Self-sufficient farmer - Jisakunou

Japanese: 自作農 - じさくのう

In a general and broad sense, owner-farmers refer to farm families who use mainly family labor and who own the farmland they manage (including cultivated land as well as pasture land). Conversely, tenant farmers are those who rent land for management. However, in Japan, owners of managed farmland are generally referred to as owner-farmers based solely on the ownership relationship of the land. Since 1941 (Showa 16), government agricultural statistics have defined owner-farmers as "farmers who own 90% or more of the land they manage," as owner-tenant farmers, farms who own "50-90%" as tenant farmers, farms who own "10-50%" as smallholder farmers, and farms who own "less than 10%" as tenant farmers, and these standards have been used in agricultural censuses since World War II.

[Kiyoshunshu 3]

The era of the landlord system

Before the Second World War, Japanese agriculture was characterized by a persistent stagnation of surplus labor, and small-scale farmers had no choice but to cling to the land to survive. Under these circumstances, landlords collected high rents from tenant farmers, mainly in the form of goods (mainly rice). In Japanese agriculture, where small-scale management is the norm, tenant farmers tended to be particularly small-scale, and both their agricultural productivity and their livelihoods were poor. In contrast, owner-farmers were not required to pay rent by landlords, and generally enjoyed high and stable agricultural productivity and livelihoods. They were divided into two groups: wealthy farmers who operated relatively large acreage and employed cattle, horses, and annual labor, and landlord-owners who operated small acreage but also had landlord-like characteristics.

The existence of poor tenant farmers not only caused tenant disputes to erupt from the Taisho period onwards, destabilising Japan's governing system, but also made it difficult to increase food production, a top priority, during wartime. Thus, from the 1920s through the war years, the government implemented a policy of creating and maintaining independent farms in order to stabilise the system and increase food production.

[Kiyoshunshu 3]

The establishment of the self-cultivating farming system

This policy to create self-cultivating farmers was dramatically implemented all at once in the land reform that was implemented as part of the occupation policy after Japan's defeat in the war. As a result, the landlord system based on farmland was basically dismantled and a self-cultivating farming system was established. Comparing the period before the war (1941) with the period immediately after the reform (1949), the percentage of people with self-cultivated land increased from 54% to 87%, the percentage of self-cultivating farmers almost doubled from 28% to 55%, and the percentage of tenant farmers increased from 21% to 28%, while the percentage of tenant farmers dropped significantly from 28% to 8% and the percentage of small-scale farmers dropped from 22% to 7%. By significantly increasing the number of farmers who cultivated their own land, Japanese farmers were now given the opportunity to work hard to increase agricultural productivity and reap the fruits of their labor without having to rely on landlords to collect rent. According to the 1980 agricultural census, the rate of self-cultivated land in prefectures was 94%, of which 86% were owner-farmers and 10% were tenant farmers, showing a further increase in self-cultivation.

[Kiyoshunshu 3]

Changing circumstances

However, as the situation surrounding Japanese agriculture changed dramatically from land reform through the period of rapid economic growth after the Second World War, the meaning of classifying farm households as either owner-farmers or tenant farmers gradually faded, and it should be noted that such a classification no longer appears in the statistics, particularly in censuses and agricultural statistics since the 1980s. The reasons for this can be summarized as the following two points.

(1) As a result of the land reform, farming families as a whole became much more self-sufficient. Even on the few remaining tenanted lands, the cultivation rights of tenant farmers were significantly strengthened and rent was kept low, narrowing the gap between tenant farmers and self-sufficient farmers.

(2) With the development of the Japanese economy since the high economic growth of the 1960s, the situation regarding farmland ownership and use has changed.

Regarding (2) above, the situation has changed as follows. Rapid economic development has resolved the problem of surplus labor in rural areas that existed before the war, and employment opportunities for farmers have increased. In contrast to the prewar situation, small-scale farmers have increasingly left farming and taken up part-time work, becoming landlords, while full-time farmers at the upper level have become tenants of their farmland in order to expand their scale of operation. According to the 2000 Agricultural Census, the percentage of land area that is rented out among the total land area owned by each farmer class is high at 17% for commercial farmers with a management scale of less than 0.5 hectares and 33% for self-sufficient farmers, while the percentage decreases for commercial farmers at the higher level, and for the top stratum of farmers with a management scale of 3 hectares or more, it is only 1.7%, indicating a high reliance on rented land. Commercial farmers here are farmers with a management scale of 30 ares or more or agricultural product sales of 500,000 yen or more. Self-sufficient farmers are farmers who do not meet the minimum standards for commercial farmers.

Before the Second World War, under the existence of a surplus of labor in rural areas and the landlord system, owner-farmers, in contrast to poor tenant farmers, were significant as being more stable in terms of agricultural productivity and standard of living, and the creation and maintenance of owner-farmers was pursued as an important issue in agricultural policy. However, at the present stage after the land reform, even if class differences based on differences in the ownership status of farmland as an asset value still have meaning, it can be said that the difference between owner-farmer and tenant-farmer, which relates to the management use and ownership of farmland by farmers, no longer has the same meaning as it once did as an indicator of superiority or inferiority of agricultural productivity and standard of living.

[Kiyoshunshu 3]

Teru Shunshuzo, author of The Development of Japanese Agricultural Issues, vols. 1 and 2 (1970, 1984, University of Tokyo Press) ▽ Teru Shunshuzo (ed.), 100 Years of Japanese Agriculture (1996, Yuhikaku) ▽ Usami Shigeru (ed.), Japanese Agriculture: Its Structural Changes (1997, Agriculture and Forestry Statistics Association)

[References] | Tenant farmers | Landlord-tenant relations | Land reform

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

自作農を一般的に、かつ広義にとらえると、家族労働力を主体にして農業を営む農家が、その経営する農用地（耕地のほか採草放牧地を含む）を自ら所有する場合をいうといっていい。逆に、農家が経営農用地を借り入れる場合が小作農である。しかし、日本では一般に、経営耕地の所有関係だけを基準に、その所有者を自作農とよんでいる。そして、官庁の農業統計では、1941年（昭和16）から、「経営耕地の90％以上を自分が所有する農家」を自作農とし、「50～90％」所有農家を自小作農、「10～50％」所有農家を小自作農、「10％以下」所有農家を小作農とする基準を採用し、第二次世界大戦後の農業センサスでもこの基準を採用してきた。

［暉峻衆三］

地主制度の時代

第二次世界大戦前の日本の農業は、過剰労働力の根強い滞留と結び付いて零細経営農家が土地にしがみついて生きていかざるをえなかった。そのもとで地主は小作農家から高額（率）小作料を主として現物（米が中心）の形で徴収した。零細経営が支配的な日本農業において、小作農家の経営はとりわけ零細なものが多く、農業生産力、生活ともに劣悪であった。これに対して、自作農は地主による小作料徴収もなく、概して農業生産力、生活ともに高く安定していた。彼らは経営面積規模が比較的に大きく、牛馬や、年雇などの雇用労働力を抱えた富農層の一群と、経営規模は零細であるが、同時に地主的性格ももった地主自作層の一群に分化していた。

　貧しい小作農の存在は、大正期以降、小作争議を激発させて日本の統治体制を動揺させるとともに、戦時期に入ると、至上課題である食糧増産をも困難にした。こうして政府は、1920年代以降、戦時期にかけて、体制の安定と食糧増産を図るために自作農創設維持政策を展開した。

［暉峻衆三］

自作農体制の成立

この自作農創設政策が一挙に劇的に展開されたのが、敗戦後の占領政策の一環として行われた農地改革であった。これにより農地に立脚する地主制度は基本的に解体され、自作農体制が成立することになった。戦前（1941年）と改革直後（1949年）を対比すると、自作地は54％から87％に、また、自作農は28％から55％にほぼ倍増、自小作農も21％から28％に増え、逆に小作農は28％から8％に、小自作農も22％から7％に大きく減った。日本の農家はいまや、自作化を著しく強めることによって、地主の小作料収取を受けることなく農業生産力の増進に励み、その労働の成果を手にする契機を与えられた。1980年の農業センサスでは、都府県の自作地率は94％、自作農は86％、自小作農10％と、一段と自作化が進んだ。

［暉峻衆三］

状況の変化

しかし、農地改革からさらに第二次世界大戦後の高度経済成長を経て日本農業をめぐる状況が大きく変化するなかで、農家を自作か小作かによって区分することの意味はしだいに薄れ、とくに1980年代以降のセンサスや農業統計ではそういった区分は統計上も表出されなくなっていることに留意する必要がある。その要因は以下の2点にまとめられよう。

(1)農地改革によって農家は全体として自作農としての性格を格段に強め、わずかに残る小作地についても小作農の耕作権が著しく強化され、小作料も低額に抑えられて、小作農と自作農の差異が狭められた。

(2)1960年代の高度経済成長以後の日本経済の発展のもとで、農家の農地所有と利用をめぐる状況に変化が生じた。

　前記の(2)については次のような状況の変化があった。急激な経済発展のもとで戦前来の農村過剰労働力問題が解消し、農業者の就業機会が増大した。戦前とは逆に、零細経営農家が離農、兼業化を強めてその所有農地の貸し手に回り（「地主化」）、上層の専業的農家層が規模拡大のために農地の借り手に回る（「小作農化」）という状況が生まれた。2000年の農業センサスにより各農家階層別の所有農地面積のうち貸付けに回されているものの割合をみると、経営規模0.5ヘクタール未満の販売農家は17％、自給的農家は33％と高く、逆に上層の販売農家ほどその割合は低下して、最上層の3ヘクタール以上層では1.7％にしかすぎず、借地への依存度が高くなっている。なお、ここでいう販売農家とは、経営耕地面積30アール以上または農産物販売金額50万円以上の農家である。また、自給的農家とは、販売農家の最低基準以下の農家である。

　第二次世界大戦前の農村過剰労働力と地主制度の存在下では、貧しい小作農と対比される自作農は農業生産力と生活水準のより高く安定した存在として意義をもち、農業政策の重要課題としても自作農創設維持が追求された。だが、農地改革を経て今日の段階になると、資産価値としての農地の所有状況の違いによる階層差は意味をもつにしても、農家による農地の経営的利用と所有を関連させた自作か小作かの違いは、もはやかつてのような農業生産力と生活水準の優劣を示す指標としての意味をもたなくなったといってよい。

［暉峻衆三］

『暉峻衆三著『日本農業問題の展開』上下（1970、84・東京大学出版会）』▽『暉峻衆三編『日本農業100年のあゆみ』（1996・有斐閣）』▽『宇佐美繁編著『日本農業――その構造変動』（1997・農林統計協会）』

[参照項目] | 小作農 | 地主・小作関係 | 農地改革

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例

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