. The lowest amount of precipitation was shown in the HGHI scenario
with 805 mm (in year 2043). The highest amount of precipitation was shown in the HCHI scenario with 1813 mm (in
the theoretical year 2045). However, growing paddy rice also concerns rainfall pattern, if we look at the trend of
the average of six scenarios of precipitation itself from 2001 to 2100, the amount of precipitation will increase by
+15.22mm.
Solar radiation: The projections of the six scenarios found that the trends of solar radiation were diverse in positive
and negative way compared with air temperature and precipitation. Some of scenarios show the declining values
such as HGLO and HGHI scenarios ranging from -1.11% to -2.99%. The other four scenarios show marginal
increasing solar radiation by +0.27% with HCLO scenario, by +0.76% with CSLO scenario, by +0.79% in HCHI
scenario and by +2.19% within CSHI scenario. However, high solar radiation is useful especially during specific crop
stages, for example the crops’ grain filling and maturity period in case adequate water supply (De Datta et al., 1970;
Surajit, 1981).

Somkhit Boulidam
Crop model validation
The results of model simulations are in good agreement with the statistical record from 1995-2009. Earlier years
such as 1976 and 1980 showed much lower reported yields than the simulated, probably due to bad farming
practice techniques (including much lower N-fertilization rates than under current conditions. From the year 1995
to 2009 the simulated rice yields of the crop model and reported rice yield statistics from the Agriculture and
Forestry Ministry were most similar. The average of rice yield from simulation (1995 to 2009) was 3316kg/ha and
from the reported statistics it was 3340kg/ha, so rice yield from the model simulation was slightly lower by -0.69%
or -23 kg/ha. These results can be seen as a good validation result with relative deviations below 15 %, proving that
this model can be applied in this study of rice simulation for future climate change scenarios.
Rice yield simulations under the climate change scenarios in Savannakhet province
In general rice production under all six scenarios increased compared to observed yields (1995-2009). Compared to
observed yield statistics of 1995-2009 the rice simulation of the CSLO scenario show increased mean yields by
+6.77%, HCLO show an increased yield by +6.95%, HGLO by +7%, CSHI by +11.43%, HCHI by +11.98% and HGHI by
+12.72%. The results of simulations ranged therefore from +6.77% to +12.72% mean yield increase for the period
2001-2100. The average simulated rice yield from the reference (and crop model validation) period was 3316 kg/ha
(1995 to 2009). The six scenarios show a mean rice yield from the period 2001-2100 of between 3541 kg/ha to
3738 kg/ha. Under the CSHI scenario mean simulated yields reached 3695 kg/ha, under CSLO scenario was 3541
kg/ha, under HCHI scenario was 3713 kg/ha, under HCLO scenario was 3547kg/ha, under HGHI scenario was 3738
kg/ha, and under the HGLO scenario was 3548 kg/ha. In the maximum of the mean yield was 4109 kg/ha in HGHI
scenario in the theoretical year 2076, and the lowest mean was 3091 kg/ha in HGHI scenario in theoretical year
2031 (figure 4.2).
4500
4000
Rice productions (kg/ha)
3500
3000
2500
2000
5
5
99
00
01
01
02
02
03
04
04
05
05
06
07
07
08
08
09
1
Years
CSHI CSLO HCHI HCLO HGHI HGLO Obs erve years
Figure 4.1: Rice yield simulations under six climate change scenarios in Savannakhet province compared to yield
statistics of 1995-2009.
The differences of the six climate scenarios and its effect on yields
In comparison with previous studies where the same model was applied (DSSAT /CERES-Rice model) our study
shows a similar trend under our updated climate scenarios. For example, (Inthavong et al., 2004) reported a slight
increase in rice yields under climate scenarios with CO2 concentration in the atmosphere of 540 ppm (rice yield of
2.000 kg/ha as minimum to 5.900 kg/ha as maximum). However, the maximum of rice yields declined to 5600 kg/
ha under the climate scenarios of 720 ppm, but it was still higher compared with baseline yields (1.000 kg/ha for
minimum and 5.100 kg/ha for maximum yields). This study was based on CCAM climate model for future climate
scenarios of the 2040s and 2070s by taking 360 ppm of CO 2 concentration of the baseline of 1980-1989. The 2040s
and 2070s under SRES emission scenarios A1FI, IPCC 2000 (Chivanno et al., 2006) was simulated using 540 ppm and
720 ppm of CO2 concentration, respectively without NPK- fertilization (Inthavong et al., 2004).

Somkhit Boulidam
In our study we see slightly declining yields in the third period, towards 2100, in particularly for all of three low
scenarios (CSLO, HCLO, and HGLO). Although, slightly declining yields compared with the first period, still higher
yields than in the observation years are reached as well. However, in our study the range between minimum and
maximum of rice yields was larger than in the mentioned study. For example, it ranged from 1.678 kg/ha at
minimum to 6.176 kg/ha at maximum in the HGHI scenario, and from 1.757 kg/ha at minimum to 5.858 kg/ha at
maximum in the CSLO scenario, respectively (2001 to 2030). It might be related with the levels of N-fertilization
applied. If we look at the other similar studies for Asia on climate change impacts on rice yield, for example, in
India, Philippines positive and negative impacts are reported, and in Malaysia positive impacts under projected
climate change scenarios are described (see Chapter II). Compared with Inthavong et al (2004) without applied
NPK and with our study with average of N-fertilization rate of 6 g/m2, our results confirm the low CO2 fertilizing
effect of sub-optimum N-fertilization. However, our study may slightly underestimate the potential positive effect,
but it is in the range of the response uncertainties reported from several other studies.
Adaptation to climate change impacts on lowland paddy rice
a. Adjustment of N-fertilization and seed varieties
The results of our model simulations show that the climate based rice yield potentials in the future climates in
Laos. The changes of about up to +12 % however are probably relatively small compared to potentials from crop
management options such as a change in cultivars or fertilization. Plant breeding is important to develop more
nitrogen effective cultivars in Laos. In experiments in 1998 for three sites in southern part of Laos four rice varieties
namely TDK1, RD10, TDK3 and NTN1 with the same rate of N-fertilization applied ranged from 0 to 120 kg/ha were
compared. TDK1 was a best variety with optimum growing during rainy season and reached higher grain yield than
other varieties of about 400 kg/ha (Linquist et al., 2005). This seed variety is in common use in the low land paddy
rice farmer’s communities currently. However, it has to be kept in mind, that varieties are different stress tolerant
which can be an additional factor determining the economy and yield stability of a crop. Regarding the relative
yield effect of N-fertilization our study revealed that low N-fertilization rates might gain more yield increase under
the applied climate change scenarios than the high application rates, therefore lower application rates would
increase their yield effect.
b. Cultivar adjustment
The results of rice simulation validation were in good agreement with local TDK1 and TDK2 cultivars. Particularly
the duration of growing period from sowing until harvesting were ranging between 140 to 150 days (Linquist, B.,
2005), in our observation period in Savannakhet province, the average crop growth duration was 148 days and
ranged between 140 to 168 days, which is the same range as of rice varieties of TDK 1 and TDK 2 (these two
varieties are in common use in the low land paddy rice farmer’s communities in Laos). It means that the majority of
farmer communities have been already adapted to these cultivars with higher yield potential. This trend can be
expected as well with increasing temperatures under future climate scenarios, providing an even higher yield
potential as shown in our study for currently used cultivars. According to the shortened growing periods under
higher temperatures the rice from all simulations will be matured approximately 5 days to 14 days earlier where
the crop growing periods are decreased between 134 days to 143 days in average.
c. Farming practice adaptations
The results of our study confirm that the climate change signal will impact the rice yield in positive way, which will
make more benefit for farmers. However, in this study other potential yield limiting factors which could be
changed in a negative way due to climate change were not considered. For example, diseases and pest insects
damage could increase when drought appears and in term of increased temperatures. Less precipitation might
force some insects and diseases such as grasshopper, rice stink bugs, armyworm (larvae and pupae of any worm)
dried leaves etc. as previous experiences of staff of Agriculture and Forestry Department reported. Another
problem not assessed by our study is increasing heavy precipitation due to climate change leading to flash floods
and destroying rice paddy fields in lowland areas, as it was seen in 2011. So, farmers have to keep in mind for
adaptation not only crop management options but also other risk mitigation measures.

Somkhit Boulidam
Regarding adaptation option for Lao farmers within crop management our study supports the change to cultivars
with longer growing periods, beside other measures such as optimized fertilization, soil preparing, sowing,
planting, and also faster harvesting.
A case study on adaptation potentials was carried out for the Lower Mekong River of Laos, Thailand and Vietnam
(Chinvanno et al., 2006). Even thought farmers are not deliberate attempt to adapt of climate change they provide
some basic experiences and knowledge skills to develop climate change adaptation measures. Such indigenous
adaptation with use of indigenous knowledge to assess seasonal climate predictions is still used in some Lao
farmers communities. These are based upon observations and interpretation of natural phenomena, for example,
the level of egg’s frog, color of lazards’ tail and various indicators of the drought years and flooding years
(Boulidam, 2005; Chinvanno et al., 2006). They also demonstrate and practice a history of farmers’ experiences in
the region acting effectively within their constraints, in their self-interest to reduce vulnerability to climate hazards.
For example, when a drought year appeared most of farming practices used upland plantation method (directly
planting by seed), using local water pond to keep seedling, shifting soil preparation, and adding more fertilizer
(Boulidam, 2005). However, despite these efforts the farmers who rely on rainfed crops are still strongly impacted
by prolonged dry spells, floods, and other climate events. They are highly vulnerable to climate vulnerability now
and might be expected to be highly vulnerable to climate change in the future. The previous studies (Chinvanno et
al., 2006) briefly suggested the need of future research for implementation in crop breeding, adjusting planting
technique and crop calendar to match with the climate pattern.
CONCLUSIONS
Climate change signal projection
Several climate models of General Circulation Models (GCMs) such as CSMK3, HadCM3, and HadGEM models were
applied for this study, with six scenarios as high and low climate sensitively are namely CSHI (represented high
climate sensitive of CSMK3 model), CSLO (represented low climate sensitive of CSMK3); HCHI (represented high
climate sensitive of HadCM3), HCLO (represented low climate sensitive of HadCM3); and HGHI (represented high
climate sensitive of HadGEM), HGLO (represented low climate sensitive of HadGEM). These six scenarios were
projected for 100 years (2001 to 2100) for climate change scenarios the trend of climate change signal in
Savannakhet province, Laos indicated that air temperature will be increased between +0.64oC to +2.40oC, the
amount of precipitation almost will be decreased were ranged between -1.08% to -11.39%, and solar radiation will
be diverse in positive and negative results were ranged between -2.99% to +2.19%. If we look at the three periods
of the climate scenarios trend from 2001 to 2030, 2035 to 2065, and 2070 to 2100, the air temperatures will
slightly increase from the first period to the second period and further to the third period (2035 to 2065, and 2070
to 2100). Precipitation will be higher in the second period (2035 to 2065), and will slightly decrease in the third
period, but remains still higher then in the first period (2001 to 2030). Solar radiation in the first and second period
were equivalence and stable, but to be increased in the third period.
Rice yield simulation
In this simulation study we investigated the climate change of temperature, precipitation and solar radiation on
rice yield under consideration of the CO2-fertilization effect and N-fertilization levels in the 21st century in
Savannakhet province, Laos. The potential effects of other yield limiting factors such as pests, diseases and other
environmental factors (soil parameters, crop management etc.) are not considered. The crop simulations were
based on six climate scenarios. The results show that in all six scenarios grain rice yields will increase ranging
between +6.77% and 12.78% compared with the base line (1995-2009). If we look at three selected periods of the
rice yields simulations from 2001 to 2030, 2035 to 2065, and 2070 to 2100 there can be seen only small changes.
The second period will get higher yields than the first and the third periods. The rice yield in the third period of
some scenarios might decline between -0.03% and -0.34% compared with the second period. However, the yield in
the third period still higher than in the base line.
We can see also a positive yield effect of increased CO2-levels (CO2-fertilization effect). Without a change in CO2
concentration in 2100 the rice yield will only increase between +5.91% and +10.85% in comparison with
observation years (1995-2009). Therefore, without the CO2-effect the rice yields would be between -0.82% and -

Somkhit Boulidam
1.56% lower, which is a relatively small response for our simulated cultivar (TDK 1). Due to these results we can
conclude that the potential rice yields will be positively impacted due to climate change in Laos (under our applied
climate scenarios).
Adaptation alternatives
In fact, according to results of this study rice production in Laos will get positive impacts of climate change.
Although the rice growing period will be shorter due to warming farmers would gain more yields or at least keep
current mean yield levels due to changing climate alone. Our simulations also show that significantly more yield
gains could be reached with increased N-fertilization compared to the current level. Also the N-fertilization
efficiency would increase under climate scenarios, especially for lower N-fertilization levels. However, the climate
pattern can have strong influence to rice yield variability which is determined by extreme weather such as drought.
This has to be taken into account as the uncertainty of extreme weather is high in the climate scenarios.
In fact, farmers already have some experiences in term of climate variability impacts. They might adjust some of
their old experiences to be applied in the next future of ongoing climate change. Also climate change will change
the timing of field operations. For example, the growing rice period will be shorter which means that harvesting
period will be earlier than in previous time by approximately 5 to 14 days in the long term. Also for the mid and
early rice cultivars this will apply, but this study did not cover those genotypes. So, farmers have to keep in mind
and pay attention for the right timing of farming activities such as soil preparing, sowing, transplanting, weeding,
and fertilization until harvesting activities. Due to shorter growing period this may increase labor efforts, which is
especially critical for larger farms with less developed framing technique. Therefore, regarding adaptation not only
farmers themselves have to prepare, but it might concern also extension services to develop more efficient farm
technologies, for example the National Rice Research Program (NRRP), National Agriculture and Forestry (NAFRI) of
Laos. It might concern also strategies of rice production and food security in the future.
RECOMMENDATIONS
According to the limitations of the study, only one rice genotype for crop yield simulation was assumed for the
whole province and compared under climate scenarios. Therefore, it is suggested for the next studies to include
more cultivars representing also early and medium rice varieties. These should include varieties which farmers
prefer in order to investigate those genotypes response in term of climate change signal in Laos. Also up land rice
cultivation should be simulated as well as to look on the trend of grain yield and yield variability when there would
be a change in climate extremes. Further long term field experiments should be established with a selected range
of cultivars to support such modeling activities with input and calibration data. For example, data on cultivar
penology expressed as growing degree days [GDD] are better than adjusted data. Critical photoperiod or the
longest day length (in hours) at which the development occurs at a maximum rate; extent to which aphasic
development leading to panicle initiation is delayed; potential spikelet number coefficient as estimated from the
number of spikelet per gram of main culm dry weight; temperature tolerance coefficient etc. and the other
examples of cultivar characteristic parameters which could be very useful for cultivar specific crop simulation.

Somkhit Boulidam
REFERENCES
Bestari, G.N., Shrestha, S., Mongcopa, J.C. (2006). Lao PDR: AN EVALUATION SYNTHESIS ON RICE. A case study from
the 2005 Sector Assistance Program Evaluation for the Agriculture and Natural Resources Sector in Lao PDR.
Asian Development Bank.
Cruz, R.V., Harasawa, H., Lai, M., Wu, S., Anokhin, Y., Punsalmaa, B., Honda, Y., Jafari, M., Li, C., Ninh, H.N. (2007).
Asia Climate change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and vulnerability. Cambridge University Press, Cambrdge, Uk,
469-506.
De Datta, S. K., A. C. Tauro, and S. N. Balaoing. 1970. Effect of plant type and nitrogen level on the growth
characteristics and grain yield of indicate rice in the tropics. Agron. J. 60:643-647. In: Surajit.K., Datta.D.,
1981. Principles and Practices of rice production. A Wiley-Interscience Publication New York, Chichester,
Brisbane, Toronto, Singapore.
Easterling, W.E., Aggarwal, P.K., Batima, P., Brander, K.M., Erda,L., Howden, S.M., Kirilenko, A., Morton, J.,
Soussana, J. F., Schmidhuber,J., Tubiello, F.N. (2007). Food, fibre and forest products. Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge, UK (2007), pp. 273–313.
Hoogenboom, G., Jones, J.W., Wilkens, P.W., Porter, C.H., Batchelor, W.D., Hunt, L.A., Boote, K.J., Singh, U.,
Uryasev, O., Bowen, W.T., Gijsman, A.J., du Toit, A., White, J.W., Tsuji, G.Y. (2004). Decision Support System for
Agrotechnology Transfer Version 4.0 [CD-ROM]. University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI.
Inthavong, T., Jintrawet A., Chinvanno, S., Snidvong, A. (2004). Impact of Climate Change on rainfed lowland rice
production, Lao PDR. NAFRI.
Linquist, B.A, Sengxua.P. (2005). Nutrient management for low land paddy rice in Lao PDR. National Rice Research
Program (NRRP), and Lao-IRRI project, National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute (NAFRI). (in Lao
language).
Parry, M.L., Canziani, O.F., Palutikof, J.P., Linden, P.J.v.d., Hason, C.E. (2007). Climate ChangeThe Physical Science
Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change. University Press, Cambridge.
Reidsma, P., Wert, F., Lansink, O.A., Leemans, R. (2010). Adaptation to climate change and climate variability in
European agriculture: The importance of farm level responses. European Journal of Agronomy, Volume 32,
Issue 1, January 2010, Pages 91 -102.
Ritchie, J.T., Singh, U., Godwin, D., and Han, L., 1989. A user guide to CERES-Maize V2.10. International Fertilizer
Development Center. Muscle Shoals, AL. In: Tsuji. Y.G., Hoogenboom, G., Thornton, K. P., 1998.
Understanding Options for Agricultural Production. Kluwer Acadamic Publishers. Dordrecht, the Netherlands.
P 157 – 177.
Rosenzweig, C., Ritchie, J.T., Jones, J.W., Tsuji, G.Y., Hildebrand, P (eds.). (1995). Climate change and Agriculture:
Analysis of Potential International Impacts. ASA Special Publication Number 59, American Society of
Agronomy, Madison, WI. In: Tsuji. Y.G., Hoogenboom, G., Thornton, K. P., 1998. Understanding Options for
Agricultural Production. Kluwer Acadamic Publishers. Dordrecht, the Netherlands. P 157 – 177.
Tubiello, F.N., Ewert, F. (2002). Simulating the effects of elevated CO2 on crops: approaches and applications for
climate change. European Journal of Agronomy, Volume 32, Issue 1, January 2010, Pages 91 -102.
Twomlow, S., Mugabe, T.F., Mwale, M., Delve, Robert., Nanja, Durton., Carberry, P., Howden, M. (2008). Building
capacity to cope with increasing vulnerability due to climatic change in Africa – A new approach. Physics and
Chemistry of the Earth 33 (2008) 780 – 787.
Van Ittersum, M.K., Leffelaar, P.A., van Keulen, H., Kropff, M.J., Bastiaans, L., Goudriaan, J. (2003). On approaches
and applications of the Wageningen crop models. Eur. J. Agron. 18 (2003), pp. 201–234. In: Reidsma, P.,
Wert, F., Lansink, O.A., Leemans, R. (2010). Adaptation to climate change and climate variability in European
agriculture: The importance of farm level responses. European Journal of Agronomy, Volume 32, Issue 1,
January 2010, Pages 91 -102.

Harnessing Social Capital for Community Development

THE WELL-BEING AND SATISFACTION OF COFFEE FARMER IN TIMOR-LESTE WITH ITS
MEMBERSHIP TO THE “COOPERATIVE CAFÉ TIMOR” (CCT)
Carlos da Conceição de Deus

Department of Agro Economics
Universidade Nacional de Timor-Leste
Vanda Narciso,
Independent research
Portugal, vandanarciso@gmail.com
Maria Leonor da Silva Carvalho,
ICAAM and Department of Economics
University of Évora, Portugal, leonor@uevora.pt
Pedro Damião de Sousa Henriques
CEFAGE and Department of Economics, University of Évora, Portugal, pdamiao@uevora.pt
ABSTRACT
The wellbeing of coffee farmers in Timor-Leste is mainly dependent on the revenues obtained with the selling of coffee either in
cherry, parchment or green beans. The main role of the Cooperative Café Timor (CCT) is to increase the quality of life and th e
wellbeing of the rural coffee producers through the purchase and processing of coffee from its members and the provission of
some social services to its members. The present study evaluates the perception that farmers have regarding the role of CCT in
their quality of life and wellbeing and with the services supplied by CCT. The study is supported on primary data collection based
on a questionnaire survey applied to CCT farmer members belonging to the sub-district of Letefoho, Ermera district in 2010.
Results show that: majority of farmers are satisfied with services supplied by CCT; the degree of farmers satisfaction is directly
related to services supplied by CCT; the majority of farmers do not improve their quality of life by CTT membership and that the
majority of members are not invited and do no participate in cooperative decision making process and mechanisms.
Keywords: Coffee, Timor-Leste, CCT, Wellbeing, Satisfaction
INTRODUCTION
Coffee was introduced in Timor-Leste in the middle of the eighteenth century (Clarence-Smith 1992). The first
plantations were established in the early nineteenth century and by mid-nineteenth century coffee production was
already an important cash crop and an export product. Since then, under Portuguese colonial rule, Indonesian
occupation and post-independence period, coffee has been the main non-oil export product of Timor-Leste,
becoming a fundamental importance in the economy and in the development of the country. During Portuguese
colonial rule, coffee cultivation was encouraged through the establishment and distribution of plants nurseries,
compulsory coffee plantation and cultivation by local producers, the construction of coffee processing plants, and
the creation of extension and experimental services. The production structure was dominated by small farmers,
holding 1ess than 2 ha, while the number of large producers was small, but holding significant areas. Marketing and
exports were dominated by Chinese and European intermediaries, often reported to pay low prices to local coffee
producers (Silva 1957; Gonçalves 1972; Figueiredo 2004).
Under Indonesian occupation, coffee investment was incipient, there was little interest in maintaining or
developing farming practices, farmers merely harvest coffee from the old large plantations as well as from their
own small farms, and the main legacy was the decreased interest in coffee cultivation among Timorese farmers,
whom act as plantation guardians. Marketing and exports were monopolized by two state-owned companies that
paid low farm gate price and their profits often helped to finance the Indonesian occupation war. By 1994, a third
operator was allowed in the Timor-Leste coffee market, NBCA, which acted mainly in coffee processing and
commercialization fields, giving place to a rise in coffee producer’s income (Gomes 2002; OXFAM 2003).
With restoration of the independence in 2002, the structure of production remained, but the number of firms in
marketing and exports were enlarged, CCT (Cooperativa Café Timor) previous NCBA, Timor Global, Timorcorp,
ELSAA Café, Always Café and some NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations). Regarding the production, the

Carlos da Conceição de Deus et al
Ministry Agriculture along with the NGOs and international aid agencies for development has given support to the
reconversion of coffee plantations and to the improvement of the processing technology (Direcção do Agronegócio
2008; CCT 2010).The coffee industry in Timor-Leste during the Indonesian period showed little interest in
maintaining or developing cultivation practices, or indeed in contributing any kind of capital return to the
enterprise.
The first coffee variety cultivated was the Arabica “tipica” from the Arabica species. But by the end of the
nineteenth century, with the emergence of the coffee rust, rust resistant species were introduced, first Liberica at
the end of nineteenth century, followed by Robusta at the beginning of the twentieth century. During the first half
of the twentieth century an unlikely natural cross between Arabica and Robusta species occurred in Timor-Leste
creating the hybrid of Timor (HDT), rust resistant species with Arabica coffee characteristics (Rodrigues et al 2004).
The superior quality of the Arabica coffee produced in Timor, in terms of aroma, diversity of flavours and chemical
composition, allowed an outstanding reputation in several international markets, benefiting from a price premium
since the mid-nineteenth century (Andrade 1907).
The processing technology evolved from the dry to the wet process and this transition was encouraged during the
Portuguese colonial period, as well as mechanical peeling, quality selection and classification. By 2000, the main
processing technology was the dry or a mitigated wet process. Since then, an effort has been made in recovering
old treatment plants and building new ones. The wet process, the best processing technology of coffee cherry in
green coffee leads to a superior coffee quality.
Coffee, one of the main cash crops in Timor-Leste, has a relevant role in the performance of the agricultural and
export sector and is a driving force to boost the development of rural growing coffee areas. Coffee production in
Timor-Leste is much more an agroforestry systems than a fruit culture (Silva, 1957). The forest nature of the Timor-
Leste coffee is because it is grown wild, at the higher altitudes of a tropical island, and with lack of attention paid to
the plantations; as result its production is natural, and by default, organic (Wahjudi 2009).
There is consensus that the main problems in coffee production are low productivity and low quality and the
consequent low level of monetary income for coffee producers. All the coffee agents recognize that there is a great
potential to improve productivity, coffee varieties and processing techniques, to produce high quality coffee
(Amaral 2003; Henriques 2010). In addition, there is an unequal distribution of the income generated from the
different points of the coffee value chain. This inequality is not a post-independence problem, since it was referred
in the Portuguese colonial period and was also a mark of Indonesian occupation (Henriques et al 2013).
In the pre-independence period, 2000, CCT was created as a successor of the NCBA (CCT 2010). The cooperative
nature of CCT was expected to act as a regulating factor in terms of farm gate prices paid and social services
provided to cooperative members. The purpose of this article is to analyse the role of CCT and its affiliated Organic
Coffee Cooperative (CCO) in improving the welfare of cooperative members, the coffee producers.
METHODOLOGY
The data was based on primary sources and supplemented with secondary sources, but the experience and
knowledge of the field by the authors was valuable and crucial to this research. The sources of primary data was a
questionnaire survey conducted in Ducurai and Haupu sucos, sub-district Letefoho in Ermera district (Map 1 and 2),
in 2010, where 86 members of a CCO, associated with the CCT were selected. The location was chosen because
coffee is an important farmer activity and has high quality and population have a poor quality of life. Farmers were
chosen by convenience sampling among known producers who had a level of education that allows an
understanding of the questions and had a reasonable knowledge of coffee production.
The questionnaire was intended to know better the coffee producers individually (age, education level , number of
children); to identify the socio-economic characteristics of the households (home, power, lighting , water, waste ,
pose goods and food); to characterize the coffee production of respondents (area , production , technology,
marketing , income , property, and land use decisions ), and to obtain views on farmer satisfaction with the services
of CCO/CCT (number of years and satisfaction as a member of CCO and on their quality of life , particularly in
relation to the social service of CCO and CCT, the training offered by the CCO, the solutions offered by the OCC
regarding the quality of the coffee, the participation in the activities and decisions of the CCO). The data were
analysed using, descriptive and multivariate statistics.
Source: www.mapsofworld.com
Figure 1. Map of Timor-Leste
Figure 2. Sucos of Ermera District. (Source: DNE,

2011)
Most coffee grower-respondents are older than 40 years, male, married and illiterate, families have between 4 and
6 children, housing conditions are modest, bamboo houses without concrete floor, firewood is used as main source
of energy, the families consume untreated spring water, throw trash on the ground, eat three meals a day and
meat consumption is quite limited. Coffee plantations are dominated by Arabica species, are a mix of new and old
coffee plants, the average size of farms is 2 ha and about half of those have less than 1 ha. The ownership of the
land belongs to farmers (however the majority has no property titles) and was obtained through inheritance and
land is assigned by parents only to male children.
All family members participate in coffee cultural operations, dominating man in cleaning coffee plantations and
women in harvesting. The coffee cherries harvested has two destinations, sold directly to CCT or processed at farm
level in parchment and then sold to other companies or at local markets. The processing technology at farm level is
traditional, pure dry or wet mitigated processing. The average production per farmer cherry coffee is 745 kg and
435 kg of parchment coffee while the average amount of own consumption is 22 kg per year.

Coffee production is the activity that provides higher farm income, on average 936 USD per year, however, about
40% of farmers receive an average of 334 USD. This income is mainly spent on the children's school and food. The
responsibility of income spends and food management is equally shared between men and women while land
management belongs to men. Regarding the major problems faced by farmers, the most serious are the lack of
coffee shading, low coffee prices and poor access to markets, followed by a lack of coffee cultural operations and
low productivity, and ultimately poor marketing and old coffee plantations.
These data suggest a weak ability of farmers to have access to information about the price and markets; poor
knowledge about pruning and harvesting and in general how to treat the coffee; inability to reconvert old coffee
plantations; and low levels of well-being, comfort and quality of life. To analyse the perception that farmers have
of their levels of satisfaction and well-being as members of CCO/CCT, the following hypotheses were tested:
H1: The degree of satisfaction of the cooperative members is positively related to the performance of the CCO/CCT;
H2: The degree of satisfaction of the cooperative members is positively related to the services provided by CCO/ CCT;
H3: CCO/CCT services positively influences the quality of life of cooperative members;
H4: The participation of cooperative members in decision making is small.
Regarding the first hypothesis, H1, the majority (> 50%) of farmers were satisfied with the services of the leaders of
CCO, with the services of CCT, and with the CCT as a company. Regarding the price paid by CCT for coffee, the pro-
portion of farmers satisfied and unsatisfied is similar, while the CCT coffee price is considered equal to the price of
the competitors companies (Table 1). The hypothesis is accepted. With respect to the second hypothesis, H2, satis-
faction is observed for CCO training and solutions for coffee production and also for the access and quality of the
CCT health services provided to cooperative members, so the hypothesis is accepted (Table 2).
Table 1 . Satisfaction of cooperative members with performance of CCO/CCT.

Variable Unsatisfied Equal Satisfied
Satisfaction with the services of CCO leaders (% farmers) 22.1 18.6 59.3
Satisfaction with the services of CCT(% farmers) 15.1 20.9 64.0
Satisfaction with CCT as company (% farmers) 7.0 17.4 75.6
Satisfaction with the CCT coffee price (% farmers) 44.2 9.3 46.5
Comparison between CCT coffee prices and competitors Lower Equal Higher
% farmers 18.6 80.2 1.2

Source: Deus 2011
Table 2. Satisfaction of cooperative members with services provided.
CCO training and solutions for coffee Unsatisfied Equal Satisfied
Satisfaction with CCO training in coffee harvest (% farmers) 9.3 32.6 58.6
Satisfaction with CCO training in coffee cleaning
27.9 30.2 41.9
(% farmers)
Satisfaction with the solutions of CCO for coffee production (%
20.9 19.8 59.3
farmers)
Access to CCO/CCT health services Yes No
Medical services (% farmers) 56.5 43.5
Nursery services (% farmers) 100.0 0.0
Outpatient services (% farmers) 91.8 8.2
Quality of CCO/CCT health services Bad Reasonable Good
Satisfaction with medical services (% farmers) 2.2 52.1 45.6
Satisfaction with nursery services (% farmers) 0.0 19.8 80.2
Satisfaction with outpatient services (% farmers) 0.0 47.4 52.6
Source: Deus 2011

Farmers acknowledge the contribution of coffee production and use for improving their quality of life, however the
majority (> 50%) of farmers did not improve their quality of life as a member of the CCO (Table 3). In this sense, the
current situation indicates that the cooperative still failed to achieve the objective of improving the quality of life of
farmers and the third hypothesis is not validated. The fourth hypothesis is validated, once most (> 50%) of farmers
is not invited and did not participate in cooperative decision making and on CCO activities, despite the majority of
farmers are cooperative members for a long time (> 10 years) and are satisfied (59.3%) (Table 4).
Table 3. Quality of life of cooperative members.
Variable Yes No
As a cooperative member improved the quality of life (% farmers) 22.6 77.4
Production and use of coffee activity improved quality of life (% farmers) 91.9 8.1
Source: Deus 2011
Table 4. Participation and decision making
Number of years of CCO membership < 5 years 5-10 years >10 years
% of farmers 7.0 32.5 60.5
Satisfaction as member of CCO Unsatisfied Equal Satisfied

% of farmers 22.1 18.6 59.3
Invited to attend CCO meetings Never Sometimes Often
% of farmers 76.7 12.8 10.5
Participation and involvement Yes No
Participation in CCO decision making (% of farmers) 18.6 81.4

Involvement of cooperative member family in leisure,
4.7 95.3
social services and education CCO activities (% farmers)
Source: Deus 2011
CONCLUSIONS
The analysis performed allowed us to conclude that the well-being of the coffee producers studied is very low. The
degree of satisfaction of coffee farmers with CCO/CCT performance and services is positive, however, their
participation in CCO/CCT activities is low despite the long duration and satisfaction for their cooperative
membership and it is worth to note also that they not recognise the contribution of cooperative membership to
their well-being. Although farmers’ living standard does not improve, farmers are satisfied with CCT services. This
apparent contradiction can be explained by the fact that farmers benefit from a range of health services that
otherwise would not be provided and their low levels of well-being may prove to be far worse in the absence of
CCO/CCT.

REFERENCES
Amaral, Fernando Egídio. 2003, Prospects for Coffee Development in East Timor, in Agriculture: New Directions for
a New Nation, editado por Hélder da Costa, Colin Piggin, César da Cruz e James Fox, ACIAR Proceedings Nº
113
Andrade, Alfredo da Costa e, 1907. Distrito Autónomo de Timor e Instituto Botânico de Buitenzorg, Conferencia na
Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa em 13 de Maio de 1907, SGL.
Clarence-Smith, W. Gervase. 1992. “Planters and Smallholders in Portuguese Timor in the Nineteenth and
Twentieth Centuries”, Indonesia Circle, n. º 57, March, pp. 15-30.
COOPERATIVA CAFÉ TIMOR (CCT). 2010. Sistema de trabalho CCT e NCBA. Díli
Deus, Carlos da Conceição. 2011. Impacto do Desempenho da Cooperativa Café Timor na Satisfação e Qualidade de
Vida dos seus Membros, Dissertação de Mestrado em Gestão, Universidade de Évora.
Direcção de Agronegócio. 2008. Commodity Profile for Coffee, Ministério da Agricultura e Pescas, Díli, Timor Leste.
Figueiredo, Fernando. 2004. Timor a presença Portuguesa: 1769-1945), Dissertação de Doutoramento em História,
Faculdade de Lestras, Universidade do Porto.
DNE. (2011). Timor-Leste Relatóriu Sensus 2010, suku relatóriu, Euralo. Díli: Timor-Leste: Direcção Nacional de
Gomes, Rui.. 2002. East Timor's Socio-Economic Development under Indonesia: (1976-1998), Tese de Doutoramento
não publicada, South Bank University, London. www.cavr.timorleste.org. Acesso em 11 de Setembro de 2010.
Gonçalves, M. Mayer. 1972. Estimativa do acréscimo do custo de produção do café na região de Ermera, Timor,
corresponde à intervenção do comerciante dos mercados rurais, correspondente a intervenção do
exportador em Díli, MEAU, Reeditado por TimorAgri.
Henriques, P.D. de Sousa.. 2010. A Rendibilidade da cultura do café. Documento de trabalho, Díli.
Henriques, P.D. de Sousa., Maria Raquel Lucas, Maria Leonor da Silva Carvalho e Carlos da Conceição de Deus.
2013. Coffee Value chain in Timor-Leste, in Food Value Chain Network in the 21St Century: International
Challenges and Opportunities, edited by Julian Briz and Isabel del Felipe, Editorial Agricola Espanhola.
OXFAM. 2003. Overview of the Coffee Sector in Timor-Leste, editado por TimorAgri.
Rodrigues, C. J. Jr., M. Mayer Gonçalves e V. M. P. Várzea. 2004. Importância do Híbrido de Timor para o território e
para o melhoramento da cafeicultura mundial, Revista de Ciências Agrárias, Volume XXVII, Número 2/4, p
203-216.
Silva, Hélder Lains e. 1956, Timor e a Cultura do Café, Memórias – Série de Agronomia Tropical, Junta de
Investigações do Ultramar, Ministério do Ultramar, Reeditado por TimorAgri.
Wahjudi, Bambang. 2009. A Economia do café de Timor-Leste, Gabinete do Ministro do Turismo, Comércio e
Indústria, Díli.

THE RE-ORGANIZATION OF RURAL COMMUNITY WITH DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL
BUSINESS: THE CASE STUDY OF THE SHIMANTO RIVER WATERSHED IN
KOCHI PREFECTURE
Mima Nishiyama
Chiba University
mima@faculty.chiba-u.jp
ABSTRACT
This paper examines the efficacy of social business, whether it can solve social problems while making profit, and reorganize
rural communities. The cases analyzed here are located in Shimanto-cho, Kochi Prefecture. They are social businesses that sell
goods and offer services that have unique values with characteristics of the natural resources and local culture of the region.
The first case is “Shimanto Drama”, a company that manages a roadside station in Towa, where local produce and goods are
sold. The second case is “Okamisan-ichi”, an organization of farm women that sell vegetables and food they prepare at a
farmers’ market, and organize agritoursim. The characteristics of these cases are analyzed in this paper. The possibility of
social business as a tool for solving the rural issues of community reorganization and revitalization are also discussed.
Keywords: social business, community development, cooperation between rural and urban
INTRODUCTION
Depopulation and aging are becoming increasingly serious in rural areas. In addition to the economic stagnation,
communality and community functions—characteristics of rural areas—have been declining. Without any solutions
in sight, some areas are in a fateful crisis. These situations were caused by a continuing negative chain of events.
The lack of job creation and industrial development, which is essential for keeping the youth in the area, created
even more youth exodus, making it difficult to maintain traditional activities of the community. As a result, even
the community identity and pride have been lost. On the other hand, municipal mergers have been promoted
strongly in the name of effective system development of administrative services. However, this merger logic
allowed disadvantaged areas to be abandoned more easily. This could accelerate the deterioration of the area, let
alone reorganizing it. In such disadvantaged areas, a different logic of community reorganization is needed.
Measures for revitalizing the community with the full use of the community resources and building a relationship
with outside resources need to be considered. The characteristics and values of the community resources should
be understood, and industrialization that maintains and develops those resources should be achieved with job
creation, resulting in regional development. What is important is the emphasis on community identity.
In this paper, the main attention is given to the social business method. They aim not only to pursue economy but
also to create and promote social values in order to solve rural and social problems. Social business is effective as a
business method of promoting the community identity and values outside, and of developing them sustainably.
This paper looks into social business in disadvantaged areas. The uniqueness of social business will be identified,
how social business has solved rural problems and brought social profits will be analyzed, and the effectiveness of
social business will be investigated. Furthermore, the significance of social business in reorganizing rural
communities will be examined.
DEFINITION OF SOCIAL BUSINESS AND CHARACTERISTICS OF SUBJECT CASES

The concept of social business was first advocated by a Bangladeshi economist, Muhammad Yunus. It is defined as
a self-sustainable business form that aims to solve social problems with market methods, creating neither debt nor
dividend1). The pursuit of profit is done, but it is not the primary object as for corporations in general. When profit
is made, it will not be returned to stockholders. Social business was established through building new economic
frameworks for solving the poverty issue in Bangladesh. In addition to its characteristics as a business form, the
social significance and values of its mission are clear. It is essential for social business to develop business by
promoting itself widely throughout the society.

Mima Nishiyama
In summary, social business can be defined as follows: ① it has clear issues to solve (social missions); ② pursuit
of profit is not its primary goal, and the profit is not distributed but reinvested for its activities (reinvestment of
profit); ③ it is sustainable as business (feasibility; independent management); and ④ through developing new
products, services, and systems, it creates social values and aims at a reform through their social acceptance (social
value communication).2)
Among rural entrepreneurial activities, especially women’s, many aim to revitalize the community by utilizing
community resources such as local produce. They have clear social missions. On the other hand, most activities are
small in business scale3), and although their goal is women’s economic independence, self-sustenance with total
independence from family farm management and municipal aide is hard to achieve in reality 4). As for community
business in rural areas, what differentiates it from the past community activities is high feasibility 5), but it is seldom
attempted to solve community issues by sending out and promoting social values outside the community.
Therefore, social business overlaps in some areas with women’s entrepreneurial activities and community
business, but it has new, different factors: their social missions and social values they create for fulfilling the
missions.
CASE ANALYSIS
Community Summary
The organizations of our case study are located in Shimanto-cho, Kochi Prefecture, which was established in 2006
by merging adjacent two towns, Taisho and Kubokawa. Shimanto Drama was started as a third sector, funded by
Towa-son, Taisho-cho, and Nishi Tosa-mura in 1994. Okamisan-ichi was begun by a group of women in Towa-son in
2001. Nishi Tosa-mura, Towa-son, and Taisho-cho, each with population of about 3,000, were located along the
middle part of the Shimanto River. With most of their residents engaged in primary industries, the three
municipalities were very similar in nature. Towa-son had the least farmlands, and therefore, the most
disadvantaged. The interview survey was conducted one or two times a year from 2007 until 2012. The subjects
were the president of Shimanto Drama, executive officers and members of Okamisan-ichi, former mayor of Towa-
son, and town employees of Shimanto-cho, totaling 21 individuals.
Shimanto Drama Corporation
a) Organization Summary and Business Development
In 1994, each of three municipalities, Towa-son, Taisho-cho, and Nishi Tosa-mura, invested 8 million yen and
started Shimanto Drama as a third sector. Its initial purpose was to serve as a basis for the hometown settlement
model project of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. With a three-year budget of 2 billion yen, it
tried to attract companies, conducted large-scale maintenance of forestry roads, and constructed campsites.
Furthermore, it developed products, trained personnel, and cultivated markets. To cope with depopulation and
aging in the region, industrial development, human resources development, and tourist site development through
attracting companies was needed, with which residential population was hoped to increase. Mr. A, hired by
Shimanto Drama at 30 years of age, had taken over his family’s tea farming after working at Japan Agricultural
Cooperatives. He was also working at a tea productive cooperative’s office. Mayors of the three municipalities
took turns to assume the post of President of Shimanto Drama, but it was Mr. A, the only full-time employee, who
undertook the entire operation from creating business plans to executing them. At the end of the second year, it
was decided to research various production sites for six months in order to capitalize on Mr. A’s strength further.
The research revealed that the efforts to attract companies and develop industries had no relevance to the
excellent technique and knowledge of the primary industry producers in the region, and that was the true issue.
New thoughts were given to the industrial development in the region, and efforts to strengthen human
relationships within the community were made. The basic policy of Shimanto Drama, which is to promote “the
Shimanto River-friendly manufacturing,” was established before the state subsidies ended. First, new products in
accord with the business policy were developed. At that time, Mr. A was searching for the community’s
uniqueness and identity. The ideas for new products were sought based on the concept of preserving the
landscape and environment of the Shimanto River, the symbol of the community identity and values.

Mima Nishiyama
Using previously unused materials such as mill ends of cypress, and promoting unique recipes for native fragrant
rice, some hit products were created, and they have become stable items. Locally produced tea used to be mixed
with Shizuoka tea for sale, but in 2002, “Shimanto Green Tea,” bottled tea with 100% Shimanto produced tea
leaves, was launched. Later, “Shimanto Roasted Tea” (2004) and “Shimanto Black Tea” (2007) were
commercialized.
The industrial development project was promoted along with product development. Towa-son, located in the
mountains with a little space for farming, had many small-scale processing centers, for which a new project was
launched. For instance, by simply preserving shelled chestnuts in syrup, a new item with a local flavor was created.
Cooperation such joint development of products with a sweets manufacturer began. In addition to providing raw
ingredients such as chestnuts, the community became involved with the processing, which helped enhance the
name value of “Shimanto Chestnuts.” Being particular about developing unique products and the way they were
produced, jobs were created in the community, enabling further industrial development.
When the three municipalities that funded Shimanto Drama were merged with different municipalities6), the
company asked the residents for investment, with which the company was bought back. In 2005, it was started
anew as a business corporation. Becoming totally independent from the government allowed the company to
make decisions and business plans more quickly. In order to put more energy into product development, a
processing department was created and full-time employees were hired7). A human recourses development
project for training personnel and an exchange program were started. In 2007, a roadside station managed by
Shimanto Drama opened, and the business income greatly increased to exceed 300 million yen. They started to
charge plastic shopping bags, the first attempt among roadside stations nationwide, and promoted newspaper
bags8). A part of the money gained from the plastic bags and newspaper bags are donated for forest preservation 9).
As the business expanded, some undertakings were made separate and independent. RIVER, a membership-based
service, was incorporated as an NPO (2010), and “Inaka Pipe” that specializes in personnel training was established
(2011). An agricultural judicial person was established in 2012 for reclamation of chestnut farms and maintenance
of abandoned farmlands7).
b) Characteristics of Shimanto Drama as Social Business
Social Mission
Shimanto Drama assumes three missions: 1) industrial development

with a pillar of existent produce such as tea and chestnuts; 2)
promotion of eco-business that is friendly to the Shimanto River; and
3) human resources development for raising the next generation that
will take over the rich resources10). With the first mission, it is aimed
to exert the ability of local producers while utilizing the existent
facilities and resources. When Shimanto Drama started as a basis for
a state subsidized project, it was about attracting companies from
outside and developing industries with no regards to local Figure 1. Inside of roadside station managed by
producers. Technique and knowledge of the local producers were
not made the most of. On the other hand, the conventional business practice had created a system that did not
distribute profits to the producers. Because of the market system, small-scale production in Towa-son and other
rural areas was at a disadvantage. Those were fundamental problems in the promotion of local economy. In order
to solve them, the first mission was set forth as one of the pillars of the business goal of Shimanto Drama. The
second mission had social significance in terms of preserving the industry basis and local uniqueness and of
securing business continuity. The third mission was a measure against depopulation and aging, and at the same
time, it was for securing new leaders for business continuity.
Reinvestment of Profit
There are two ways to return profit: to return to the stockholders and to reinvest in the business. Shimanto Drama
has always emphasized the importance of product development, reinvesting 2 million to 5 million yen in it every
year. The company was initiated by three municipalities, but its privatization had been considered from the
beginning. That was the reason for emphasizing product development. After the stocks were offered for public

Mima Nishiyama
subscription in 2005, a gift card worth 2% of the amount of investment has been given out to the investors every
year. The produce sales fee at the roadside station was set at 20% of the sales in the beginning, but due to steady
sales increase, it was reduced to 16% in 2010, putting the producers’ gain before the profit for the organization. By
putting profit into product development and producers instead of distributing it as dividend, it is reinvested in
further business development.
Feasibility
Figure 1 shows business sales of Shimanto Drama. When bottled green tea was launched in 2002, the sales was
over 100 million yen. In 2007 when the roadside station was opened, it was 250 million yen. In two years, it
increased to over 300 million yen. The green tea was shipped from tea farmers to JA, where the primary processing
was done. Then it was bought back by the tea cooperative for bottling. Since this operation started, the
cooperative’s yearly sales have reached 40 million yen, about twentyfold increase. A deficit has never been
experienced even when the state subsidies ended and the operation was transferred to the local governments,
and when it was privatized. Business continues to grow, building a system with high feasibility and continuity.
Figure 2. Sales turnovers of Shimanto Drama
Created from Shimanto Drama data
Social Values
What is valued at Shimanto Drama is a conviction that we cannot make the Shimanto River the last clear stream.
To spread this idea, they run RIVER, a membership system, with about 300 members nationwide 11). As a part of
human resources development, they welcome scores of young interns from all over the county every year. Many
of them have decided to stay in the area, and some have been hired by Shimanto Drama. This indicates that the
environmental values of the community, with the Shimanto River as the symbol, were communicated, forming a
theme-based community that shares environmental and communal values. Through the sales of products such as
the bottled Shimanto Green Tea, Shimanto chestnuts, and Shimanto cypress bathtubs, the Shimanto values are
communicated, enhancing the value of the products.
Rural Issues Solved by Shimanto Drama
Producers of the primary industries in the region have been trying to establish a system that generates much
profit, which in turn creates new industries based on the existing production resources as well as employment.
Ideas for new products come from the concept of fully utilizing the local resources and producers. Making most of
processing centers operated for local producers and communities, led to a new business system. That was a result
of Shimanot Drama’s working to improve the existent practice unfavorable for the primary industry producers, the
raw material suppliers, and for small-scale production and processing in the rural area, which was one of Shimanto
Drama’s missions. As the sales system for the Shimanto tea with no outside ingredients was created and the
primary processing of chestnuts at a local small processing center was made possible, the primary industries’
presence in the region became stronger, making them the pride of the community. That brought not only financial
profit but also social profit to the region, a fruit of tackling with the regional disadvantages.

Mima Nishiyama
b) Okamisan-ichi Corporation
Organization Summary and Business Development
Okamisan-ichi started from a women’s processing group

which was active on the community level. Living in the
mountains, most people were engaged in mushroom
production or forestry work. Women were not actively
involved with the household management. The processing
group was started as a place of self-realization. But it was
considered secondary to agriculture and forestry
production. Things changed drastically in 1997 when eight
women’s groups came together and started the Towa-son
Local Product Council. In addition to developing local Figure 4. Okamisan-ishi member’s home garden
specialties, they participated in the Female Farmer Leader
(Photo by Nishiyama 2008)
Training Project and gave a report of their activities. They
also took part in a shopping district’s Sunday market in
Kochi-shi and communicated with the women there. These
were good opportunities for them to inform outside people
of their activities. At the same time, they were made
conscious of the uniqueness of their activities. The women
came to realize that their activities were characterized by
Towa-son’s nature and their self-sufficient way of life12).
In 2001, the Towa-son Local Food Management Council—

aka Okamisan-ichi—was started13). They sell produce at
produce stands in and outside the village, provide food for
lunches at the village elementary and middle schools, and
organize hospitality tours that offer farming, forestry, and
fishing experiences and serve local cuisines. When the
roadside station was opened in 2007, they started to offer a
buffet at a restaurant there once a week. In the first 10
years, the organization grew so much that their sales
exceeded that of mushrooms, once the staple of the village.
Although it started with women only, male farmers later
joined the staff. It is now the most prominent organization
in the village. Figure 5. Local food saved by Okamisan-ishi at restaurant of
roadside station (Photo by Nishiyama2008)
As their business expanded, a system for stability was set
up. After IOS14001 was acquired in 2003, a group-based
system was built for standardization of cultivation techniques among close to 200 producers, for sharing
information, and for collective shipment that allows elderly producers in the mountainous communities to ship
more easily. The hospitality tour offers local home cooking at community centers. Their seasonal menu was
carefully prepared after many trials at the village level. The food the women create has become one of the key
elements for revitalizing the village. Their efforts led to successful tours and the buffet at the restaurant. A year
before the roadside station opened, Towa-son merged with two towns to form Shimanto-cho. After the merger, to
maintain the solidarity of the former Towa-son became difficult, but Okamisan-ich was recognized as the only
organization that represented the former Towa-son. Winning national awards in 2006 and 200914) got them a lot of
visibility and more acknowledgements within the community. In order to continue their operation without the help
from the government, they went public in 2011. Not only the members and local residents, people in other areas
who read about them in the newspaper or saw their poster at a shop, as well as their long-term customers offered
to invest. With more than 100 outside investors, they were able to achieve their goal of collecting 5 million yen.

Mima Nishiyama
Characteristics of Okamisan-ichi as Social Business
Social Missions
Olamisan-ichi’s initial by-laws says, “In order to revitalize our community, those who participate in Okamisan-ichi
shall cooperate, enjoy making things, and improve themselves so that through working together creatively, our
community may thrive.” (Okamisan-ichi By-laws, “Purpose” 2001) The goal was the empowerment of women and
community promotion through that. On the other hand, the by-laws of Okamisan-ichi Corporation started in 2011
says, “13. Agricultural production and manufacturing that are friendly to the Shimanto River and the
environment” (Okamisan-ichi Corporation By-laws 2011) as the purpose. 10 years have passed since its beginning
as a private organization. Okamisan-ichi’s target has changed from women’s issues to more socially significant
missions.
Reinvestment of Profit
There has not been reporting of accounts since 2011, but it has been decided at a general meeting that in stead of
distributing profit among the investors, it will be used for further operation and maintenance of natural resources.
Before it went public, the personnel expenses of the office staff were subsidized by Shimanto-cho. So all the profit,
after some operational expenses were deducted, were returned to the members.
Feasibility
For the first 5 years, Okamisan-ichi’s sales were about 30

million yen a year. After 2006, it went up to almost 50
million yen (Figure 3). It surpassed the mushroom sales,
once the largest in Japan, in 2005. This means that the
production of the village staple has dwindled, and
production of many kinds in small quantity, suitable for
Okamisan-ichi’s direct sales, led to financial profit for each
member15). Furthermore, it is evident that Okamisan-ichi
has expanded as a profitable business that represents the
former Towa-son.
Social Values
The fact that women saw the uniqueness of the community

Figure 3. Mushroom Sales at JA Kochi Hata Towa Branch
in the local produce, cooking, and services, and promoting it in
and Okamisan-ichi Sales
various settings have appealed to many people, leading to
business expansion and social recognition. Two national
awards that got them a lot of visibility, greatly improving their ability to send out the social values. As a result,
many of their consumers offered to invest when their stocks were offered.
Rural Issues Solved by Okamisan-ichi
Women’s financial independence and creating a place of self-realization and self-improvement, the initial goal of
Okamisan-ichi, have been achieved. For the first 10 years, actions were taken to meet the environmental ISO, and
communications with consumers were repeated, through which women’s consciousness has shifted from their own
problems to the larger, social problems. They have contributed to stimulating the local economy through making
more sales than the mushrooms, the staple of the former Towa-son. Winning the national awards made them a
poster child of the community, creating more publicity. This united the community once again when the old bond
was being lost after the merger. In addition, a place for the elderly to work and live with a purpose was secured,
providing with a chance to gain income. Furthermore, through getting the company’s supporters organized, a new
relationship with outside the region is being formed for the preservation of the Shimanto River and its
environment.

Mima Nishiyama
According to Mr. B, the president, Okamisan-ichi has been trying to convey through their activities “a lifestyle that
cherishes craftsmanship, daily food, and the local food culture—a lifestyle that’s kind to the Shimanto River.” They
aim to protect these values and maintain the primary industries. Through the product development based on
production and life technique backed by the self-sufficient lifestyle, and through following the Environmental ISO,
they are allowing people to live humanely, preserve the self-sufficient lifestyle, and maintain their culture for the
next generation to succeed.
CONCLUSION : COMMUNITY REORGANIZATION OF THE RURAL AREA AND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF

SOCIAL BUSINESS
The analysis of two cases with the characteristics of social business revealed that they have been providing
solutions to the rural issues by utilizing social business’ method and way of thinking. In both cases, the local
uniqueness was valued, and social business was taken up to enable its continuous development. This indicates that
social business is effective in solving rural issues. The fruits achieved with social business in each case are as
follows: Shimanto Drama has been working to develop local industries based on the primary industries, to preserve
the Shimanto River’s environment, and to cultivate human resources. Their main focus has been on product
development based on the local environment, existent technique and knowledge of the local producers, and the
natural resources. They have helped develop local industries and have been communicating the local uniqueness
while doing so. Their efforts resulted in steady financial growth. They are also trying to spread their social value
further through organizing their supporters as members. The local industry development has allowed the local
relationship to be rebuilt, generating economic effects. Through developing human resources and promoting the
local uniqueness, new relationships with outside the community have been established, a kind of social profit.
These activities of Shimanto Drama revitalized to rural community and construct new relationship between rural
community and urban people. We can understand that this process is reorganization of rural community.
Okamisan-ichi continues with their business with their missions, reinvesting their profit in the business. Through
their operation, their local uniqueness has been conveyed and accepted. In the past, all the women started with
the intention of becoming financially independent and achieving self-realization. As their activities expand beyond
the community, they become compelled to take a second look at their own lives. This prompted them to become
aware of the uniqueness of their operation and the need to value it. Most of the women had not lived outside the
former Towa-son, and yet, they came to recognize the uniqueness and merits of their community, which in itself
was socially beneficial. Okamisan-ichi’s operation have greatly influenced the community by establishing a new
form of farming—producing many kinds in small quantities—by the elderly, securing a place for them to work with
a purpose, and reuniting the community. By organizing the investor when they went public, they also gained an
opportunity to build new relationships with outside the community. On the process of development of Okamisan-
ichi, they have enhanced their relationship within rural community. Meanwhile they have constructed new
relationship with urbanpeople who are consumer of Okamisan-ichi. We can understand that it is the process to
reorganize rural community.
In order to solve rural issues, measures t hat reflect the backgrounds of each community. It is also essential to
regain the community pride by promoting their characteristics. Reorganization of a rural community could lead to
the solution. What is common in those two cases are: ① their community pride was regained when their
uniqueness as a community was emphasized; ② the bond within the community was rebuilt when the local
industries and existent recourses were emphasized; and ③ new relationships with outside the community were
established when the local values were successfully communicated to society. All of them were necessary factors
for the reorganization of the rural community. They were made possible by the social business solving rural issues
though the promotion of social values. Therefore, the significance of social business is that it can trigger the
reorganization of rural communities and promote it further.

Mima Nishiyama
NOTES
1) Refer to the cited reference [1] for details.
2) Tanimoto and Omuro’s categorization of social business, including corporate community services, is broader. In this paper,
the pursuit of profit is not considered as the primary purpose. Yunus’ idea of new business frameworks without dividend is
valued here. The concept of profit reinvestment was added to Tanimoto and Omuro’s categorization of social business. See
the cited reference [2] & [3] for details.
3) It has been 20 years since female entrepreneurship in rural areas became a top priority issue. But more than 50% of those
businesses have the yearly sales of 3 million yen or less (according to “The Survey Result of Female Entrepreneurship of Ru-
ral Areas” by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, April 2012.)
4) See the cited reference [4] for details.
5) See the cited reference [5] for details.
6) In 2006, Towa-son was merged with Taisho-cho and Kubokawa-cho to form Shimanto-cho. Nishi Tosa-mura merged with
Nakamura-shi to form Shimanto-shi in 2005.
7) Shimanto Drama created a processing department (2009) with 3 new full-time staff.
8) Local women made bags with local newspaper and started selling them at the roadside station, receiving a lot of positive
responses from all over the country and overseas.
9) They take part in the forestry management, a collaborative effort with Kochi Prefecture. They entered into an agreement
with the prefecture and the forestry cooperative and is contributing to the forest preservation with funding and collabora-
tion.
10) From Shimanto Drama’s corporate summary, “Drama’s Drama.”
11) At the start of a new membership system, Ordinance for the Protection of the Shimanto River was created. Also, the
Shimanto River boom was happening. So the membership soared to 2,000. But the number decreased at every member-
ship fee renewal time. In order to promote the system more widely and to enrich the activities, an independent organiza-
tion was established as an NPO.
12) Those women had only considered themselves as a farmer’s housewife. But through working with women at the store,
pride in their jobs arose.
13) The number of participating groups increased to 14. In a few years after it was launched, the number grew to 31, including
newly established groups.
14) They received the Prime Minister’s Award at the Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Fair in 2006, and the Grand Prize in
the Bridge between Food and Agriculture Section at the Japan Agricultural Award in 2009.
15) The yearly sales vary for each individual member. When an elderly person in a single-person household makes shipment,
the sales—even ten, twenty thousand yen—can be helpful in addition to their pension. Besides providing a sense of pur-
pose, it can be of great financial help.
REFERENCES
［1］Muhammad Yunus. 2008. “Hinkon no nai sekai wo tsukuru.” Hayakawa Shobo.
［2］Kanji Tanimoto. 2006. “Social Enterprise – Shakaiteki-kigyo no daito-.” Chuokeizaisya.
［3］Oomuro etsuga. 2011 “Social Business- chiikino kadai wo business de kaiketusuru-.” Osaka NPO center.
［4］Mima Nishiyama. 2009. “Nouson jyosei kigyou no toutatsuten to social business no kanousei.” Nogyotokeiz-
ai, Showado.
［5］Masaaki Ishida. 2008. “Nouson ban Community business no susume- Chiiki kasseika to JA no yakuwari-.” Ie-
no hikari kyoukai.

A RURAL REGENERATION PROTOTYPE –
INSIGHTS INTO SOCIAL NETWORKS OF A RURAL COMMUNITY OF TAIWAN
Ching-Ta Chuang
Institute of Marine Affairs and Resource Management,
National Taiwan Ocean University, Taiwan
Yi-Chang Chiang
Department & Graduate Institute of Architecture and Urban Design,
Chinese Culture University, Taiwan
Chiang106@gmail.com
Li-Te Ho
Department & Graduate Institute of Architecture and Urban Design,
Chinese Culture University, Taiwan
ABSTRACT
In 2010, Taiwan initiated the Rural Regeneration Act (RRA) to promote the development of the 4,000 rural communities
through the elimination of their long-term structural bottlenecks impeding their growth. The act aims to improve production
infrastructure, quality of life and ecological environment in rural areas in terms of multifunctional agriculture. We argue that
the development leads to multifunctional rural landscape and thus land use change, in particular in the face of rapid
urbanization. Given new urban-rural relationships, social networks are the key for revitalizing rural communities towards
sustainable urban-rural partnership. Based on interviews with key actors of the demonstration community of Gongliao, this
paper proposes a rural regeneration prototype. It is argued that social network analysis helps to provide insights into social
relationships among a set of actors - a set of phenomena or data which we seek to understand. Results show that there is a
lack of governance mechanism capable of uncovering the patterning of people's interaction between homogenous groups but
also heterogeneous ones with regard to the urban-rural partnership. Faced with this challenge, we conclude that our case
study illustrates a multi-layer rural regeneration prototype that indicates a paradigm shift in rural development across actors
and sectors, and reveals opportunities for revitalizing rural communities of Taiwan .
Keywords: Agriculture, community, network, rural regeneration, paradigm
INTRODUCTION
Challenges
Globalization has caused impacts on rural development in many countries from aspects of economy, social culture,
politics and environment. The new paradigm results in the expansion of gap between urban and rural
developments, and thus more problems created in economy, society, and the environment. There are an
increasing number of studies focusing on development of multifunctional agriculture, which turns the production
focus only into emphasizing on production, life, ecology, culture, recreation and other diverse functionality. It is
recognized that rural areas in Taiwan is facing a number of problems due to globalization.
In order to remote the environmental quality and agricultural development in rural areas, government has
facilitated the adoption of Rural Regeneration Act in the year of 2010. The act highlights self-governance of rural
residents that helps to reduce the failure situations and facilitate sustainable resources development. However,
community self-governance is also a kind of collective action that can satisfy both individual and public interests
but also create conflicts between individual and collective interests due to the deficient information.
Conceptual framework
We argue that social networks help to give structure to self-governance among different interest groups; they
differ in their needs with respect to diverse components of multifunctional agriculture and changes in agricultural
land use. In particular faced with rapid urbanization, social networks are crucial in revitalizing rural communities
towards new urban-rural partnership.
In order to investigate success factors behind rural regeneration, this study explores a project in rural areas of
Gongliao District of Taiwan. Our data was collected from their experiences of and experts’ viewpoints by exploring
issues during implementation, such as community-buildings, community executive units, administrative

Ching-Ta Chuang and Li-Te Ho
organizations and factions, incubation projects, community charters, hiring of workers, and procurement of
materials, as well as the communities’ views on the Rural Regeneration Act which conducted by Soil & Water
Conservation Bureau (SWCB), Council of Agriculture of Taiwan.
Fig. 1. Conceptual framework of our study (drawn by the authors)
Rural Regeneration Act
The evolution of Taiwanese rural areas is described in Table 1. In period of 1950-1970, Taiwanese rural areas were
in the initial rebuilding stage. During 1970-1990, it was at accelerating stage, and during 1990-2010 it was at new
landscape stage. Since 2010, the rejuvenation stage starts, below we describe this stage in more detail. The
Legislative Yuan in Taiwan passed the Statute for Rejuvenation of Rural Villages on July 14, 2010 and the Taiwanese
government will accordingly promote for an orderly development works in rural areas. It aims to taking care of
600,000 families in Taiwan’s 4,000 agricultural and fishing villages (Council of Agriculture, 2010). In general, the
Rural Regeneration Act 38 articles of the Statute have the following characteristics (Council of Agriculture, 2010):
1) Rural residents will jointly take part in implementing Regeneration projects to beautify the environment
orderly, revitalize agricultural industries, carry on agricultural culture heritage and create development vision
with local features.
2) Appropriate funds for sustainable use to improve the entire environment, revitalize agricultural industries, and
create better basic production conditions by taking living, production and ecology into consideration.
3) Training community manpower, that is, course participants in five stages (Fig. 1) is listed as a necessary
condition in the proposed rural area Regeneration project, so that local residents can reach consensus when
making decisions on how to beautify their community.
4) Green building and recycled energy resources are listed as important items of community environmental
improvement and public facilities eligible for government subsidies to build communities with low emissions of
greenhouse gases throughout Taiwan.
5) Strengthen self-management with community conventions to prevent careless constructions from worsening
local landscape.

Table 1. The evolution of Taiwanese rural areas
Stages Periods Important events

Rebuilding 1950-1970 1953, Land Reform Policy
1956, Experimental Rural Areas
1968, Work Outline of Community Development
Accelerating 1970-1990 1973, The Accelerating of Rural Infrastructure
1983, The Guidelines of Community Development
1985, The Program of Rural Environmental Improvement Plan
New Landscape 1990-2010 1993, The New Rural Village Program

1994, Integrated Community Re-construction Program
2000, Renewal of Rural Landscape
2003, The Six Stars Integrated Community Re-construction
Regeneration 2010-now 2010, Rural Regeneration Act
Rural Generation Act is the legal basis for rural development to promote rural activation and upgrade the overall
development in rural areas. It is the future direction worked out by the rural residents for their own community,
and 150 billion NT dollars will be invested within 10 years. Action for rural Regeneration is a multi-phased
program; training community manpower is listed as a necessary condition in the proposed rural area Regeneration
project. Under this mechanism, it is believed that local residents can reach consensus when making decisions on
how to beautify their community, sustainable use to improve the entire environment, revitalize agricultural
industries, and create better basic production conditions by taking living, production and ecology into
consideration.
In sum, the development works of rural areas under the Statute for Regeneration of Rural Villages are in progress.
It aims to take care of 4,000 farming and fishing villages as well as 600,000 farmers and fishermen. As of August
2012, community manpower has trained over 2,000 communities and 257 finished the entire course (Fig. 2). Now
many start summit their rural regeneration plan to improve the overall environment, construct public facilities,
refurbish abandoned house, preserve traditional culture, conserve the ecology etc. The government still strives to
break bottlenecks in the long-term rural development and revitalize agricultural and fishing villages with industrial,
cultural and infrastructure constructions to create wealthy new villages with quality life so as to attract young
people back to their rural homeland areas.
Figure 2. Training of manpower for the rural regeneration plan in farming and fishing villages

STUDY SITE
Gongliao district
Gongliao District is a rural district and located in the furthest east district of New Taipei City, North East Taiwan
(Fig. 1). Geographically, Gongliao is one hour trip from Taipei Metropolitan; on its east is the Pacific Ocean; on its
south is Toucheng Township, Yilan County. On the other side of Gongliao are mountains and hills along the 30km
long coastline. The area of the district is approximately 99.97 square kilometers, and there are about 14,077
people living in the district. Most of the residents in this district work in the field of agriculture, and in-shore
fisheries, so the characteristic products are the seafood and fruits in here. Taiwan government is scheming
Gongliao as one of Taiwan Scenic Areas, and setting up Long-Dong Wan Park, Bitou Cape Park, Golden Bay Beach,
Caoling Historic Trail and Fulong Beach, etc, which are all along the long beautiful coastline (New Taipei City
Government, 2012).
Taiwan
Gongliao District
New Taipei City
Figure 3. Gongliao District (right: black) located in New Taipei City, one of the five Special
municipalities (left: black) of Taiwan (drawn by the authors)
Dragon-Mound community
Dragon-Mound is a hill community with abundant of natural resource and health ecosystem within the New Taipei
City, at the northeast corner of Taiwan. Geography as its name, Dragon Mound is a small plain above the rising and
falling hill just like a dragon. Ketagalan is the major aborigine tribe of Dragon Mound who mainly hunting for living
before the Chinese immigrated and resided here to reclaim. At the peak period, it had several hundred households
and 158 students of the primary school in 1970. Following industrial and economic development in Taiwan, young
fellow went to city for job and left the old people. Just like the majority of Taiwanese rural village, the feature of
Dragon Mound was poverty, aging, weakness and fatuity. No one knew the future of Dragon Mound.
Occasionally, there are few retired professional including public officer and teacher move in for short-term staying
owing to discover its beautiful view. At beginning, they are hardly communicated with the local people; even dislike
each other, because of the habit difference and asymmetric information. Finally, an association formed in 2010 and
take part in Rural Revitalization Project in 2012 which conducted by SWCB. While the project was conducting, a
serial of questions were posted by them, examples of these are “How to do with it?” “Maybe we can do something
if all do not feel reconciled.” “Tell us how to do! We won’t allow the beautiful village going on falling into disuse.”
The project workers recalled that “in their eyes, I saw eagerness and the hope for Dragon Mound.” “We started
regular meeting to speak out everyone’s visions, and gradually we invited the local people to join. At first, they
were suspicious of our motivation until finding our passion to the village. Thereafter, the local participants
increased and even fix refreshment for the meeting. I thought the time is ripe and suggested organizing an

association to promote the good life and health ecology for this community.” By applying these actions, the
residences integrate individual opinions, and set up clear community missions and visions based on their needs
and wishes. Under the directing from SWCB, they shared knowledge about revitalization and took the rule of
Community Empowerment: people, culture, land, view and product. Now, there is no par with the local residences
or new settlers to organize.
Due to promotion of the rural revitalization concept, members of association started searching for the valuable old
architectures including the old houses, turrets, acting stages etc. Now, the community established their website,
published a tour map and guidebook, and built a landmark at the entry of the village. After the press reported,
media start interviewing the community leaders and eco-experts. After scientific investigation, they found here
existing special ecosystem including butterflies, beetles, frogs and fireflies etc. At the same time, more and more
new inhabitants move here and start a new retired life, furthermore some unemployed young fellows return to
homeland for new living styles.
After a common consensus for a healthy Dragon Mound community among residents was reached, the next step is
to construct a sustainable environment and industry. Firstly, agriculture is the first choice, especially the non-toxic
and organic agricultural products. The mountain yam, sweet potato and bamboo are major traditional crop of
Dragon Mound, and products have been popular with consumers because of non-toxic/organic cultivation.
Secondly, how to develop the rich tour resources and attract tourists was also discussed very often. According to
experiences of community empowerment, successful factors would cover the followings:
Community association
The residences set up New Taipei City Life & Environment Promotion Association with volunteers and experts who
conducted the incubation project. The association is dedicated to community-buildings, community executive
units, administrative organizations and factions, community charters, hiring of workers, and procurement of
materials etc. Furthermore, the website was established for information.
Natural environment
The farmlands at mountains had existed for a hundred years. Along the Shuangxi river, the stone-built terrace and
paddy fields were carefully maintained by the ancestors. Forest edge species are attracted by irrigation canals and
woodlands. Regarding to ecological functions, the terrace could create values on formation of beautiful
landscapes, ground textures, cultural conservation and inheritance. However, with the migration toward cities and
aging population, these terraces are gradually abandoned and then dried out. The Paddy Ecosystem Restoration
Project beginning 2011 to restore 2.9 hectares of farmland located. 11 farmers have been growing crops on 1.6
hectares of the land without using chemicals, while the remaining 1.3 hectares, which has been fallow or dry, has
been returned to use as rice paddies. After the restoration, the area is filled with the hopeful vista of young water
plants. More than 50 species of frogs, which are nearly half the number of all frog species in Taiwan, could now be
found in Gongliao, also some endangered fish species stay in this area Oryzias latipes and Ceriagrion melanurum
have been sighted.
Green products
Because of the unique topography of New Taipei City, the terrace paddy field had become a special landscape
feature. The Forestry Bureau “Terrace Paddy Field Ecology Preservation and Restoration Project” visited Gonliao in
September. Following the terrace restoration project in Neiliao Mountains, Gonliao, the “Eco-Harmony Rice” has
been launched. After promotion, the Eco-Harmony Rice was ordered by a famous pastry shop with a double
market price ( CNN Report, 2012).
Moreover, the first 1,300 kg of rice produced from Gonliao paddy fields was purchased by the famous Hai-Shan
Bakery at once. The bakery created a new rice cake brand “Fragrance of Eco-Harmony” and launched it at mid-
September. The new rice cake, combining the strong taste of home from the historical bakery with the rich
ecology in Gongliao, has also become the first example of how traditional bakeries lead communities to support
eco-agriculture. Manager Lin is the second generation of Hai-Shan Bakery. He decided to support the Terrace
Restoration Project by real actions. He said the bakery is willing to support local businesses, and he hopes in the

future the peanut and vegetables used in the rice cake can also come from Gongliao (CNN Report, 2012). Overall,
as terrace paddy fields in hills and mountains are situated in the intersection of wetland and forest ecosystems, the
ecological marginal effect is even stronger. With this advantage, terrace restoration in Gongliao should be able to
create a rich biodiversity. The labor spent in the rice field both creates healthier food and benefits the environment.
The public value of these types of rice far exceeds the market price of normal rice.
DISCUSSIONS
The experience of the revitalization of Gongliao county and Dragon Mound village shows that is the necessity
operation in coordination of politic, economy and society power. The three elements cannot stand without
government assistance, industry rebuilding and residences’ self-effort. Liu (2002) indicates the rural features and
values of folk culture can be understood and affirmed through the extension of citizen participation and the plan for
village renewal. In this way, the unique rural vitality and vigor can continue and that villagers can recognize their
"hometowns" and attach their affections to them once again, making villagers feel honored with their villages and
take pride in living in them (Huang et al., 2011). The results show that a success rural community revitalization
needs to upgrade their core agriculture value and attract young fellow return homeland. In addition, although
tourism really makes significant economic outcomes for rural communities, it is important to remind that rural
community tourism is not the only approach for rural development. Chen and Chu’s (2008) analyze the implement
efficiency of the Structure Plan of the Rural Landscape Management, and then introduces the regeneration and
basic training plan of rural village. In the future, the residents of rural village can obtain the assistant and guidance
by professional team, so as to raise the wish of community development, and to improve the environmental
landscape of rural village.
Wiber et al. (2009) discuss the outcomes of a project that engaged researchers and fishers together in adapting
participatory social science approaches to the purposes and the constraints of community-based fisher
organizations. Thomson and Gray’s (2009) use documentary material and data from interviews and conclude that
combined the co-management system and community principles will be an effective form of fisheries governance.
Pita et al. (2010) investigate commercial inshore fishers’ perceptions of participation in the decision-making process
and attitudes towards a new management regime – the Inshore Fisheries Groups (IFGs).
Community management has been an important public affair including planning, design, construction and result
sharing of public development facilities by the local residents in a community. In addition, motivation, inspiration,
and consensus among all the residents are critical for a complete and successful development project to not only
meet basic needs but also significantly upgrade the living standard and quality of the residents in the community.
This study show that the main problems of community-building are a serious lack of professional human resources
and the different paces of village policies, thus, community-building results in fragmented communities. Incubation
projects receive acclaim in their communities; however, experts do not understand the communities in short term,
and some new groups would lower the functions of the incubation projects. Currently, community charters do not
have the motivation of intrinsic need in communities, and thus, are on paper only. Hiring of workers and
procurement of materials can help to enhance the characteristics of a community, if there are good ideas within the
community. Communities consider regulations on rural regeneration to be fair, and a good policy that allows
communities to be themselves. Experts are not at all concerned regarding the problems of community
participation, human resources, or factions, believing these to be merely the reactions of initial implementation.
Experts are more concerned about whether the communities have common objectives in community development,
and whether they have the implementation mechanisms and consciousness for a community charter, as these are
the important abilities of residents in understanding their rights and obligations. Experts also hope that the
implementation of rural regeneration plans can be slower, providing the communities sufficient time to discuss
issues in order to achieve the “human and environment” objectives of communications and consensus.

CONCLUSION
Results of this study indicate that successes of the community revitalization are related to coordination of politic,
economy and society power. Though added-value agricultural product and rural tourism are the most promising
elements in community development management, it requires involvement and corporation among the residents,
professional community planners and township government officials. In the study, community development
management was carried out through a series of town-hall meeting and public hearing to formulate the consensus,
planning and action for the local development projects. Problems and difficulties imposing negative impacts on the
community development were also identified and studied to obtain proper solution and improvement tactics to
help seek appropriate resources and means for better development management of the community with local
characteristics and uniqueness. Following the “top-down directive assistance” from government and “bottom-up
self-management” from community people, believe that Gonliao County and Dragon Mound village shall be a
model of another rural village in Taiwan in the near future.
Meeting with Forming an association on Rural Re-

Communicate with
Local residences & generation local leader
New settlers
Project & Plan Bottom-up participation

Top-down directive
assistance Rural
Regeneration Project
Training & Edu-
cation Manpower cultivation
Action &
Resource checking, eco-
Community press & website value, culture, and
Promotion industries etc.
Non n toxic/organic cultivation

of rice, mountain yam, sweet Rural
potato and bamboo. Industries rebuilding
Tourism
More new settlers Unemployed young

move in. Population regurgitation people return to the
homeland.
Tourist、Bakery and
pastry shop Marketing & Publicity Media reports and
(Marketed locally). Specialist visiting.
Sustainably develop & Self- management

of the community.

REFERENCES
Azuma, Masanori (2011). Remodeling of Rural Village: The Combination of Taiwan Leisure Farm and Japan Farm-
stay Garden. Proceeding of 2011 International Conference of Rural Regeneration, pp. 15-21.
Chen, J. C. and Chu, J. M. (2008). The Structure Plan of the Rural Landscape Management and the Development of
Rural Village. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation Technology, 3(4), pp. 222-233.
Council of Agriculture. (2010). Statute for Regeneration of Rural Villages Opens New Page for Rural Revitalization.
(Posted on July 14, 2010) Retrieved on August 1, 2012 from the Council of Agriculture Website. http://
www.coa.gov.tw/view.php?catid=22040
Huang, J. Y., Chen, M. S. and Tsai, B. K. (2011). Perceived Economic Benefit Analysis of Analysis of Rural Tourism
through Rural Community Development. Journal of Management Practices and Principles, 5(3), pp. 34-55.
Huang, M. Y. (2011). Case Studies on Rural Regeneration Policy in Taiwan. Proceeding of 2011 International
Conference of Rural Regeneration, pp. 139-149.
Laconte, Pierre (2011). European Policies Affecting sustainability of Urban and Rural Areas: Future Challenges and
Selected Best Practices. Proceeding of 2011 International Conference of Rural Regeneration, pp. 1-13.
Liao, A., Huang, C., Cheng, C. W. and Shaw, D. (2012). Taiwan: Healthy "Eco-Harmony Rice" Guarantees Revival of
Biodiversity. (Posted on January 16, 2012) Retrieved on August 5, 2012 from the CNN Website. http://
ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-731798
Lin, Z. and Akiyama, K. (2012). Rural Planning and Leisure Farms in Taiwan. The Bulletin of the Faculty of
Agriculture, Kagoshima University, No. 62, pp. 1-21.
Liu, C. Z. (2003). A Study on the Citizen Participation in the Process of Village Renewal-the German Experience,
Journal of Agricultural Economics, 71, pp. 157-193.
New Taipei City Government. (2012). Introduction of Gongliao. Retrieved on August 10, 2012 from the New Taipei
City Government Website. http://foreigner.ntpc.gov.tw/_file/2968/SG/46036/D.html
Pita, C., Pierce, G. J. and Theodossiou, I. (2010). Stakeholders’ participation in the fisheries management decision-
making process: Fishers’ perceptions of participation. Marine Policy, 34, pp. 1093-1102.
Soil and Water Conservation Bureau. (2010). Statistics of Training Community Manpower. (Posted on August 20,
2012) Retrieved on August 22, 2012 from the Soil and Water Conservation Bureau Website. http://
empower.swcb.gov.tw/statistics.aspx.
Thomson, K. and Gray, T. (2009). From community-based to co-management: Improvement or deterioration in

fisheries governance in the Cherai Poyil fishery in the Cochin Estuary, Kerala, India? Marine Policy, 33, pp. 537-
543.
Wiber, M., Charles, A., Kearney, J. and Berkes, F. (2009). Enhancing community empowerment through

ROLE OF NGOS IN DISASTER RESPONSE:
CASE OF THE SIDOARJO MUDFLOW, INDONESIA
Nina Takashino
Tohoku University
ntakashino@bios.tohoku.ac.jp
Prasojo Bayu Suwondo Putro
Tohoku University
prasbayu@yahoo.co.id
ABSTRACT
Asian countries experience some of the world's worst natural disasters. Poor farmers in rural areas are limited in their ability to
cope with unexpected disasters and require substantial disaster mitigation assistance. Recently, non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) have played an increasingly larger role in disaster management and disaster mitigation for affected
people; however, certain NGOs work well with local governments while others do not. To provide more effective disaster
mitigation, successful collaborations between NGOs and local governments must be analyzed. To reveal how NGOs react to
disasters, this paper focuses on the case of the Sidoarjo mud flow disaster. In 2006, an oil and gas exploration accident caused
a mudflow eruption in rural Sidoarjo District, Indonesia. The mudflow covered 12 villages and displaced 13,000 households. The
disaster remains in progress: the mudflow is still erupting and is estimated to continue erupting for decades. To aid victims,
successful collaboration between NGOs and local governments is of critical concern. We conducted interviews with local
villagers, NGO and local government staff members in Sidoarjo. In this paper, based on the collected data, we examine (1) the
characteristics of NGOs that support disaster victims (how they originated, what year they were established, and their focus),
(2) how NGOs have supported disaster victims (since when, how, and where they have provided aid), and (3) how NGOs have
interacted with the local government. This analysis elucidates difficulties experienced by NGOs and determines factors in
successful NGO–government collaboration during disasters.
INTRODUCTION
Recently, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have played an increasingly larger role in disaster management
and disaster mitigation for affected people. However, in disaster response, certain NGOs work well with local
governments while others do not. To implement more effective mitigation measures, successful collaborations
between NGOs and local governments must be analyzed. To reveal how NGOs react to disasters, this paper focuses
on the case of the Sidoarjo Mudflow disaster. In 2006, an oil and gas exploration accident caused a mudflow
eruption in rural Sidoarjo District, Indonesia. The mudflow covered 12 villages and displaced 13,000 households.
Many researchers have studied the environmental causes and impact of the Sidoarjo mudflow disaster from a
scientific perspective, but fewer studies have been conducted from a social scientific viewpoint.
Several studies have investigated the socioeconomic impact of the disaster on victims (McMichael 2009, Muhtada
2009, Putro 2012, Fitrianto 2012, Fitrianto et al. 2012). The mudflow is still erupting and is estimated to continue
erupting for decades. Therefore, determining implications of successful collaborations is a critical issue for the
victims. However, scant information is available regarding the support of NGOs, precluding a discussion of their
role in disaster mitigation. To address this gap and reveal how NGOs react to disasters, this paper focuses on the
case of the Sidoarjo mudflow disaster. The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. In Section 2, we
present the methods of this study. We summarize the history of NGOs in Section 3. In Section 4, we examine how
NGOs have provided support in Sidoarjo. The discussion in Section 5 concludes this paper.
METHODS
We compiled a brief history of NGOs in Indonesia based on existing papers and documents and we conducted
interviews with personnel from NGOs and the local government in Sidoarjo. In this paper, based on the collected
data, we examine the characteristics of NGOs that support victims (how they originated, what year they were
established, and their focus), how NGOs have supported disaster victims (since when, how, and where they have
provided aid), and how NGOs have interacted with the local government. This analysis elucidates the difficulties
experienced by NGOs and factors in successful NGO–government collaboration during disasters.

Nina Takashino and Prasojo Bayu Suwondo Putro
BRIEF HISTORY OF NGOS IN INDONESIA

NGOs operate differently in every country. To understand what role NGOs play in disaster response in a particular
country, understanding the specific historical background of that country is prerequisite. How NGOs developed in
Indonesia is briefly summarized as follows, based on Antrov (2005), Araki (2005), and Völz (2005) (Table 1).
Table 1. Chronology of NGOs in Indonesia

Period Events relevant to NGOs in Indonesia
Many types of social organization (religious, education, neighbor group and so
Before the 1970s
on) existed.
The activities of development NGOs came to be considered complementary to
1970s
programs of the Suharto government.
1980s NGOs grew under government control.
1990s Certain NGOs began to engage in activities oriented toward political advocacy.
1997 The Asian economic crisis.
1998 The fall of the Suharto regime.
“Watchdog” organizations were heavily involved in monitoring the national
1999
election.
2000 The government submitted a law for the regulation of yayasans.
2004 The Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.
Source: Compiled by the author based on Antrov (2005), Araki (2005), and Völz (2005)
In Indonesia, voluntary organizations have long existed, including religious societies, private schools, credit
associations, neighborhood organizations, and water-use associations. In the early 1970s, NGOs with an orientation
toward development (often termed “development NGOs”) emerged, and their activities came to be recognized as
complementary to programs implemented by the Suharto government. In the early 1980s, the Suharto government
allowed NGOs to play a role in development, but began to limit them in number and applied stricter control by the
end of the 1980s. In the 1990s, a greater number of NGOs began to incorporate advocacy divisions and expanded in
focus beyond community development. NGOs contributed to the pro-democracy movement; subsequently, the
Asian economic crisis of 1997 provided the trigger for the fall of Suharto regime. The fall of the Suharto regime led
to greater accountability and transparency among public institutions. NGOs that were active in political monitoring
emerged and became known as “watchdog” organizations. NGOs were heavily involved in the 1999 election and
currently monitor nearly all institutions of the state (Antrov 2005, Araki 2005).
Two types of legal status are available for non-profit organizations in Indonesia: such organizations can be legally
incorporated as either foundations (yayasans) or associations (perkumpulans). Yayasans are non-membership
organizations that are not limited in their activities; many yayasans were thus used for profit-making. To promote
transparency and accountability in the governance of yayasans, the government submitted a law regulating
yayasans to parliament in 2000, which was approved and became Law 16 in 2001. In contrast to yayasans,
perkumpulans are membership groups composed of people who share an interest and cannot be used for profit-
making purposes. Perkumpulans must be approved by the Ministry of Justice (Antrov 2005).
Indonesia was severely damaged by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The role of NGOs in responding to the disaster
was widely recognized. Many NGOs in Aceh were involved in the disaster response. In addition to international
NGOs, 120 Acehnese NGOs and many small groups of Indonesian volunteers from other regions of the country
participated in providing assistance (Völz 2005). In large disasters since the tsunami, such as the 2006 Yogyakarta
earthquake and the 2009 Padang earthquake in West Sumatra, NGOs have played an essential role in disaster
response and recovery.
CASE STUDY ON THE SIDOARJO MUDFLOW
Government activities
Governments, which have a legal responsibility to protect citizens from disasters and help those affected, are the
most important agencies in disaster response. However, governments may be unable to help all those affected and
facilitate recovery; NGOs are thus expected to fill gaps in the governmental disaster response. In this section,

we review typical cases of disaster management in Indonesia and the particular conditions pertaining to the
Sidoarjo mudflow.
The Indonesian government promulgated Disaster Management Law No. 24 in April 2007. The national
government, provincial governments, and regency/municipal governments all have their own disaster management
organizations with individual policies and budgets. At the national level, the Badan Nasional Penanggulangan
Bencana (National Disaster Management Agency, BNPB) was established in 2008. The BNPB consists of the BNPB
president, the Management and Operational Committee, and the Policy Implementation Agency. Composed of 10
ministries and 9 experts, the Management and Operational Committee advises and consults with the BNPB
president. The Policy Implementation Agency is in charge of enhancing preparedness and emergency response, and
is also tasked with relief and reconstruction (ADRC 2012). Disaster management at the regional level is handled by
the Badan Penanggulangan Bencana Daerah, or Regional Disaster Management Agencies. According to the Asian
Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC) country report (2012), when disasters occur, municipal BPBDs respond first.
When faced with large-scale disasters beyond their capacity, national and provincial governments provide as much
assistance as they are able to.
The conditions of the Sidoarjo mudflow disaster were particularly complex. The government established the
Sidoarjo Mudflow Management Agency (Badan Penanggulangan Lumpur Sidoarjo, BPLS) according to Presidential
Regulation No. 14 of 2007. BPLS is a central government institution that was designated to handle the disaster in
coordination with both the drilling company and local (provincial and district) governments. The government is
responsible for managing the mudflow disaster, and in particular, is responsible for compensating victims who
were forced to move (Andri 2009).
The BPLS’ management tasks are grouped in three main areas: social assistance, social protection, and social
recovery. The activities of the BPLS are summarized in Table 2(Richards 2011). In terms of social assistance, the
BPLS monitors the provision of assistance by Lapindo, the oil and gas company that caused the mudflow eruption,
and supervises the evacuation of victims, in addition to attempting to reduce the social impact of the disaster by
providing cash aid, clean water, and job opportunities. In terms of social protection, the BPLS has launched
programs that aim to assert the property rights of affected people. In terms of social recovery, the BPLS has
initiated programs focused on psychological recovery: the social recovery program aims to support people in
dealing with the emotional stress of the disaster and ensures that people are provided information and counseling.
According to Richards (2011), the BPLS continually consults and coordinates with the East Java Provincial
Government and the Sidoarjo regency government. Personnel from the East Java Provincial Government and the
Sidoarjo regency government occupy seats on the BPLS Advisory Board. The local government has established
temporary shelters in camps for the displaced population and opened community health offices. It has also
provided transportation for children, aid to farmers because of the failure of their crops, and support for small
businesses. This paper raises the following question: have local NGOs and relevant government organizations
cooperated to provide support for Sidoarjo disaster victims?
Registered Organizations in East Java
To establish how NGOs and the government have partnered, legally registered organizations in East Java were first
examined. Figure 1 shows the number of registered organizations from 2004 to 2013 in the following seven
categories: 1) religion-based organizations (Religion), 2) youth-related organizations (Youth), 3) women’s
organizations (Women’s), 4) professional organizations (Professional), 5) organizations structured around shared
activities (Activity), 6) cultural organizations (Cultural), and 7) NGOs.
As shown in Figure 1, the number of registered NGOs has increased over the past 10 years as numbers of other
organizations have remained stable. The rate of increase was high from 2006 to 2009 because the mudflow
disaster began in 2006; furthermore, the increase in the number of registered NGOs might reflect heightened
interest among Indonesians regarding assistance provided by NGOs in areas affected by the mudflow. Furthermore,
Table 3 also implies that the mudflow has exerted an influence on where NGOs have been established. The table
shows the number and proportion of registered organizations located in Sidoarjo District (i.e., in the vicinity of the
affected area) in 2013; 9.2% of the total number of NGOs were located in Sidoarjo, the highest percentage among
all categories of organization.
Figure 1. Registered Organizations in East Java Province

Source: East Java Provincial Government
Table 2. Responsibilities of the BPLS

Social Assistance
1. Supervising the provision of assistance by Lapindo
2. Monitoring and implementing the evacuation of mudflow victims
3. Providing social assistance (cash payments) based on presidential regulation 48/2008
4. Providing clean water for residents in the disaster area
5. Empowerment programs to improve the lives of displaced people
Social Protection
1. Supervising the sale and purchase of affected land and buildings
2. Monitoring and facilitating the provision of compensation for failed harvests
3. Compensating companies that have been forced to cease operating
4. Coordinating compensation for small and medium enterprises (SMEs)
5. Managing demonstrations and rallies
6. Managing displaced people relocated to New Market Porong
Social Recovery
1. Disseminating information and facilitating informal discussion
2. Conducting observation and gathering information
3. Managing education issues
4. Managing health issues
5. Managing emotional and spiritual problems
6. Empowering and providing skills training for victims
Source: Compiled by the author based on Richards (2011)
Table 3. Registered organizations in Sidoarjo Distric

Whole District Sidoarjo %
1. Religion-based organizations 38 2 5.26
2. Youth-related organizations 64 0 0.00
3. Women’s organizations 49 2 4.08
4. Professional organizations 100 3 3.00
5. Organizations structured around shared activities 78 3 3.85
6. Cultural organizations 18 1 5.56
7. NGOs 522 48 9.20
Total 868 59 6.80
Source: Compiled by the author based on documents provided by the East Java Provincial Government

NGO Assistance to Sidoarjo Victims
Based on interviews with local villagers and NGO staff members, we determined the disaster response activities
that organizations have engaged in. We asked interviewees to name organizations that had been important in
providing assistance to mudflow victims. Table 4 lists these NGOs and shows where these NGOs are headquartered,
what year they were established, and their focus.
As the table indicates, large-scale NGOs from outside the mudflow-affected area (for example, WALHI Pusat from
Jakarta) and small, community-based NGOs from near the affected area (such as Desantara, Lafadz) have both been
essential. Of the 17 organizations listed in the table, 7 are local organizations (4 from Surabaya and 3 from Sidoarjo,
East Java), and 10 are headquartered in large cities outside East Java (8 are from Jakarta in West Java, and 1 is from
Yogyakarta in Central Java). However, the local organizations named by the interviewees were not on the list of
registered organizations, implying that these NGOs do not have formal status and have weak ties to the
government.
Certain organizations, like the Yakkum Emergency Unit, Posko Bersama Korban Lapindo, and Taruna Siaga Bencana,
specialize in disaster response and risk reduction. Taruna Siaga Bencana is an organization that was established by
the Ministry of Social Affairs to promote the interests of the government. Certain organizations have provided
assistance to victims since the start of the disaster, but are typically engaged in activities in other fields, such as
community development, environmental issues, and human rights protection. Organizations have disseminated
relevant information among affected people and other organizations; they have also advocated information
transparency regarding certain issues, such as water pollution in the affected area and delayed compensation
payments. Some organizations, such as Peruguruan Rakyat Merdeka and Jaringan Relawan Kemanusiaan, have
provided food at camps for displaced people.
Table 4. Active Organizations in Sidoarjo Disaster Response

Web-
Name Location Established Profile (typical activity)
site
1 Urban Poor Consortium (UPC) Jakarta 1997 O Social issues NGO
2 WALHI Pusat Jakarta 1980 O Environmental issues NGO
3 WALHI Jatim Surabaya 1982 O Environmental issues NGO
4 Yakkum Emergency Unit (YEU) Yogyakarta 2001 O Disaster response, risk reduction
5 Situs Resmi Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Surabaya 1926 O Religious (Muslim) organization
6 Muhammadiyah Surabaya 1912 O Religious (Muslim) organization
7 Taruna Siaga Bencana (Tagana) Jakarta 2004 O Social aid after disasters
8 Peruguruan Rakyat Merdeka (PRM) Yogyakarta - O Humanity and human rights
9 Jaringan Relawan Kemanusiaan (JRK) Jakarta - O Humanity and human rights issues
10 Posko Bersama Korban Lapindo Sidoarjo 2006 - Sidoarjo mudflow disaster issues
11 Lapis Budaya Surabaya - - Information transparency
Human rights, gender issues, envi-
12 Jaringan Advokasi Tambang (Jatam) Jakarta 1999 O
ronmental issues
13 Satu Dunia Jakarta 2004 O Information transparency
14 Air Putih Jakarta 2004 O Information transparency
15 Desantara Sidoarjo - O Social and human rights issues
16 Lafadz Sidoarjo - - -
17 Medialink Jakarta - O Information transparency
Source: Compiled by the author based on a survey conducted in 2013

One NGO, Posko Bersama Korban Lapindo, was established after the Sidoarjo mudflow eruption began. Posko
Bersama Korban Lapindo provides information to victims and informs the general Indonesian public regarding the
disaster; as one example, to help people move from villages affected by the mudflow, they are providing
information regarding the experiences of other villages. To support victims’ economic recovery, they have also
provided skills training regarding accessing information, writing, farming, and craft-making. The leader of Posko
Bersama Korban Lapindo was interviewed; in the interview, he indicated that his NGO has collaborated little with
the government, and that he perceived the BPLS as preferring to work independently, as other NGOs and local
groups did not work with them. However, he indicated that NGOs and local groups did exchange information with
the government: according to the leader, Posko Bersama Korban Lapindo occasionally gathered and published
information provided by local government bodies.
CONCLUSION
To increase the effectiveness of disaster management, how NGOs react to disasters is revealed in this paper
through the case of the Sidoarjo mudflow disaster. First, we investigated the history of NGOs in Indonesia. NGO
activities in Indonesia were limited under the Suharto regime. The role of NGOs in disaster mitigation was only
recognized in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami. NGOs in Indonesia have acquired the freedom to engage
in various activities since democratization, however, NGOs have mostly engaged in monitoring, rather than
cooperating with, the government.
Regarding disaster response, partnerships between the government and NGOs in Indonesia remain at an early
stage; difficulties remain regarding effective partnering. This case study reveals that partnering between NGOs and
the government remains weak. Although the number of NGOs registered in East Java Province increased once the
disaster began, active NGOs named by interviewees were not found on the list of registered organizations. This
implies that there are no benefits for NGOs to register. Furthermore, local NGOs were determined not to cooperate
with the government. Although local NGOs are actively involved in the disaster response for the Sidoarjo mudflow,
partnership between governments has not been ideal. The government must engage more in communication with
NGOs.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We would like to express our appreciation to the villagers and respondents for their kind support as this research
was conducted. This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 24688023.
REFERENCES
Antlöv, H., Ibrahim, R., & van Tuijl, P. 2006. “NGO governance and accountability in Indonesia: Challenges in a newly
democratizing country.” NGO Accountability: Politics, Principles and Innovations, 4-5.
ADRC. 2012. “Information on Disaster Risk Reduction of the Member Countries: Indonesia.” Retrieved from http://
www.adrc.asia/nationinformation.php?NationCode=360&Lang=en&Mode=country
Araki, T. 2005. "Possibilities and Limitations for Networking NGOs in Indonesia." The Nonprofit Review, 2, 93-102 (in
Japanese).
Fitrianto, A. R. 2012. "Shrimp Farmers’ Innovation In Coping With The Disaster (A Case Study In Sidoarjo Mud
Volcano Disaster Toward Shrimp Farmers’ Responses)." Procedia Economics and Finance, 4, 168-176.
Fitrianto, A. R. & Suryadi, H. 2012. "Supply Chain Risk Management in the Shrimp Industry Before and During Mud
Volcano Disaster: An Initial Concept." Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 65, 427-435.
McMichael, H. 2009. "The Lapindo mudflow disaster: environmental, infrastructure and economic impact." Bulletin
of Indonesian Economic Studies, 45.1, 73-83.

Muhtada, D. 2008. "Ethics, economics and environmental complexity: the mud flow disaster in East Java." Systems
Research and Behavioral Science, 25.2, 181-191.
Putro, P. B. S. 2012. “Social and Economic Impact of the Sidoarjo Mudflow: Community Resettlement After
Disaster.” Master’s Thesis submitted to the Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University,
Japan.
Richards, J. R. 2011. "Report into the Past, Present and Future Social Impacts of Lumpur Sidoarjo." Humanitus
Sidoarjo Fund Report.
Völz, C. 2005. "Humanitarian coordination in Indonesia: an NGO viewpoint." Forced Migration Review, 18, 26-27.
Wibisana, A. G. 2009, June 26. “Responsibility of the state in the mudflow disaster.” Jakarta Post. Retrieved from
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/06/26/responsibility-state-mudflow-disaster.html

FAILURE OF VILLAGE ADMINISTRATIONS AFTER DISPLACEMENT:
A CASE STUDY OF THE SIDOARJO MUDFLOW DISASTER, EAST JAVA, INDONESIA
Prasojo BAYU Suwondo Putro

Tohoku University
prasbayu@yahoo.co.id
Nina TAKASHINO
Tohoku University
ntakashino@bios.tohoku.ac.jp
ABSTRACT
On May 29, 2006, a mudflow inundated approximately 700 ha and displaced more than 13,000 households from 12 villages in
Sidoarjo, East Java, Indonesia. Despite the evacuation and continuing mudflow, 4 of the 12 villages have retained their
administrative functions. To provide proper civil administration to victims after the disaster, we need to study the villages’
administrations after displacement. This research investigates the administrative situations, focusing on civil rights and health
care access after displacement. We conducted interviews in 2013 and 2014 with the village heads in the disaster areas, as well
as government officers. Based on collected data, we examine (1) the present situation of village administrations after the
disaster; (2) the victims’ civil rights situation and health care access post-displacement; and (3) the role of governments in
dealing with the failure of village administrations. The data show that most victims were not able to use their voting rights
after they were displaced and also experienced insufficient health care access, which illustrated how governments failed to
support victims’ civil rights and health care access following the Sidoarjo mudflow disaster.
Keywords: civil, village, administration, voting, health care
INTRODUCTION
On May 29, 2009, a mudflow erupted near an oil and gas exploration site in Renokenongo village, Sidoarjo,
Indonesia. Twelve villages were inundated by a flow of hot mud and gas, causing significant asset loss (BPLS, 2009).
Seven villages were abandoned between 2006 and 2013, and most villages’ administration also collapsed. Failure
of the villages’ administration to disclose data regarding the situation negatively affected the villagers in Sidoarjo.
Inhabitants were forcibly displaced from their original villages to other areas, are did not have a clear sense of civil
status after displacement. For example, the victims could not access free health care and faced difficulties when
going to public facilities such as banks. Indonesian government institutions deferred to the local administration,
because a general administrative status was unclear. This is an example of human insecurity impact after a
disaster. The Sidoarjo mudflow disaster is a representative case study to examine the various impacts of
administrative failure, which, in this case, caused both personal and health insecurity, two of the seven
components that comprise humans’ sense of security.
This study investigates the villages’ administration failures that led to personal insecurity (civil rights) and health
insecurity (health care access) among villagers in the Sidoarjo mudflow disaster area. Most previous studies on this
mudflow focus only on the geological aspects—process, technical, and spatial—rather than the failure of these
villages’ administration. The most closely related study of the Sidoarjo mudflow to social and economic issues is
reported in the mudflow’s impacts on environment, logistic networks, and economic and business sectors (Mc.
Michael, 2009).
This study aims to identify problems caused by village administration failure after resettlement, which led to civil
rights and health care access threatened among Sidoarjo mudflow’s victims, and to extract lessons for improving
future countermeasures of resettlement initiatives. This paper, therefore, will investigate the villagers’ situations
specific to their political security and health security after the Sidoarjo mudflow’s disaster displacement. Our
objectives are as follows:
 Investigate the village administration failure

 Reveal the personal insecurity of villagers, particularly in regard to civil rights after resettlement
Prasojo Bayu Suwondo Putro and Nina Takashino
 Reveal the health insecurity of villagers, particularly in regard to health care access after resettlement
 Investigate the role of governments to address villages’ administration failures.
This paper is organized in the following manner: An overview and sample of our methodology is provided in Section
2. An overview of village administration failures is provided in Section 3. The present situations of victims are
summarized in the Section 4, and the summary and conclusions are provided in the Section 5.
METHODOLOGY: SAMPLE AND OVERVIEW
Data were collected between October 2013 and March 2014. The first round of the survey required conducting
interviews with the following related institutions and people: Local governments (East Java province and Sidoarjo
district); BPLS (Sidoarjo Mudflow Mitigation Board) officer; and Community group leaders, non-governmental
organizations (NGOs), and victims at the resettlement area in Sidoarjo.
The second round of the survey was conducted by distributing a questionnaire to 155 respondents (108 victims and
47 non-victims) that were randomly chosen from the Sidoarjo district disaster area. It was necessary to cooperate
with NGO staff and the local community because victims’ addresses are difficult to identify after resettling in a new
area. Table 1 provides detail on the sample taken. This survey focuses on the abandoned villages’ administration
failures after the mudflow disaster, and the government’s attempts to mitigate these failures.
Table 1. Sample overview
No. Description Detail Number

1 Sex M 130
F 25
2 Age <30 15
30< 140
4 Job Civil servant 1
Farmer 4
Trader 2
Privately employed 23
Self-employed 113
Laborer 3
Retired 1
Unemployed 8
5 Education Elementary school 52
Junior high school 45
High school 55
University 3
6 Average income 2005 (before mudflow) 113.6 USD
2013 111.7 USD
Source: Created by the author from survey data, 2014.
VILLAGE ADMINISTRATION FAILURE AFTER MUDFLOW DISASTER FORCED DISPLACEMENT
Some experts believed that Lapindo’s gas exploration activities were the main trigger of this mudflow (Davies,
2007). Government officials required Lapindo to purchase the victims’ land assets as a form of compensation,
resulting in the displacement of 13,000–20,000 households (Richard, 2011). Governments never received access
to the data of those victims. As such, after the disaster, scattered resettlement victims experienced difficulty in
locating friends and loved ones because the data of these victims’ new addresses, for example, were never
reported to local village administrators.

It is believed that many more unofficial resettlement areas remain unidentified by governments. The severity of
unsuitable living conditions after the disaster required communities to resettled as soon as possible, without
considering amenity factors of their new locations (Putro, 2012).
Abandoned Villages
Between 2006 and 2013, the mudflow continually increased its affected area, from 360 ha in 2006 to 640 ha in
2013 (now protected by a boundary dam), and has also spread to affect approximately 300 ha outside the
boundary dam in the form of land subsidence, bubble gas, and other occurrences that make an area unsuitable for
human living. The total affected area of mudflow as of 2013 is shown in Table 2.
Table 2. Area and population affected by Sidoarjo mudflow (BPLS, 2013)

Total area and population Affected area and population
No Sub district Village
Area (ha) HH Popul Area (ha) HHs Popul
1. Porong Mindi 63.41 1,339 4,377 63.41 1,339 4,377
2. Siring 74.97 925 3,078 74.97 925 3,078
3. Jatirejo 94.49 1,164 5,026 94.49 1,164 5,026
4. Glagaharum 165.60 1,375 6,646 10.02 408 1,649
5. Renokenongo 195.40 1,325 4,724 195.40 1,325 4,724
6. Tanggulangin Kalitengah 2,980 9,254 3 23 150
7. Ketapang 1,281 4,878 134.45 1,281 4,878
8. Gempolsari 1,300 4,415 6.57 121 361
9. Kedungbendo 5,784 21,993 156.60 5,784 21,993
10. Jabon Besuki 166.48 1,221 4,820 166.48 1,221 4,820
11. Kedungcangkring 120.80 1,142 3,853 24 0 0
12. Pejarakan 44.84 517 1,700 26.50 0 0
1,491.4 20,353 74,764 955.9 13,591 51,056
Source: Human Relationship Division of BPLS (2013), summarized by the author
As of August 2013, the total affected area from the mudflow eruption is 955 ha out of 1,491 ha (64%), which
resulted in the forced displacement of 13,591 households from their original villages. Seven of twelve villages
completely left their original locations, abandoning houses and land, and forfeiting their social capital and civil
rights as villagers.
Village Administration Failure
A village is considered the lowest level of administration that manages the village’s affairs related to natural
resources, commerce and trade, public service (e.g., education, health), agrarian matters, and population. Most
administrative activities within a village are related to the identity and personal data, health care, and land
administration. After the Sidoarjo mudflow disaster, several villages were forced to move their administration
offices to another area and abandon their villages’ assets. The author of this study collected data on the poor
population of the Sidoarjo regency in 2013. Table 3 shows the number of poor in the mudflow disaster areas of
Porong, Tanggulangin, and Jabon sub-districts, using data summarized from the TKPK Sidoarjo (Sidoarjo Regency’s
Team for Poverty Allegation), BNPB (National Board of Disaster Mitigation), and BPS (National Statistic Agency).
The data in Table 2 and Table 3 show inconsistencies and data failures of severe decrease in population in the
following areas: Siring, Jatirejo, and Renokenongo villages within the Porong sub-district; Kedungbendo village in
the Tanggulangin sub-district; and Besuki village in Jabon sub-district. For example, Renokenongo village is one of
the villages that was abandoned after the mudflow disaster and was forced to move its administration office to
another area. BPLS data (Table 2) show that the population in Renokenongo village was comprised of 1,325
households before the mudflow, whereas the summarized data from TKPK Sidoarjo, BNPB, and BPS in Table 3
shows that the population in Renokenongo is 0. Survey results also confirmed this data failure, in which all
respondents that originated from Renokenongo (66 of 155 respondents) should still be registered as Renokenongo
villagers. Data delivered by government institutions should show the same figures. Table 3 data, however, differ
from the BPLS data (i.e., the institution obliged to manage mudflow disaster).

Table 3. Households and poor people in three affected sub-districts (data from BNPB, BPS, TKPK Sidoarjo).
Porong Tanggulangin Jabon

No.
Villages HH Poor Villages HH Poor Villages HH Poor
1 Kebonagung 1,275 491 Randegan 1,129 283 Panggreh 921 335
2 Porong 1,261 376 Kedensari 1,693 220 Trompoasri 1,137 918
3 Mindi* 1,237 136 Kalisampurno 2,233 248 Kedungrejo 1,110 487
4 Jatirejo* 166 31 Ketapang* 1,018 125 Kedungpandan 1,132 899
5 Renokenongo* 0 0 Kd. bendo* 16 6 Semambung 660 331
6 Glagaharum* 1,037 318 Gempolsari* 1,053 251 Kupang 946 590
7 Plumbon 247 71 Sentul 688 138 Tb. Kalisogo 552 337
8 Siring* 175 36 Penatarsewu 659 198 Balongtani 644 133
9 Gedang 1,420 182 Banjarasri 542 135 Jemirahan 648 178
10 Jwt Kenongo 1,143 84 Banjarpanji 360 132 Dukuhsari 1,058 270
11 Kedungsolo 1,120 321 Kd. banteng 690 196 Kd. cangkring* 1,046 348
12 Kebakalan 375 280 Kalidawir 869 301 Pejarakan* 360 22
13 Kesambi 1,147 560 Putat 749 411 Besuki* 680 234
14 Pamotan 1,040 439 Ngaban 1,116 331 Keboguyang 1,121 528
15 Wunut 1,151 379 Kalitengah* 3,296 199 Permisan 311 183
16 Candipari 929 347 Kludan 1,090 175
17 Lajuk 1,156 669 Boro 1,077 117
18 Kedungboto 499 196 Ketegan 1,141 210
19 Pesawahan 569 317 Gg. Panjang 1199 286
20,61 3,96
Total 15,947 5,233 8 2 12,326 5,793
Source: Created by the author based on survey data, 2013.
Note: * identifies the villages affected by the Sidoarjo mudflow.
The affected villages depend on data from the higher level of government, and this example of data inconsistency
is the first step to the failure of villages’ administration after the disaster. For example, if the population and poor
people data in Table 3 are unavailable, the validity of voters’ candidates and villagers’ access to free health care
services is compromised. The heads of four abandoned villages claimed that their villages’ social and economic
climates collapsed after the mudflow erupted. Villagers loss their assets, were separated from relatives and neigh-
bors, and lost public facilities and other amenities that were previously available.
Village administrators also lost their assets and important documents, which caused the collapse of basic village
administration services. Village administrators’ salaries come from village asset exploitation (e.g., paddy fields or
and other farmlands, and other villages’ assets usage). Loss of these assets results in administrators going unpaid,
though most administrators moved to other villages and cities after the disaster. Only a small number of village
administrators remained in the disaster area. Since then, the loss of village assets, the lack of human resources,
reduced budgets, and lack of civil identity of the villagers led to the failure of the villages’ administration.
PRESENT SITUATION OF SIDOARJO MUDFLOW DISASTER VICTIMS
Voting Rights
The right to vote is one of the personal rights stated in Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that
should be protected by the government. Tables 4 and 5 show the field survey results of 155 respondents regarding
the application of voting rights.

Table 4. Voting rights situation among mudflow victims

No. Description Detail 2004 2004 2005 2008 2009 2009 2010 2013
Apr Jul Apr Jul
1 Attend to vote Y 94 94 95 96 90 96 91 81
N 10 10 10 10 16 10 15 19
n.a 4 4 3 2 2 2 2 8
2 Place of vote Old village 95 95 94 47 46 44 38 40
New place 5 5 6 15 15 19 66 67
Refugee camp 0 0 0 44 45 44 3 0
n.a 8 8 8 2 2 1 1 1
3 Institution that Village 11 18 15 14 15 15 14 12
notifies individuals Election institution 83 82 84 89 88 88 85 89
to vote Other 3 3 3 3 2 2 1 1
n.a. 11 5 6 2 3 3 8 6
4 ID shown to vote New ID 11 11 11 11 13 11 10 14
Old/Expired ID 82 82 82 83 80 82 84 77
Other certificates 9 9 9 12 12 13 12 11
n.a 6 6 6 2 3 2 2 6
Table 5. Voting rights situation among non-victims

No. Description Detail 2004 2004 2005 2008 2009 2009 2010 2013
Apr Jul Apr Jul
1 Attend to vote Y 45 45 46 47 47 46 44 31
N 1 1 1 0 0 1 3 14
n.a 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2
2 Place of vote Old village 45 45 46 45 45 45 45 44
New place 0 0 0 2 2 2 2 2
Refugee camp 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
n.a 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 1
3 Institution that Village 10 10 11 12 13 13 17 17
notifies individuals Election institution 34 32 34 32 33 33 29 27
to vote Other 1 2 1 1 0 0 0 0
n.a. 2 3 1 2 1 1 1 3
4 ID shown to vote New ID 40 40 41 42 42 41 41 38
Old/Expired ID 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 6
Other certificates 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
n.a 3 3 2 1 1 1 1 3
Tables 4 and 5 illustrate the difference in voting rights between victims and non-victims before and after the
Sidoarjo mudflow. Generally, the number of citizens who attend voting occasions is relatively stable each year,
with the exception of non-victims in 2013, where there was a rapid decrease in voters from the previous period of
2010 (-29.5%). Place of voting varies, from old village or new place, to refugee camp. The voters that remained in
their original villages in 2008 decreased 50% compared to the election in 2005. Most of them voted at refugee
camps in 2008 and 2009, but since 2010, they have voted at their new resettlement areas.
The notification system was not conducted well for either victims or non-victims. For example, some villagers were
not notified about voting specifics from the Election Commission Komisi Pemilihan Umum [KPU]). Approximately
20% of villagers were notified by their village office or other information sources (e.g., neighbors, community
group) instead of by KPU, the official voting commission. How and why the villagers vote without notice from KPU
is unknown. After being notified, voters must show an ID card or other documents at their designated voting
spot. In this survey, the author has divided ID types as follows: new ID card, old/expired ID card, and other
documents (e.g., letter from village office).
This survey shows that the average number of old/expired ID card and other certificates comprising more than 85%
of total respondents’ method of identification.
In most cases, the villagers had already been living in resettlement areas since 2008, making their old identity/
status invalid, as they did not report their new location to the old authority. Where they live now is still unknown,
according to the election commission. On the other hand, it would be understandable if the large number of old/
expired ID cards and the other certificates resulted after the forced displacement. This large percentage, however,
appeared every year and was relatively stable. How and why the village administrators did not notice that most of
its citizens were holding old/expired IDs is unconfirmed.
Health Care Situation
Starting January 1, 2014, Indonesia changed its health insurance to a system called JKN (National Health Insurance).
It requires all Indonesian citizens, including foreigners who work in Indonesia, to have this insurance. The previous
insurance system was not mandatory, resulting in many citizens who did not have insurance, even if they could
afford the coverage. The problem with this obligatory system is that the free subsidy for the poor is based on
official population data, which is not well-maintained. The field survey in March 2014 interviewed 155 households
about the health care situation before and after the mudflow disaster (2004-2013). Results are shown in Table 6.
Tables 6 and 7 illustrate the differences in health care between victims and non-victims before and after the
Sidoarjo mudflow. Generally, sickness in villagers increased for both victims and non-victims that lived near the
mudflow disaster area (i.e., a radius of 1–5 km). The relationship of housing locations to the increase in health cases
is unconfirmed. Regarding the payment/facility, the self-payment method increased slightly during the period 2006
–2009, and rapidly increased from 2010–2013. During 2006–2008, most respondents were still in refugee camps,
and they resettled in late 2009. Even if the self-payment number increased after the resettlement, the connection
between resettlement and the increase in self-payment is unconfirmed. This study also collected the disease cases
among respondents. The two most common diseases among victims were influenza (19.4%) and others (12.5%).
The two most common diseases among non-victims were others (31.6%) and fever (17.0%). There was also a
psychological/depression case, but the correlation of this case to the mudflow impact is unconfirmed.
Table 6. Health care situation among mudflow victims.
No. Description Detail 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
1 Frequency of Never 54 58 51 50 52 39 33 27 24 25
sickness/ year 1-12 45 38 44 46 46 62 65 66 59 53
12< 2 2 4 3 5 3 7 12 23 20
n.a. 7 10 9 9 5 4 3 3 2 10
2 Annual cost Free 13 13 13 14 18 15 14 18 18 14
<100 USD 39 32 40 38 39 52 57 57 46 40
100 USD< 1 1 1 1 1 1 5 7 21 22
n.a 55 62 54 55 50 40 32 26 23 32
3 Payment/ Insurance 26 20 26 21 25 28 31 33 28 27
Facility Poor certificate 5 2 3 6 2 4 1 2 6 3
Self-payment 28 28 30 30 35 39 46 49 53 51
n.a 49 58 49 51 46 37 30 24 21 27
4 Disease cases Headache 9 4 5 5 6 8 15 11 9 7
Fever 7 5 8 4 6 8 9 11 5 8
Influenza 25 24 22 20 22 25 26 21 17 8
Respiratory 0 0 0 1 2 0 1 2 5 4
Depressed 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Others 10 18 16 21 15 10 0 6 15 24
n.a 57 57 57 57 57 57 57 57 57 57

Table 7. Health care situation among non-victims.
No. Description Detail 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
1 Frequency of Never 23 23 25 27 24 18 19 17 16 18
sickness/ year 1-12 16 18 18 16 20 27 24 24 25 20
12< 2 3 2 3 3 2 3 6 6 6
n.a. 6 3 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 3
2 Annual cost Free 10 10 11 9 12 10 11 15 16 14
<100 USD 16 18 28 18 20 30 32 24 30 26
100 USD< 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1
n.a 20 19 8 20 15 7 3 8 0 6
3 Payment/ Insurance 7 11 9 8 12 14 16 15 16 17
Facility Poor certificate 3 3 5 5 5 7 6 6 7 5
Self-payment 5 6 6 6 7 7 7 9 8 6
n.a 32 27 27 28 23 19 18 17 16 19
4 Disease cases Headache 3 5 3 2 2 2 1 2 1 1
Fever 5 4 8 6 8 8 9 4 6 5
Influenza 4 2 2 1 1 2 2 2 2 1
Respiratory 1 1 1 2 3 3 3 3 3 4
Depressed 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1
Others 6 10 7 9 11 14 10 18 18 14
n.a 28 25 26 27 22 18 21 17 16 21
Regarding the new insurance system, mudflow victims were especially worried about experiencing difficulties in
accessing care. The field survey interview reveals the slow response when villagers (especially those from the
abandoned villages) requested a poor certificate from the village and sub-district office. The old system required
the poor to obtain a certificate to get free health care services at hospitals or other facilities. In the new system,
however, all data will be integrated, and all registered citizens will get a membership card to show at health care
facilities before receiving services. The data of the poor, however, is not well-managed by the government (see
Section 3), and if the data has not been verified in the system, they may not be able to access these free health
care services.
Government Action
Countrywide government regulation allows district governments to abolish certain villages from the district and
sub-district administration if they are deemed “infeasible.” For a village to be considered feasible, it has to meet
the following criteria: the population is at least 300 households; village’s area is reachable; village is connected to
another village; the social capital among villagers is maintained; village has potency of natural and human
resources; and village has a clear border that shown on an official village map.
Based on these criteria, the abandoned villages from the mudflow disaster are feasible to abolish by law, because
no (or few) villagers lived there, the villages are often unreachable, and village borders have disappeared under the
mudflow. The villages have no authority to abolish themselves; rather, the local parliament and the Regent of
Sidoarjo must agree on the abolishment of villages. Abolishment or mergers, however, are problematic for victims
because the compensation installment process between victims and Lapindo is still unfinished. Administratively,
the victims still need to retain their original village status until the process finished.
Survey results show that 108 of 155 respondents who attempted to claim an identity card for their new village
were rejected. Voting rights for victims are also affected by these rejections, as voter candidates’ data could
remain unverified, leading to denial of voting rights. Well-managed population data are also useful in health care
services, particularly on the data of poor people as the predominantly recipient candidates of the free health care
services.

CONCLUSION
This paper reviewed the failure of villages’ administration, as well as voting rights and health care issues for victims
of the Sidoarjo mudflow disaster in the post-resettlement period. Field research on these topics revealed the
following:
1) The mudflow disaster forced villagers to resettle in new areas, resulting in a collapse of the villages’
administration, and a loss of public services for villagers.
2) Most of the mudflow disaster’s victims were not eligible to vote because the election authorities could not
confirm or register their identities after resettlement.
3) Third, survey results show that most villagers still need insurance or other health service facilities to support
their health care, especially poor people who depend on the government subsidy. They are also worried that
the new system will not provide health care access for the poor, again due to substandard data management.
4) The only way to develop better village administration after the mudflow disaster is to merge or abolish the
affected villages. The villages, however, do not have the authority to abolish or to merge by themselves, and
victims administratively need to retain their original village status until the compensation process with Lapindo
is finished. Therefore, local parliament and regencies need to wait until the compensation payments are
finished before abolishing or merging villages that are deemed infeasible.
These facts reveal that personal, political, and health insecurities were caused by the failure of village
administration after the Sidoarjo mudflow disaster. As only a small number of victims were identified by authorities
after the disaster (i.e., with most still unidentified), population data on victims is unconfirmed, which affects voting
rights and health care access for the community, especially the poor.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We would like to express our appreciation to Mrs. Siti, Ms. Farida Hudanti, Mr. Timan, villagers and respondents for
the kind support during the conduct of this research. This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number
24688023.
ENDNOTES
1
Author’s survey result in 2013.
2
http://surabaya.tribunnews.com/2013/10/30/penghapusan-desa-lumpur-di-sidoarjo-terganjal-aturan-depdagri.
3
Author’s survey result in 2013.
4
Human Security has seven components: (1) Economic Security, (2) Food Security, (3) Health Security, (4) Environmental Security, (5) Personal
Security, (6) Community Security, and (7) Political Security (UN, 2009).
5
Interview with several villages head and community on March 2013.
6
Correspondence with BPLS officer on January 2014.
7
Interview results from Mr. Jemain (Siring village head), Mr. Subakhri (Renokenongo village head), Mr. Abdul Manaf (Jatirejo village head),
and Mr. Asrol (Mindi village head), on October 16, 2013.
8
Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representative;
- The will of the people … shall be expressed in periodic and genuine election …, and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free
voting procedure.
9
Interview with Human Relationship Division of BPLS. 2013
http://surabaya.okezone.com/read/2013/03/13/521/775086/66-ribu-korban-lumpur-lapindo-terancam-tak-bisa-nyoblos.
10
Law Number 40 year 2004 concerning of National Health Insurance (JKN).
11
Author has divided disease cases into six cases categories: headache, fever, influenza, respiratory problem, psychological problem/
depressed, and other diseases (e.g., hypertension, dengue, types, diabetes, stomachaches or diarrhea, physical injures)
12
Interview results from Mbak Har, group leader of “Ar-Rohmah,” on October 6, 2013.
13
Interior Affairs Minister’s regulation No. 28 year 2006 regarding of Formation, Abolition, and Change of Village’s Status.
14
Interview result with Mr. Jemain (Siring village head), Mr. Subakhri (Renokenongo village head), Mr. Abdul Manaf (Jatirejo village head), and
Mr. Asrol (Mindi village head), on 16 October 2013.

REFERENCES
BNPB, BPS. “Data dan Informasi Bencana Indonesia” (Data of Indonesian Disaster). Retrieved from dibi.bnpb.go.id.
BPLS (Sidoarjo Mudflow Management Board). 2009. “Strategic Plan of 2010-2014”. BPLS. Surabaya. vii, 156pp. (in
Indonesian)
Davies, Richard. J. 2007. “Birth of a mud volcano: East Java, 29 May 2006.” GSA Today: v. 17, no. 2, 1-6pp.
Davies, R. et al., Sarwono et al. 2010. “The mud volcano controversy: Was it caused by drilling?” Marine and Petro-
leum Geology, doi: 10.1016, 1-7pp.
Law No. 40 Year 2004 Concerning National Health Insurance (JKN). Government of Indonesia.
McMichael, Heath. 2009. “The Lapindo Mudflow Disaster: Environmental, Infrastructure and Economic Impact.”
Bulletin of Indonesian Studies, vol. 45, no. 1, 2009: 73-83.
Putro, Prasojo Bayu S. 2012. “Social and Economic Impact of The Sidoarjo Mudflow: Community Resettlement
After Disaster.” Master Thesis. Graduate School of Agricultural Science. Tohoku University, Japan.
Regulation No. 28 Year 2006 Regarding Formation, Abolition, and Change of Village’s Status. Interior Affairs Minis-
ter.
Regulation No. 72 Year 2005 Concerning Village. Government of Indonesia.
Richard, J.R. 2011. “Report into the Past, Present and Future Social Impacts of Lumpur Sidoarjo.” Humanitus. Mel-
bourne, Australia. 162pp.
TKPK Sidoarjo (Sidoarjo Regency’s Team of Poor Allegation). “Poor People Data of Sidoarjo Regency.” Retrieved
from www.tkpksidoarjo.go.id (March 2013).
United Nations. 2009. “Human Security in Theory and Practice.” Application of the Human Security Concept and
the United Nation Trust Fund for Human Security. 79pp.
United Nations General Assembly. 1948. “Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” 8pp.

MUTUAL HELP AMONG SMALL-SCALE FARMERS IN LAO PDR:
A CASE STUDY OF A VILLAGE IN VIENTIANE PROVINCE
Yoichi Shimano
University of Tsukuba/Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences, Japan
shimanoyoichi@affrc.go.jp
Masuo Ando
Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences, Japan
amasuo@affrc.go.jp
Roger Khamphet
National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute, Lao PDR
rogerkhamphet@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
Mutual help among villagers plays an important role in coping with risk and resource scarcity in rural societies in developing
countries. This reciprocal cooperation includes food sharing, borrowing/renting contracts of money and in-kind, and exchange
of resources such as labor. However, this study determines the structure and logic of these assistance activities, identifying how
mutual assistance is formulated within and without family networks in rural communities in a semi-mountainous region of Lao
PDR. Our data are based on fieldwork and in-depth interviews conducted in a village where the cultivation of paddy and upland
rice is the main occupation. We found that during the peak labor season, the formation of groups for sharing labor largely
depends on the choice of crop site and its proximity to other farmers’ crop sites. It also depends on the available labor force and
degree of kinship. However, in renting/borrowing rice to cope with temporary shortages, the formation of mutual help groups
differs from that of labor exchanges. Furthermore, we found that conditions are not always better for borrowing from relative s
than from non-relatives.
Keywords: Lao PDR, network, mutual help
INTRODUCTION
The commercialization of agriculture has recently been disseminated to rural areas of Lao PDR. Since the 1990s,
when shifting cultivation was formally prohibited in protected areas, some farmers have introduced cash crops or
engaged in non-farm employment. However, capital and labor constraints as well as limited access to fertile land
have made it difficult for farmers to transform subsistence agriculture into commercialized agriculture.
In these rural areas, mutual help among villagers plays an important role in coping with risk and resource scarcity.
This reciprocal cooperation includes food sharing, borrowing/renting contracts of money and in-kind, and exchange
of resources such as labor. Specifically, agricultural labor exchange is the most common form of cooperation at the
household level (Ireson 1996). For example, during the peak rice production season, labor is exchanged to ensure
smooth rice production processes. In terms of consumption, borrowing or sharing rice is an important form of
mutual help. In Lao PDR, rain-fed rice production accounts for a large proportion of the total. However, productivity
is not stable, and rice borrowing and sharing are important for coping with temporary and seasonal deficit of rice
for consumption.
Considerable discussion has focused on whether mutual help depends on relatives and neighbors. However, recent
studies indicate other factors impacting mutual help. Yoshino (2014) stated that proximity of residences is an
important factor in labor exchange. In addition, Tu and Bulte (2010) stated that trusted households are more likely
to participate in labor markets than to use a labor exchange system. Thus, it is important to consider that the
structure and logic of mutual help differs according to the contexts of mutual help situations.
In this study, we examine two types of mutual help, labor exchange/help and rice borrowing/renting, and indicate
how they mutual help are formulated and overlapped. From the perspective of family relationships, labor
exchange/help and rice borrowing/renting are expected to have a similar structure. By focusing on the differences
between the two mutual help structures, we reconsider the reasons for these differences and identify the
motivation behind each mutual help situation.

Yoichi Shimano et al
METHOD
Village Information
The village in our study is located in the rural mountainous area of Vientiane Province, which is characterized by
plateau and mountainous areas. The mountainous area has few paddy fields, and cash crops are harvested to
substitute for shifting cultivation, which is declining; however, some villagers still engage in upland rice production
to achieve self-sufficiency.
The village has 140 households (2013), a large proportion of which engage in upland rice production. Few
households harvest cash crops. The lowland areas surrounding the residential area are suitable for paddy fields;
however, these do not meet the villagers’ demand. In addition, since the 2000s, when the number of immigrants
increased, it has become difficult to find suitable land for paddy rice production.
While some households immigrated with their relatives, there is no large kinship or clan group in the village. There
are about 20 households in early 1990s. Afterward, the number of household has increased rapidly by new
immigrants and marriages between villagers. Thus, the kinship relationship is not so tight compared to other
traditional communities in Laos. They form loosely linked networks which includes close friends called hak pheng
kan, This network is one of the base relationship for mutual help or reciprocity.
Two religions are practiced in the village: Lao lum and Khmu. Most migrants are Khmu, people from northern Lao
PDR, where shifting cultivation was the primary farming activity. After shifting cultivation was prohibited, some of
them started seeking non-agricultural work. However, some continued rice production in other areas to maintain
their traditional farming methods. In contrast to the Khmu, the Lao lum are likely to engage in paddy production,
and some of them, too, came from other regions, hoping for opportunities to hold paddy land in the village.
The major source of income for farmers is rice sales. In addition, some farmers harvest cash crops including Job’s
tears, cassava, corn, and rubber trees. Vegetables and fruits are also harvested in gardens or around upland rice
fields. However, farmers who do not have access to adequate land do not have the opportunity to earn income
from sales. Furthermore, selling non-timber forest products (NTFPs) harvested near the mountain is another
important source of income.
Analysis
Using data collected from an interview survey of villagers, we identified how mutual help for labor and rice is
formulated within and outside family networks. First, we analyzed the relationship between rice production type
and labor exchange/help and rice borrowing. Second, we analyzed overlapping relationships between labor
exchange/help and rice borrowing. Rice producing farmers were classified into three types: (i) only paddy, (ii) only
upland, and (iii) paddy and upland. This categorization indicates how rice production type influences the formation
of mutual help.
It is also important to define the term “relative” when examining mutual relationships between households. In Lao
PDR, a relative is referred to as phi-nong. However, phi-nong has several definitions. In this study, it is defined as a
blood relative within two degrees of kinship. By distinguishing mutual help activities according to relatives or non-
relatives, the need to examine incentives for mutual help becomes clear.
Survey
The data for this study were collected from in-depth interviews conducted in September 2013 and January 2014.
There were 140 households in this village as of January 2013. Of these, 17 were not available for data collection at
the time of the survey: in 12 households, parents work in the urban area near Vientiane Capital; three households
had relocated; and two live with another household. Thus, data collected from 123 households were analyzed in
this study.

Household Characteristics
Table 1 presents the major characteristics of households. The ratio of non-farm employment (0.74) indicates that in
2013, members of 74% of village households, including those who worked away from home for a long time,
engaged in non-farm work such as carpentry, road construction, guano gathering, well digging, and logging in the
village or in outlying villages. This ratio includes households with migrant workers in urban areas. Working away
from home is not taken by core adult members, but children of working age in the family. In addition, 7% of the
villagers are self-employed. This includes people who manage their own businesses such as vehicle repairs, retail
shops, and rice mills, as well as public workers such as village officers, teachers, police, and army members.
Furthermore, 37% of households own tractors.
Table 1. Household characteristics
(N = 123) Average SD Range

No. of members (persons) 5.64 1.98 2-13
Age of head 40.52 12.57 23-91
Ratio of non-farm employ- 0.74 0.44
0-1
ment
Ratio of self-employed 0.07 0.25 0-1
Ratio of tractor holder 0.37 0.49 0-1
Source: 2013 Survey
Agricultural Landholding
Table 2 shows rice production and livelihood by harvesting type in 2013. The upland area was calculated on the
basis of the amount of rice seed for planting. According to villagers’ practices, we assume that 60 kg of seed is
needed to plant 1 ha of land. Most of the 123 households engaged in rice production in 2013. Eight households did
not produce rice, which can be attributed to some households engaging in non-farm work or not having sufficient
labor for rice production. The number of households planting only paddy rice was 27, lower than that of upland
farmers. The average paddy area was 0.94 ha, similar to that of type (iii) farmers. However, type (iii) farmers also
planted 1.16 ha of upland rice, meaning their total planted area was larger than that of type (i). This suggests that
type (i) farmers produced rice for self-sufficiency and likely relied on income from non-farm employment or self-
employment. Compared with the area for those who planted paddies, the area for upland rice production for type
(iii) farmers was larger. Non-farm activities are also important for paddy and upland rice farmers. Although these
households planted rice over a larger area, they engaged in non-farm work for income. However, there were few
self-employed or public officers in this village.
Table 2. Rice production by harvesting pattern in 2013
Planted area 2013

Non-farm activity (No. of HH)
(ha)
No. of HH Self-employed/
Paddy Upland Daily labor
official
(i) Paddy 27 0.94 0 17 (63%) 5 (19%)
(ii) Upland 59 0 2.22 42 (71%) 1 (2%)
(iii) Paddy + Upland 29 0.83 1.16 25 (86%) 1 (3%)
No 8 0 0 7 (88%) 1 (13%)
Total 123 0.40 1.34 91 (74%) 8 (7%)
Source: 2013 Survey. Note: HH - Harvesting-type households.

RESULTS
Labor Exchange/help and Landholding
Table 3 indicates mutual help for labor by household type. We classified mutual help for labor into labor exchange
and labor help. Labor exchange basically requires an equal exchange of people and days. On the other hand, some
households helped others at no charge and with no requirements. This could include free meals, although most
people state that labor is provided at no cost. We define this relationship as labor help.
Table 3. Mutual help between households for rice production
Labor exchange Labor help
Relative Others Both No Total Relative Others Both No Total

(i)
Paddy 11 6 6 4 27 15 7 2 3 27
(ii)
Upland 2 17 36 4 59 27 5 3 24 59
(iii) Paddy + Up-
1 7 20 1 29 15 5 5 4 29
land
Total 14 30 62 9 115 57 17 10 31 115
Source: 2013 Survey
Labor exchange and help are significant in both paddy and upland rice production; however, differences between
the two are evident. While the proportion of households providing labor help was high for all types of production,
labor exchange in upland paddy farmers depends highly on non-relatives. Upland rice production is labor intensive;
therefore, labor exchange does not take place only between relatives.
Rice Borrowing and Landholding
Table 4 illustrates rice borrowing and renting relationships between households. Some households rented rice to
relatives or acquaintances outside the village. However, as it is no so dominant, this study focused only on inter-
household renting in the village. While most households engaged in rice production, about a half of them
borrowed rice from others. Specifically, type (ii) farmers borrowed more rice than did other groups. They
harvested upland rice from December, later than the paddy rice harvest. In addition, it took longer to transport the
rice to the residential areas. Thus, type (ii) farmers were more likely to face a rice deficit, although their average
area for planting rice was larger than that for other types (Table 1). As they harvest both upland and paddy rice,
fewer type (iii) than type (ii) households borrowed rice. Furthermore, relatives did not regulate kinship
relationships with regard to rice borrowing/renting. Regardless of type of harvesting, various relationships formed
between each household.
Table 4. Rice borrowing/renting relationships between households
Rice borrowing Rice renting
Relative Others Both No Total Relative Others Both No Total
(i) Paddy 2 4 1 20 27 1 9 1 16 27
(ii) Upland 7 20 12 20 59 11 10 5 33 59
(iii) Both 2 6 3 18 29 6 10 7 6 29
Total 11 30 16 58 115 18 29 13 55 115
Source: 2013 Survey

Mutual Help for Rice and Labor
Table shows correlated relationships with regard to labor exchange/help and rice borrowing/renting. Households
who exchanged labor only with non-relatives were likely to borrow rice from non-relatives (13 households). Of
these, 11 had relatives in the village. Thus, while their relatives stayed in the same village, they did not rely on them.
Conversely, households who exchanged labor with both relatives and non-relatives demonstrated a more flexible
rice borrowing pattern. However, some borrowed rice only from relatives and others only from non-relatives. Thus,
it can be assumed that the extent of labor exchange increased rice borrowing options.
We can compare the source of dependency of rice borrowing on between labor exchange and help relationships.
For the farmers depending on help from their relatives, they have dispersed source of borrowing of rice. In other
words, the extent of the rice borrowing network is larger than that of the relative network. Helping at no charge is
based on mutual faith. Furthermore, the peak rice production season is the same, because rice is the main produce
for most households. Thus, it is suggested that they prioritize labor sharing at no charge for particular households
during the peak season.
Table 5. Mutual help relationships between labor exchange and rice borrowing/renting
Rice borrowing Rice renting

Relative Others Both No Relative Others Both No
Relative 2 1 11 1 5 1 7
Labor
Others 1 13 3 13 2 7 4 17
ex-
Both 8 13 12 29 14 17 7 24
change
No 2 2 5 1 1 7
Relative 6 15 8 28 12 11 8 26
Others 1 4 1 11 1 6 1 9
Labor
help Both 1 2 3 4 3 3 1 3
No 3 9 4 15 2 9 3 17
Source: 2013 Survey
These results clarify the varied network of labor exchange/help and rice borrowing based on the contexts of mutual
help situations. In addition, some households had different partners depending on mutual help. These were not
necessarily in the same network, even if mutual help was based on a relative relationship.
CONCLUSION
Based on in-depth interviews with households in the rural mountainous area of Lao PDR, this study identified three
significant factors regarding mutual help in the form of labor exchange and rice borrowing. First, we found that in
the peak labor season, the formation of groups for exchanging labor depended on relatives. In contrast with paddy
rice farmers, upland rice farmers also depended on labor from non-relatives, because upland rice production is
labor intensive. Second, upland rice farmers tended to borrow rice from non-relatives. Low production, late
harvesting, and transportation of rice from fields caused a rice deficit. Thus, it is assumed that the rice borrowing
network depends on factors related to the choice of crop site. Third, it was clarified that the extent of the rice
borrowing network is larger than that of the relative network. Essentially, the formation of rice borrowing/renting
groups differs from that of labor exchanges, that is, conditions are not always better for borrowing rice from
relatives than from non-relatives. These results highlight the importance of understanding the motivation of
multiple mutual help situations in rural areas in developing countries.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This study was conducted as part of the “Establishment of a Sustainable and Independent Farm Household
Economy in the Rural Areas of Indo-China” project by the Japan International Research Center for Agricultural
Sciences and the National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute (Lao PDR). We also thank Ms. Vilayphone for
her support during the survey.
REFERENCES
Ireson, Randall W. 1996. “Invisible Walls: Village Identity and the Maintenance of Cooperation in Laos.” Journal of
Southeast Asian Studies. Vol.27. No.2. pp. 219-244.
Tu, Q. and Bulte, E. 2010. “Trust, Market Participation and Economic Outcomes: Evidence from Rural China.” World
Development. Vol.38. No.8. pp. 1179-1190.
Yoshino, A. 2014. “The Agricultural Labor Exchange in the Iu Mien Society: A Report on the Swidden Cultivation of
the Iu Mien in Northern Thailand (2) and a Report on Subsequent Change.” 東京学芸大学紀要人文社会科
学系. II Vol.65. pp. 105-114. (In Japanese)

WATER PROBLEMS IN COUNTRIES BLESSED WITH ABUNDANT WATER
-NATURAL DRINKING WATER IN JAPAN’S RURAL COMMUNITIES-
Atsushi Makino
University Kumamoto
ABSTRACT
People who live in the Asian monsoon region often face a number of common water problems that include water shortages and
groundwater pollution. Furthermore, we often adopt similar methods for dealing with increasing risks to the public’s daily water
supply. The most common technical solution involves expanding government operated public water supply systems. However,
the sanitary policies lack of appreciation of the benefits of natural drinking water might actually be increasing inequalities,
because it fails to ensure the kinds of fulfilling lifestyles that can be associated with good water environments. Therefore, in this
paper, I examined the possibility of pursuing the sustainable use of natural potable water because the use of such water incurs
little or no expense, and because their users most often manage the sources. Through the observation of natural water users i n
Japan's rural area, I pointed that the use and enjoyment of well and spring water was reviving in Japan, and it may be the
possibility of discovering new paths toward our common future that all people will be able to access safety water.
Keywords, inequalities with sanitary interventions, natural drinking-water, commons, the cultural diversity of rural
communities.
WATER MODERNIZATION AND SIGNS OF NEW INEQUALITIES
The Asian monsoon region, which includes the Japanese Islands, is an area known for its profuse rainfall, and is
therefore blessed with an abundance of water. Yet, simultaneously, a number of the governments and peoples in
this region face common water-related problems. Among those problems are the water shortages that accompany
rapid economic growth and urbanization, while another is the water pollution and groundwater degradation that
often accompanies industrialization. Furthermore, many governments have adopted similar ways in dealing with
increasing risks to their populations’ daily water requirements, primarily by seeking technical solutions aimed at
expanding their government-operated water supply systems. Therefore, since water supply system coverage
continues to expand in the region’s metropolitan areas, it could be expected that piped water coverage in rural
areas would gradually rise gradually as well.
We tend to think of such technical solutions as effective methods of protecting our water resources and living
environments. However, a recent report drafted by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations
Children’s Fund (UNICEF) raises cautions about such assumptions (1). Section B: Highlighting inequalities (WHO and
UNISEF, 2014, pp. 13-30) said that "sanitary interventions that do not have an equity focus may exacerbate
inequality by failing to reach the most disadvantaged subgroups”. Indeed, this report highlights the point that gaps
in access to improved drinking water and sanitation among different groups (such as urban and rural areas,
different sub-regions, or ethnic groups) have grown despite the rapid development of health and sanitation
systems. Furthermore, it stated, “Closing these gaps requires explicit consideration of those who are being left
behind”.
I agree with the author’s stance that all people should be able to access to clean water, especially water that is safe
to drink. However, I question the method feasibility. Specifically, considering the cultural diversity of rural
communities and their relationship to water-human issues, will it really be possible to achieve our common goal –
ensuring adequate potable water for all – by focusing solely on the same technological solutions that mark today’s
modern water supply systems? Against this question, a recent change in Japanese government policy on drinking
water might provide us with some useful insights.
In 2013, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW), which deals with drinking water policy in
Japan, revised its water supply system plan(2). In the preface, two reasons for the revision were given. One reason
was their response to Japan’s decreasing population, while the other was their response to the lessons learned in

Atsushi Makino
the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011. I suggest paying more attention to the
following substantive changes than the two general reasons. One such change is the decision to consider stopping
efforts to extend the modern water supply system to small mountainous local communities, which are outside the
areas covered by current water supply systems, while another change is a renewed interest in wells and springs as
primary sources of drinking water. Of course, the latter are also relevant as sources of drinking water during times
of emergency.
However, these changes were based solely on the problems that have arisen with Japan’s drinking water policies.
After World War II, the Japanese government has focused its drinking water policy on expanding government-
operated piped water systems and has made especially strong efforts to encourage tap water use in rural areas.
This is primarily because unequal access to safe drinking water in rural areas caused concerns about water safety
among public officials and health researchers. Therefore, efforts by local rural government have to expand their
piped water supply systems were financially supported by the national government (3). On the other hand, the
Japanese Water Supply System Law stated that, in principle, establishment of drinking-water supply agencies were
the responsibility of local governments, which were expected to operate on a stand-alone basis and be supported
by payments made by residents and other users.
As a consequence of these stipulations, rural local government water supply agencies have faced a chronic
shortfall in the funds necessary to replace aging facilities and to pay off debts incurred due to facility
replacements, primarily because their business risks have been increasing. Local governments are no longer able
to bridge the funding gaps. It is against this background that the national government began to reconsider their
efforts to extend government-operated piped water supply systems(4).
What should we learn from this change in Japanese drinking water policy? Of course, while it is important to
maintain safe drinking water, the new drinking water policy is laden with unpredictable and uncertain elements,
some of which might even extend the current gap between mountainous rural community residents and urban
residents. However, protecting natural safe water sources can still provide the most reliable method of resolving
water-related inequalities between rich and poor and/or urban and rural areas.
Will it be possible for rural Japanese people to drink water obtained from their own local water resources in the
future? I examined this possibility via three cases involving human-water linkage in rural communities of
Kumamoto Prefecture, where water supply system coverage has long been the lowest nationwide.
RETHINKING DRINKING WATER IN JAPAN
Historical Background
Each year, the MHLW issues information on the nation’s water supply systems. According to this information, only
2.5% of Japan’s residents are now drinking natural water. In population terms, this amounts to approximately four
million people. However, of course, these figures are incapable to of showing the actual conditions of rural natural
water use, or whether it is being used correctly. Accordingly, let’s take a brief historical look at Japan’s government
-operated water supply systems.
During the pre-modern era, Japanese people usually relied on well water or/and river water for their daily
drinking, washing, and irrigation needs. Installation of modern pressurized water supply systems equipped with
clarification devices began in the late 19th century, and were primarily aimed at minimizing the spread of water-
borne diseases such as cholera. These water supply systems started in the large cities and ports during Meiji Era.
After World War II, the Japanese government began genuine efforts to expand the nation’s water supply systems.
During the period of rapid economic growth, the coverage of piped water grew with notable rapidity in urban
areas such as Tokyo (5).
In contrast, while post-war efforts were made to get government-operated water supply systems started in rural
areas as well, the coverage expansion in those areas was slower than the average urban expansion pace.
Nevertheless, I cannot accept the idea that rural communities in those days had ignored the relationship between
health and water safety, because those communities usually owned their water sources, such as springs or small
rivers.

Atsushi Makino
Therefore, when viewed from a sanitation aspect, the historical background of modern Japanese water supply
systems leads us to the conclusion that the government agencies believed that areas lacking reliable sources of
potable water needed tap water for drinking, when, in fact, we encountered a number of residents who boasted
that the well or spring water in their communities was very sweet. This certainly applies to the water use policies in
the rural areas of Kumamoto Prefecture.
Water Use in Kumamoto Prefecture
Kumamoto Prefecture is located in the center of the island of Kyushu in southwestern Japan. The population in this
prefecture area is approximately 1.8 million, 734,000 of which live in Kumamoto city. This area is especially
prosperous in terms of agriculture and is one of the leading rice producing areas of Japan, as well as a bountiful
source of vegetables, fruit, and livestock products.
People living in the Kumamoto region are also known as active groundwater users. In this area, throughout history,
groundwater has been used for drinking, washing, crop irrigation, and/or other uses. For example, Kumamoto City
is famous as "the underground water city” because 100% of the city’s water supply is obtained from groundwater
sources (6).
However, if we pay attention to people's daily lives, there is another angle to consider. That is that the fact that the
piped water penetration rate continues to be low. Figure 1 shows a precise breakdown in water supply system
trends in Japan and the Kumamoto Prefectural area. As can be seen in the figure, Kumamoto’s penetration rate of
86.1% is the lowest among Japan’s prefectures, and is more than 10% lower than the Japan average. In other
words, approximately 258,000 people live without access to government supplied tap water. Indeed, there are
several local governments that which have no water supply systems, or which have only modest water supply
systems (7).
It is said that such people are able to live without government supplied piped water because the qualities of natural
water (well or spring water) are better for drinking, but there are other factors to note. For example, the
convenience and usability of such well water is often times equal to large-scale piped water supply systems
because the small size pumping technologies necessary for conducting well water to their home kitchens have
improved, and thus provide the residents with a permanently free source of natural potable water.
Viewpoint for Analyzing Water Problems
Here, I would like to provide a breakdown of water usage in Kumamoto Prefecture. Sanitary interventions aimed
solely at extending the coverage of government operated water supply systems have an obvious fault in guarding
drinking-water because such interventions draw attention away from the need to protect the citizenry’s historically
diverse water sources – well water, spring water, or other natural water sources. Accordingly, I will advocate the
use of the following classifications when analyzing residential water use in the rural areas of Japan.
Type 1: These residents derive all their drinking and domestic use water from government operated water supply
systems. I’m not concerned with this type.
Type 2: These residents use hybrid water supplies combining natural water and piped water obtained from large-
scale government water supply systems.
Type 3: These residents use wells, springs, or river water for drinking and other domestic daily uses, because there
are no available government operated water supply systems.
While we tend to think that Type 3 is the oldest and most classical method of using water, I do not take the
position that it is obsolete. Rather, I feel we should to pay attention to the ingenious local efforts made to safely
maintain and preserve natural water resources, which include wells, spring water, and small rivers. Among those
water resources, it is important to focus on the use of spring waters, which have been sustained as common pooled
resources in at least one rural community of the Kumamoto area. Furthermore, it is often said that the sustainable

Atsushi Makino
use of common pooled resources benefits from self-governing organizations, such as the small-scale communities
found in rural areas. In the next section, we will examine Type 2 water use because this type reflects a number of
typical Japanese water use methods. Therein, we will focus on the following question: Why do residents maintain
and use natural potable spring water when their communities are covered by accessible government operated
water supply systems?
HUMAN-WATER LINKAGE OF THE SPRING WATER USE
Type 2: Hybrid Water Use
I will now discuss a case that gives a detailed illustration of the way spring-fed ponds are used in the rural villages
of the Aso Mountain area of Kumamoto Prefecture. Figure 2 shows a watercourse named “Terasaka Water
Source”. Terasaka, which is the name of this village, consists of 28 households. In each minute, five tons of water
flows from this spring. A portion of the water is diverted into the village’s small water canal, and then onward into
its paddies.
It was interesting to note that rural residents had definitive ideas on the proper way to use flowing streams, which
provided them with a convenient method of sharing the limited water efficiently among themselves. Specifically,
water gathered from the farthest convenient point upstream is used for drinking, while downstream water is used
for washing. Even further downstream, the water was used for rice paddy irrigation. Of course, every effort was
made to keep the upstream water clean, and thus safe for drinking.
These days, numerous visitors travel to this area to collect and imbibe the natural water. Indeed, numerous other
watercourses in this area are known for their high quality water. However, because of the small-scale water supply
system that had been constructed in this area about 60 years ago, almost all of the people in this village routinely
use tap water today. According to interviews conducted with several residents, many women continued to come
to this watercourse even after the water supply system had been installed because they enjoyed gathering to talk
with each other while washing clothes. Yet, as time went on, the gatherings gradually dwindled and then stopped.
Many communal village activities were changed when tap water came into use. However, it seems unlikely that
those water uses will disappear completely, because, during our visits, we still sometimes saw women washing
clothes and often met residents who continue to use spring water for drinking or cooking at watercourses in this
area. In other words, the residents are potentially type 2 hybrid-type water users, as listed above. For example, in
the 1980’s, when the number of people gathering was decreasing, people began collective activities to maintain it.
Now, once each month, residents gather at the watercourse to clean it and ensure it is well maintained.
Furthermore, one resident who lives nearby recently switched from government-supplied tap water to drinking
water from the watercourse. During his interview, he said “we (his family) want to drink better quality water than
what is being served by the water supply system”. Of course, the quality of water from the watercourse meets or
exceeds the government-imposed water quality standard. Now, let’s return again to the question, “Why are
residents protecting their natural spring water in spite of their accessible water supply systems?
The maintenance of watercourses filled with potable water has several common design principles. At first, the
ownership and users are clear. Almost all such watercourses belong to the communities and are open to all the
residents. In other words, they have clearly defined boundaries. Second, the residents share communal self-
governing rules to ensure the water is kept clean. For example, children are forbidden to play at the location
where drinking water is obtained, and the drinking water source is kept separate from the clothes washing
location. Furthermore, it is prohibited to feed fish along the watercourse. Through these and other rules, the
water users take pride in keeping the watercourse clean. Third, almost all of the village residents take part in
organized activities aimed at maintaining the watercourse environment.
Almost all of these principles have already been discussed in existing studies, such as E. Ostrom's famous
investigation into the social conditions that are suitable to sustain commons(8). However, the principles of human-
water linkages in the Aso Mountain area differ from the findings of those existing studies in that resource
limitation is not the determining factor behind the residents’ sustainable activities. On the other hand, there is
also a traditional focus in addition to an important common design principle. This is the reverence and homage
that is paid to Suijin, the Japanese God of Water at almost all springs. For example, residents in Terasaka village

Atsushi Makino
traditionally purify their watercourse with salt after performing cleaning activities, because, as one woman told me,
“Suijin lives in all watercourses”.
In other words, their cleanup activities are not only for the benefit of the residents themselves, they are also to
show reverence to the god. A preoccupation with Suijin is imminently fathomable in the case of a rural community
facing spring water pollution problems.
TYPE 3: Guarding Against Water Pollution
Ueki town, which merged with Kumamoto City in 2010 is located in a rural area in the northern part of the city.
While the Kumamoto City municipal water supply is quite high, a significant portion of old Ueki town remains
outside the water supply network. The reason for this, according to some residents, is that they are and have been,
amply served by the wells and spring water of this area. Indeed, in the 1980's, a survey report (Spring-fed Ponds in
Kumamoto Prefectural Area Study Group. 2004, pp. 57) on existing spring waters showed that there were
numerous springs in the region used by residents for drinking, washing, and irrigation(9). Furthermore, as it argued
that several watercourses were well known as information exchange locations among the residents.
X spring in X community (fictitious names) was one such watercourse. Here, adjoining houses face a watercourse
lined with stone, and the report said the watercourse looked like a community center because many women who
had washing machines in their homes still came all the way down to the watercourse in order to rinse their laundry.
In the above report, one woman said, “I can’t keep track of the community news if I don’t come here once a
day” (9).
However, today, there is less chance to meet residents at X spring and the open communal atmosphere has faded.
A 70-year-old resident who served as a community leader in this rural community said “X spring is the most
important water source in X community and its water had been used for drinking, washing, and irrigation.
However, around 1960, the residents changed their primary water source from X spring to individual home wells
and began using home well water for drinking and other domestic uses. Even so, until around 1990, women
gathered at the watercourse for washing, especially for rinsing laundry.”
According to the community leader, a rumor spread throughout the community around 1990 that said X spring
water was unhealthy, so women stopped using it for their washing, and spring water use was restricted to
irrigation. Naturally, around the same time, the residents started to question the safety of their home well water as
well. Therefore, the community leader at that time decided to conduct a comprehensive water quality examination
and sent samples collected from all house wells to a regional health-care center. The inspection results showed
that approximately half of the wells had nitrate-nitrogen concentrations that exceeded water purity standards.
Nevertheless, almost all of the residents continue to use well water.
More recently, Kumamoto City has formulated plans to extend their water pipeline network to the old Ueki town
area, and expects to implement them in the near future, because it is difficult to restore the quality of spring water
that has suffered from groundwater pollution. However, to the community itself, extending the water supply
system will be an imperfect solution because X spring is an abode of the Suijin, and the residents had hoped to
restore purity to the spring water. In other words, the water pollution problem affecting the spring, an area where
residents have deep commitments, may have a negative effect on the soul of the entire rural area.
Type 3: Protecting Sweet Drinking Water
The Kugino district of Minamata City in Kumamoto Prefecture has a population of 904 people split among 370
households. In this mountainous district, there are several small separate villages. In each of those villages, the
residents share common water sources. While their subsistence activities usually combine forestry with rice
farming, there are also many commuters who work in the city because transportation is relatively convenient.
Even though the coverage of the Minamata City government operated water supply system is high, a significant
portion of mountainous area is outside of the network’s range. However, this does not pose a problem because all
the villages in this district have their own common water sources, and water is pumped to each house. According

Atsushi Makino
to administrative documents, the installation of such drinking water systems started in the 1950’s, and since that
time, the residents have continued to meet their drinking and other domestic water needs through such
community-managed systems. According to our interview with a staff member of the Minamata City government
water supply agency, the municipality has no plans to extend piped water coverage to all the city’s mountainous
areas. “If we face an emergent issue, it may be a different thing entirely. However, for now, our agency hopes to
sustain the current community-managed drinking water supply systems in mountainous area. If pipelines must be
extended to mountainous area where a widely dispersed population exists, the management can be expected to
be more difficult.” In other words, it would be financially impossible to extend water supply system. On the other
hand, opinions are divided among residents on the sustainability of their current community-based water supply
system. While some residents told us that they felt the district needs municipal tap water, they are a minority
because most residents do not feel linking up with the city water supply system is an urgent need. It is felt that the
villagers’ low interest in hooking up to the city’s water supply system may be due to two reasons.
The first reason is that almost all villagers interviewed gave their water sources good evaluations. For example,
several residents who came from urban areas said that their village drinking water was far sweeter than could be
obtained from an urban tap, and that they often brought bottles home to their parents as souvenirs. The second
reason relates to the manner in which villagers use water in their daily lives. To illustrate this point, we will focus
on the residents of Samukawa Village, which is one of the villages in Kugino district.
Samukawa Village has a spring that is known as the Samukawa Water Source. According to the previously
mentioned spring water survey conducted in the 1980's, the quality of this water source is far superior to tap
water, and 3,000 tons of water flow out from this spring each day (9). The ways in which the village employs this
spring water can be classified into three main uses.
The first is as potable water for drinking or other domestic uses. For this, the furthest upstream water is drawn in
by their community-managed drinking-water supply system. The second use is for irrigation or fish farming, as a
portion of the stream flowing from the spring is diverted to a location where fish are cultivated in this community.
The most downstream water flow joins a small river from the mountains, and this river water runs through the
community’s terraced rice paddies. The third use is for tourism. The village is home to a small restaurant founded
by the community and operated by several women from the village that is famous for two things in particular. One
is a Japanese thin wheat noodle cuisine style known as "Nagashi Somen", and the other is the way in which
customers catch and eat somen with their chopsticks as it travels down a stream of water flowing. Of course, the
water is from Samukawa Water Source. This restaurant, which is operated by a local rural area women's group,
opened to the public in 1961 and is now acknowledged as one of the original rural revitalization movements.
It is my firm contention that the ways water is used in this community shows a model pattern for future
mountainous area water use. Furthermore, while tap water is hygienic and convenient, it cannot be used for
growing food and/or for creating favorable landscapes. In contrast, if we are successful in protecting our natural
drinking water sources, we will be able to challenge a variety of diverse community development projects.
CONCLUSION
People who live in the Asian monsoon region often face a number of common water problems that include water
shortages and groundwater pollution. Furthermore, we often adopt similar methods for dealing with increasing
risks to the public’s daily water supply. The most common technical solution involves expanding government
operated public water supply systems. Unfortunately, if we limit our pursuit to one particular track, we might fine
ourselves asking for, and suffering from, new problems. There are already new inequality problems rising due to
the rapid development of sanitary health systems. However, people who live in the rural areas of countries
blessed with an abundance of water are capable of discovering new paths toward our common future – one in
which all people will have access to safe water.
Therefore, in this paper, I examined the possibility of pursuing the sustainable use of natural potable water
because the use of such water incurs little or no expense, and because their users most often manage the sources.
In industrial societies, there is a commonly held perception that natural untreated water is unsuitable for drinking,
and that the number of the people who drink natural water from wells or springs should be decreasing. Indeed, we
had thought so as well. However, in this paper, I introduced a Japanese trend that aims at reviving the use and
enjoyment of well and spring water. Of course, revivals of this nature have many problems to solve. For example,
Atsushi Makino
it will be necessary to strengthen community based water source protection, which is not something we rural
sociologists will be able to plan or advocate on our own. However, as sociologists, we have an important
advantage. That is, our method for investigating people’s daily lives and describing their diverse water cultures. It is
very important that we take every opportunity to use this methodology as we work to help solve water problems
around the world.
REFERENCES
(1)World Health Organization and UNICEF. 2014. “Progress on sanitation and drinking water 2014 update.”,
Geneva.http://www.wssinfo.org/fileadmin/user_upload/resources/JMP_report_2014_webEng.pdf.(July 1,2014).
(2)Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (in Japan). 2013. “New Waterworks Vision”, Tokyo.
http://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/topics/bukyoku/kenkou/suido/newvision/index.html
(May 1. 2014).
(3)Japan Small-Scale Water Supply Association.1975.“Two Decades of Small-Scale Water Supply”. Japan Small-Scale
Tokyo: Japan Small-Scale Water Supply Association.
(4)Hatsuko Hoyano. 1998. The Water Supply System towards Bankruptcy (“Suidou ga Tsuburekakatteiru” in
Japanese). Tokyo: Tsukiji Shobou.
(5)Japan Water Supply System Association.1967. “The History of Water Supply System in Japan” Vol.1.Tokyo:
Water Supply System Association.
(6)Jun Shimada, 2013, “Recent challenges for sustainable groundwater management at Kumamoto Area, based on
the regional groundwater flow system:-Pumping permission for the regional groundwater management-.” Journal
of Ground Water Hydrogy. Vol. 55. No.2. pp.157-164.
(7) Environmental Conservation Division Department of Environment and Residential Life, Kumamoto Prefecture
Government, 2010 “The Water Supply System in Kumamoto Prefectural Area”. Kumamoto: Kumamoto
Prefectural Government.
(8) E.Ostrom, 1990 “Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action” New York:
Cambridge University Press.
(9)Spring-fed Ponds in Kumamoto Prefectural Area Study Group. 2004. Spring-fed Ponds in Kumamoto Prefectural
Area, Kumamoto: Kumamoto Denpakougyou Koutou Senmongakkou Shuppannkai.

THE NEW ROLE OF A LEADER OF VILLAGE HEALTH VOLUNTEERS IN A CHANGING THAI
VILLAGE: CASE OF THAKANVILLAGE, BAN KLANG SUBDISTRICT, SAN PA TONG DISTRICT,
CHIANG MAI PROVINCE
Yasuyuki Sato
ABSTRACT
Thailand is a country where primary health care (PHC) have been fare well since the 1970s. The Thai administration has
conducted decentralization and national health reform since the 1990s. A few studies of roles of health workers and village
health volunteers (VHVs) have been done after 2001 of advent of Thaksin administration. Chuengsatiansup, a researcher and
bureaucrat, referred to the formation of civil society through conducting the National Health System Reform. Almost all
villager organizations have been formed in a rural area under the leadership of the official until now in Thailand. Villager
organizations, formed compulsory or spontaneous, may have been useful to foster villager’s ability of governance. In Thakan
Village, Chiang Mai Province, a support group for the elderly, a welfare fund, a funeral group of the elderly, a drinking water
group and others have been newly formed under the government leadership since the 2000s. A village headperson, two
members of Subdistrict Administrative Organization (SAO), and a leader of VHVs, or a chairperson of the VHV committee, are
chairpersons or members of the above-mentioned new villager organizations. In particular, a chairperson of the VHV
committee, without having power like a village headperson and two members of SAO, becomes members of new villager
organizations. In this village, a male chairperson of the VHV committee is also committee members of a support group of the
elderly, a drinking water group and a tourist group, and a subdistrict welfare fund. If civil society is composed of civil
consciousness, civil organizations and civic network as Dr. Wibulpolprasert told, in what meaning has civil society been
forming? This paper aims to examine this issue by focusing on the new role of a chairperson of the VHV committee in an
investigation field
INTRODUCTION
The Thai villages have been dynamically changed since the 1990s. The Thai administration has conducted
decentralization, forming Subdistrict Administrative Organization (SAO), ongkan borihan suwan tambon (O.Bo.To.)
in Thai, enacted in 1995. There has been the local administrative system of province, district (amphoe), subdistrict
(tambon) and administrative village (muban). Before the SAO Act, the subdistrict formally consists of several
administrative villages, because subdistrict council did not have any political power. However, after the SAO Act the
subdistrict council was abolished and the subdistrict has had political power because it has had an administrative
office, or SAO consisting of two delegates of each village, and the right of making decision of SAO budget.
Moreover, the Thaksin Administration has conducted the policy that the administration paid one million baht for
village fund to every village since 2002. The administration has provided the fund called SML 1 to every village every
year since 2008. Besides, VHVs have started to work hard to care the elderly with 600 baht as a reward per month
since 20092. Consequently, subdistrict health center has been changed into subdistrict promotion hospital in name
from 2011 in the whole country, and doctors have come to every subdistrict promotion hospital every two months
and teeth doctors come to subdistrict promotion hospital every three months.
As mentioned above, Thai rural areas have been changed since the 1990s, especially since Thaksin Administration
(Sato 2012a). A village headperson, two members of the SAO (So.O.Bo.To. in Thai), village health volunteers
(O.So.Mo. in Thai), in particular a chairperson of the VHV committee, have had important roles. The VHV has been
a medium between the official and the people until today, because they have been volunteers. In that point, they
may have possibilities to make the formation of civil society.
PREVIOUS STUDIES ON VHVS AND SUBJECT OF THE STUDY
Let’s briefly examine previous studies on VHVs studied so far. Many community participation studies on health
workers in subdistrict health center and VHVs, ex. empowerment of women as they were almost female, have
been conducted until the 1990s (Chanawongse 1991; Tassniyom 1997). Chanawongse has insisted that VHVs had
many problems, for example they were lack of knowledge, inadequate character such as indolent, lack of time, lack
of willingness (Chanawongse 1991: 166-7). Further, he noted that they only collected data and did not know the
importance of prevailing information about health and VHVs’ work, because the problem was what they did not
Yasuyuki Sato
know information (ibid.). Nowadays, if a VHV were lazy, he/she would be elected to take turns due to the new
policy. Since almost all scholars have used quantitative research, namely statistics as a method of research, you
cannot grasp the reason that problems occurred (ibid.: 161-2). We, therefore, need to study by qualitative
research.
After the new health policy in the 2000s, however, community participation research has entered a new stage,
because VHVs’ roles have been changed. Komatra Chuengsatiansup is a researcher and bureaucrat working at
Ministry of Public Health. After National Health System Reform, there is ‘a need to re-conceptualize the roles and
functions of health volunteer in health development’ (Chuengsatiansup 2007: 1). Above all, he referred to the
formation of civil society and recommended that ‘civic organizations will serve platforms to foster volunteer spirit
in society’ (Ibid.: 2). I think Chuengsatiansup’s ideas are just an ideal of VHVs to form civil society. It will need to
really study in an investigation field. If it is not so, we can say nothing at all.
Churat Phonamunuailat and Sunton Utratwikan researched satisfaction on job performance of VHVs in a case study
in northeastern Thailand by statistics analysis (Phonamunuailat and Utratwikan 2012). Findings are correlation
between VHV’s health management and role perceptions of management budget, health activity, valuation, a VHV
group, supporting of the government empowerment, abilities and skills of VHVs, and others. This research,
however, does not have any significant findings, because they are nothing useful.
The subject of this paper is the following. Chuengsatiansup (2008) referred to the formation of civil society through
conducting the National Health System Reform. Has civil society been really formed in Thai rural areas? If civil
society is composed of civil consciousness, civil organizations and civic network (Wibulpolprasert 2005: 450-451)3,
in what meaning has civil society been forming? This paper aims to examine this issue by focusing on the new role
of a chairperson of the VHV committee in an investigation field.
OUTLINE OF STUDY AREA
Study Area and Method of Study
The area I have studied is Thakan Village, mu5 (the abbreviation for village is mu, Thakan Village is number 5), Ban
Klang Subdistrict, San Pa Tong district, Chiang Mai province4. Population was 1,427: the male was 678 and the
female was 749, and the number of household was 454 in 2011 (Ban San Hau Health Promotion Hospital 2011: 6).
This place is famous as the Wiang Thakan Remains, a part of the Hariphunchai Kingdom, which had existed until
13th century. There is a small museum in this village, which exhibits the Wiang Thakan Remains.
I argue network between a chairperson of the VHV committee and villagers. As far as I have reviewed studies of
network analysis so far, I have to say that it is very confusing in index, factors and character of network as they are
various according to researchers. I focus on the number of committees of new villager organizations in which a
chairperson of the VHV committee, as a leader of VHV, is a member. I, therefore, adopt the idea that the more a
chairperson of the VHV committee becomes members in new committees, the more he/she has many network.
An Information about Ban Klang Subdistrict
In Ban Klang Subdistrict, SAO was established in 1994. SAO of Ban Klang Subdistrict is consisted of five villages:
mu1, mu5, mu7, mu8, and mu10. Mu1 is divided two: one division belongs to Ban Klang Subdistrict and another
belongs to Ban Klang Town. This is a very rare case. There are each village headperson respectively in two divisions
of mu1. Ban Klang Town is composed of half of mu1, mu2, mu3, mu4, mu6, mu9 in Ban Klang Subdistrict and
villages of other subdistricts.
There was a health center in Ban Klang Town but it is far from villagers in mu7, mu8, mu10 in Ban Klang Subdistrict.
Villagers of mu7, mu8 and mu10 hoped to build it in their near place. Villagers of mu5, mu7, mu8 and mu10
constructed San Hau Health Center in San Hau subdistrict by donation in 2004. The amount of donation was
1,640,787.50 baht at the time of construction5.

Yasuyuki Sato
The population of Ban Klang Subdistrict was totally 3459: 1450 people in mu5, 760 in mu7, 747 in mu8, and 502 in
mu10. The number of elderly people, over 60 years old, is 754 of all 3459, 21.8% and the population under 20 years
old is 558, 16.1% on September 2012 (Ban San Hau Health Promotion Hospital 2010). In Ban Klang Subdistrict
there is the welfare fund, called kongthun sawadikan chumchon tambon ban klang, established in 2006. The brief
history is the following.
The village elderly leaders went to ask the public organization for elderly people called Thammapakorn Welfare
Development Center for Older Persons at Chiang Mai (sun phatthanakan chatsawadikan sangkom phusungayu ban
tham pakon chiangmai in Thai). This organization had been formed by the administration in 1955, and the function
and the name was changed later. At present, welfare policy including this organization is supported by Social
Development and Welfare Department, Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, established in 2002.
The number of member of Ban Klang Subdistrict Welfare Fund was 2,051 people of all five villages (half of mu 1,
mu 5, mu 7, mu 8, and mu 10) at 2010. A member has to pay one baht per a day as an insurance premium. The
fund property amounted to about 1.8 million baht until 2010. Further, the administration has supplied the budget
of 365 baht times the number of members from 2010 and the SAO of Ban Klang Subdistrict has supported one
hundred thousand baht to the fund from 2011. People of many subdistricts have made subdistrict welfare funds
due to this government policy.
The number of people in Thakan Village was 1453, male 686 and female 767, and then the number of households is
406 at 2011. Further, the number of elderly people was 324, 22.3% 6. The budget of VHV is generally 10,000 baht
for each village from the SAO budget. But 20,000 baht is divided between both mu5, Thakan Village, and mu10,
because the number of VHVs of mu5 and mu10 is too different: that of mu5 is 47 and that of mu10 is 16 at present.
Other villages can have 10,000 baht, as the number of VHVs is 26 in mu7 and 23 in mu8. In the Ban Klang Welfare
Fund, the number of dead among members was 80 people from 18 September 2010 to 10 October 2012 and the
average age of the dead was about 73.5 years old7. This figure is very interesting because it indicates that Thai
society reached to middle developed society.
VILLAGER ORGANIZATIONS IN THAKAN VILLAGE
For villagers, informal relations are generally more important than formal relations in the rural area. They are kins,
neighborhood groups, friends such as class mate or coworkers. These informal relations were particularly
important when villagers rent money, as Thai society has a problem that people have a lot of debts (Sato 2005: 65-
66). However, since Thai society is becoming unstable and risky through globalization, it needs organizational deal
with the debt problem because informal personal relations cannot deal with it. In this sense, it is not incorrect what
Thai administration has made villagers form a lot of villager organizations, from which villagers can borrow. As a
result, peasants are moving from lower class to lower middle class.
An Overview of Villager Organizations
Thakan Village has a village committee which is consisted of a village headperson: two vice-village headpersons,
two members of SAO (So.O.Bo.To.), headpersons of seven sub-committees, headpersons of thirteen neighborhood
groups (Sato 2009: 39). A village committee is the most important organization which decides everything
concerning to the village. In general, a village headperson has a power of decision-making. In this village, each
neighborhood group is named with respect to each ruin temple, a group which monthly cleans in each ruin temple.
Table 1 shows the villager organizations in Thakan Village. Most of the organizations have been formed by the
order of the administration.
There have been many formal organizations before the 1990s: the VHV committee, 13 neighborhood groups,
temple committee, a funeral group, a women group. Furthermore, new villager organizations such as a drinking
group, a help-group for the elderly, women savings group, a village fund and community welfare fund. For
example, a member of the funeral group must pay 21 baht per funeral. This has been organized by almost all
households.

Yasuyuki Sato
The volunteer group for the Wiang Thakan Remains had been formed at 1990. The member is 12 people. This
group treats with Thai or foreign tourists visiting to the Wiang Thakan Remains. The chairperson of the VHV
committee is also a member of this group. In addition to these, only elderly people have formed a funeral group
from 2003. The number of the member is 330 and a member must pay 10 baht per funeral. The member of the
village fund group is 251 in number and can borrow at 6 percent per year, as far as I checked in 2013. A drinking
water group has been financially supported by villagers to have the budget of SML in 2010.
Table 1 New Villager Organizations in Thakan Village

Organization’s name Founding year Number of member
help-group for the elderly 1999 12
village fund group 2002 251 at 2013
funeral group of the elderly 2003 350 at 2013
women savings group 2005 many women
drinking group 2005 almost of households
community welfare fund 2006 795 at 2006
Source: data of interviews from villagers.
Village Health Volunteer (VHV)
The Thai administration has conducted the policy that VHVs should positively support the elderly. Their role is
particularly becoming important to make quality of life of the elderly better (Sato 2012a). In Thakan Village, a
community basic health center was constructed by villagers’ donation, about 35,000 baht, in 1993. And the SAO
budget was later supplied to repair the center or buy goods for the elderly.
In 2009, the VHV committee of Thakan Village is consisted of 47 people: the male is 21 of all 47 and the female is 26
of all 47, the male: 44.7% and the female: 55.3% at rate. And then 55.3 percent of 26 people of VHVs is occupied by
women8. In almost all the villages, female VHVs are generally more than male VHVs in number, as it is the same in
this village. The chairperson of this village is 61 years old at 2013. He is also a committee of a drinking water group,
a tourist group, and a chairperson of the help-group for the elderly.
The members of VHV committee are 46 people, not 47, since one member was retired but not yet elected at 2009.
Regarding to the members’ occupations, rice cultivator is 1 people, fruit grower is 3, merchant is 3, and labor is 38
in number. The average age of 46 all members was appropriately 48.1 at 2008 and the average of their career
period is 10.8 years. Members of the longest period are 3 people continuing from 1982 and 4 people from 1983 9.
Besides, there are 13 people from 2006 and 2 people from 2008. Some members continue as they are very serious
and some resigned as they are idle.
VHVs have to collect data on health of household members in charge every month since 2006: eg. measuring the
blood pressure, filling out documents of people’s health. Once per month, they can earn rewards from a subdistrict
promotion hospital official only after handing over the data. A chairperson of the VHV committee is a member of
the village committee. A chairperson of the VHV committee was a male of 56 years old at 2009 and has still
occupied its post at 2013.
Thakan Village has the community basic health center. It is open from 10:00 to 16:30 on every Tuesday. Six to
seven members of the VHV committee go to the center on every Tuesday. Elderly villagers come to be measured
blood pressure to the center on Tuesday. The number of people coming to the center was from 25 at least to 45
people at most, as far as I checked in the notebook on September 2013. The blood pressure machine was bought
by the budget of VHVs.

Yasuyuki Sato
In 2009, the elderly over 60 years old coming to the basic health center was 240 people in total. The elderly of over
131 high-blood pressure was 96 people, 40.0 percent. Between 41 and 59 years old, the high-blood pressure
people of over 130 was 61 people of the total 374, 16.3 percent 10. The number of elderly people coming to the
community basic health center was about 29 people per day on average, as far as I found out that total people was
1,331 people for 46 days in 201311. In this village, a female VHV was elected a member of SAO in 2009 and again in
2013. She has been a chairperson of group of development women and a chairperson of women group in Ban
Klang Subdistrict from 2012 and 2013, respectively.
CONCLUSION
Main key persons are persons in three kinds of posts in a village: a village headperson12, two members of SAO
(So.O.Bo.To.), and a chairperson of the VHV committee. The village headperson has decision-making power on
village matters, for example he can decide whether the village can accept the welfare fund or not. The members of
SAO have newly had power since 1995, because they can decide SAO budget. However, leaders of VHVs do not
have power, unlike the above two semi-official, because they do not have right to decide anything. They collect
data about villagers’ health to care villagers. The VHVs have strong connections with the elderly people and their
families, because they always take care of the elderly in a village. For that reason, they have strong network among
villagers, while most villagers have only weak network each other.
Further, the chairperson of the VHV committee becomes members of many new organizations. In this village, the
male chairperson of the VHV committee is also committee members of the support group of the elderly, the
drinking water group, the tourist group, and the welfare fund organized in subdistrict level. A chairperson of the
VHV committee, a leader of VHVs, is significant to extend network. As a result, he/she might contribute to form
civil society in Thai rural areas in this aspect.
If the formation of civil society is to form civil consciousness, civil organizations and civic network according to
Wibulpolprasert (2005), I will be able to find out only civic network in the investigation field, although the idea of
‘civic’ in Thailand is different from that in the western society because Thai people are not self-reliant in the same
meaning of the western people. Anyway, in this paper I only stand on the start line to study the formation of civil
society in Thai rural areas and need to continue studying this subject13.
Notes
1
S means ‘small’, M means ‘middle’, and L means ‘large’. The administration supplies three kinds of amount of
money according to three scales of village population.
2
There is benefit that VHVs and their families could visit a subdistrict health center, although they could not have
wage from the start until 2008. 1 Thai baht is equal to about 0.03 US dollar on 5 June at 2014
3
Dr. Suwit Wibulpolprasert is a researcher and bureaucrat in Ministry of Public Health, Thailand. He is also an
editor of Thailand Health Profile 1999-2000, Thailand Health Profile 2001-2004, Ministry of Public Health.
4
Ban and muban in Thai means ‘village’ in English.
5
The data are cited from Ban San Hau Health Promotion Hospital, Annual Brief Effects of Affairs 2010
(Rongphayaban Songsaem B.E.2553).
6
The data are cited from Ban San Hau Health Promotion Hospital, Annual Brief Effects of Affairs 2012
(Rongphayaban Songsaem B.E.2555)
7
The data are cited from documents which VHVs collected by themselves in 2009.
8,9,10
The data are cited from documents written in the community basic health center.
11
I counted number of deaths in a document of the Ban Klang Subdistrict Welfare Fund.
12
In northeastern villages a village headperson is used to be elected among old and dominated kins, and in the
election of a village headperson there is difference between northeast villages and northern villages.
13
I have conducted comparative study of several investigation fields in northern and northeastern villages (Sato
2012b, 2014).

Yasuyuki Sato
REFERENCES
Ban San Hau Health Promotion Hospital, Annual Brief Effects of Affairs 2010, 2011, 2012 (Rongphayaban songsaem
sukaphap tambon ban san hau tambon ban klang amphoe sanpatong cangwat chiagmai, sarup phonkan
damnaenan pingop praman B.E.2553, 2554, 2555).
Chanawongse, Krasae, 1991, “watashi no noson kaihatsuron (My Rural Development Theory)”, in the book Isan no
Isha (Doctor in the northeast) ed. by Sumit Hemasathol, Daido Seimei Kokusai Bunkakikin. pp.121-188.
Chuengsatiansup, K., 2007, Health Volunteers in the Context of Changes: Assessing the Roles and Potentials of
Village Health Volunteer in Thailand, paper presented at the Second Asia-Pacific Action Alliance on Human
Resources for health Conference, 12-14 October 2007, at Fragant Hill Hotel, Beijing, People’s Commission of
China.
Chuengsatiansup, K., 2008, Deliverative Action: Civil Society and Health Systems Reform in Thailand, Bangkok:
National health Commission Office.
Phonamunuailat, Chrat and Utratwikan, Suntra na Ayutaya, 2012, Factors Affecting the Health Management of
Village Health Volunteers in Suphanburi Province, Primary Health Care Division Journal, 6-2, pp. 14-23.
Sato, Yasuyuki, 2005, The Thai-Khmer Village: Community, Family, Ritual, and Civil Society in Northeast Thailand,
Graduate School of Modern Society and Culture, Niigata University.
Sato, Yasuyuki, 2009, Tai Noson no sonraku keisei to seikatsu kyodo (Village Formation and Life Cooperation in Thai
Rural Area), Tokyo: Mekong. [in Japanese]
Sato, Yasuyuki, 2012a, ‘Village Health Volunteer Activities in a Northeastern Thai Village: Consideration thorough
Social Capital Theory,’ Suzuki N. and Somsak S. eds., Dynamics of Civil Society Movement in Northeast Thailand,
Khon Kaen University Book Center: 75-106.
Sato, Yasuyuki, 2012b, Tai noson niokeru sonraku hoken borantia no atarashii yakuwari (The New Role of Village
Health Volunteers in Thai Rural Areas), paper presented at the 14th Conference of The Japanese Society for Thai
Studies, 6 - 7 July 2012, at Osaka University. [in Japanese].
Sato, Yasuyuki, 2014, Henbosuru tai noson no sonraku hoken borantia to siminshakai no keisei (Village Health
Volunteers and the Formation of Civil Society in a Changing Thai Rural Areas), paper presented at the 16th
Conference of The Japanese Society for Thai Studies, 5 - 6 July 2014, at Kyoto University. [in Japanese]
Tassniyom, N, 1997, Community Participation in Health Development in Thailand, Ph.D. Dissertation Massey
University.
(http://mro.massey.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10179/2561/02_whole.pdf?sequence=1, accessed at 15 January
2014)
Wibulpolprasert, Suwit, ed.,2005, Thailand Health Profile 2001-2004, Ministry of Public Health.
(http://www.moph.go.th/ops/health_48/index_eng.htm accessed at 5 April, 2013 )

ARSA 2014 International Conference Proceeding - Volume I

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

ARSA 2014 International Conference Proceeding - Volume I

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Volume 1

PART 1. KEYNOTE PAPER

PART 2. PANEL PAPERS

The Community Problems of Fukushima Three Years after Nuclear Disaster 30

Managing Regional Natural Resources in the Context of Rural-Urban Partnerships– Case 85

Engaging People’s Participation for Rural Development

The Potential of Community-Based Participation in Social Development in Lao PDR: A 133

Re-evaluation of Types of Local Capital in Kannogawa District 161

Re-designing Farming Communities for an Aged Society: Multidisciplinary Perspectives 174

Socioeconomic and Cultural Transformation

A Relationship Between Rural Household Poverty and Socioeconomic Characteristics in 203

Dynamism and Challenges in Rural Lao PDR

Emeritus Professor Geoffrey Lawrence+#^, Dr Sarah Ruth Sippel*,

Financialisation and Global Agriculture

The Targeting of Food and Farming

2 From Challenges to Prosperous Future in Rural Asia  Volume 1

From Challenges to Prosperous Future in Rural Asia  Volume 1 3

 a large-scale land acquisition which is illegal, underhanded, or unfair

4 From Challenges to Prosperous Future in Rural Asia  Volume 1

 Promote environmental sustainability (combating erosion, managing water, reducing chemical

From Challenges to Prosperous Future in Rural Asia  Volume 1 5

Assessment: Foreign Direct Investment versus Land Grabbing

The World Bank (2014: 1) has publicly stated that it:

6 From Challenges to Prosperous Future in Rural Asia  Volume 1

From Challenges to Prosperous Future in Rural Asia  Volume 1 7

Conerly, B. 2012. The Coming Boom in Agriculture. Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/

8 From Challenges to Prosperous Future in Rural Asia  Volume 1

Holton, R. 2012. Global Finance. London: Routledge.

From Challenges to Prosperous Future in Rural Asia  Volume 1 9

Peck, J. and Tickell, A. 2002. Neoliberalising Space. Antipode 34 (3): 380-404.

Savills Research. 2012. International Farmland: Focus 2012. UK: Savills.

Watts, E. 2013. Chinese Farms go Global. Available at: http://www.boulevard-exterieur.com/Chinese-Farms-Go-

Young, E. 2012. Food and Development. London: Routledge.

10 From Challenges to Prosperous Future in Rural Asia  Volume 1

From Challenges to Prosperous Future in Rural Asia  Volume 1 11

12 From Challenges to Prosperous Future in Rural Asia  Volume 1

Damage of disaster and refugees

From Challenges to Prosperous Future in Rural Asia  Volume 1 13

Community in Japan and disaster

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND METHOD

14 From Challenges to Prosperous Future in Rural Asia  Volume 1

Management of shelter and distribution of materials to refugee

From Challenges to Prosperous Future in Rural Asia  Volume 1 15

Communication between refugees after moving into temporary house

Planning a reconstruction policy in each devastated area

16 From Challenges to Prosperous Future in Rural Asia  Volume 1

The structure of CHONAIKAI in rural area

Common property and CHONAIKAI

From Challenges to Prosperous Future in Rural Asia  Volume 1 17

Importance and limitation of community organization in the process to reconstruction

The role of CHONAIKAI

18 From Challenges to Prosperous Future in Rural Asia  Volume 1

Surmount of exclusive characteristics of CHONAIKAI

Reorganization or segmentation of CHONAIKAI

From Challenges to Prosperous Future in Rural Asia  Volume 1 19

20 From Challenges to Prosperous Future in Rural Asia  Volume 1

M. Saleh S. Ali and Muhammad Arsyad

DISASTER PHENOMENON IN INDONESIA

From Challenges to Prosperous Future in Rural Asia  Volume 1 21

No Type of Disasters Event Victims

Source: BNPB (2014)

SOME GREAT NATURAL DISASTERS IN THE LAST 10 YEARS

The Earthquake and Tsunami

Volcanic Eruption of “Merapi”