『愛媛大学社会共創学部紀要』第５巻第１号

論

2021年

p.47－50

説農村サステナビリティのテーマ発見と調査：棚田保全策の提案を事例に入江賀子（環境デザイン学科）

Theme-finding and research in rural sustainability: a proposal for the preservation ofterraced paddy fields（tanada）
Noriko IRIE（Environmental Design）
キーワード：農村サステナビリティ、棚田、プロジェクト演習、ステークホルダー、テーマ設定
Keywords: rural sustainability, terraced paddy fields（tanada）, field practices, stakeholder, theme-finding【原稿受付︰2021 年 2 月 1 日

受理・採録決定︰2021 年 2 月 16 日】

要旨
農村サステナビリティは、愛媛の将来のための最も重要かつ難しい課題の１つである。このような課題に対しては、新しい仕組みや取り組み、考え方を取り入れ、専門家が解決できなかった現状に対して方針を見出していく必要がある。本報告では、棚田の保全に関するプロジェクト演習を通じて、社会共創学部の学生によるプロジェクトのテーマ設定、調査結果、ステークホルダーからの評価を振り返るとともに、テーマ設定のあり方を検討した。学生によるテーマ設定は、学生がモチベーションを持って課題に取り組むことができた点、当該テーマに長期間取り組んでいる専門家には意外な新たな発見に結びついた点で、学生とステークホルダーの両者にとり意義があると考えた。
Abstract
Promoting rural sustainability is one of the most critical issues that Ehime should tackle for a successful
future. To that end, it is vital to explore directions by trial and error, by introducing new ideas, undertakings,
and mechanisms into existing conditions, which professionals have not been able to explore. This reportdiscusses the theme-finding activities, research results, and stakeholder evaluations of a field project regarding
the preservation of terraced paddy fields（tanada）, conducted by the students of the Faculty of Collaborative
Regional Innovation of the University; and examines the effectiveness of theme-setting. Students’processof theme-finding was found to be effective for both students and stakeholders, as students could undertakethe issue with higher motivation and come up with novel findings that would not usually be recognised by
specialists in the field.
1．Introduction
Rural and agricultural problems have been pilingup in Ehime, and rural sustainability has become
vital for its successful future. Rural sustainability isa key and challenging issue that requires national
effort; bold ideas, undertakings, and mechanisms
are necessary. Novel directions should be found toalter the current issues that have not been solvedby specialists. The Environmental Design courseof the Faculty of Collaborative Regional Innovationof the University aims to analyse and solve local
sustainability problems by introducing new views.
This report examines how second- and third-year

students of the course developed project themes,
how they conducted research, the results of theirresearch, and how stakeholders evaluated the projectwork regarding the preservation of terraced paddy
fields（tanada）. It also examines the effectiveness ofsuch theme-setting activities.
2．Theme-finding and field surveys
2.1 Theme-finding
The faculty provides many field work opportunities
through classes, and themes are set for each class.
Some students undertake three different themes inthree consecutive, project-based classes during the－ 47 －

『愛媛大学社会共創学部紀要』第５巻第１号

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second half of their second year and the first andsecond half of their third year.
Since April 2018, three students in the secondyear Environmental Design course proposed aneffective abandoned farmland policy in their projectwork class. In the usual commonsense or prevailing
way of thinking, such a theme was rather difficult for
students to explore and to make a realistic proposal
to solve even only certain aspects of the issue. This isbecause the issue involved deeply rooted agriculturalproblems that should be solved at the national level.
Furthermore, the students had little specialised
knowledge regarding agricultural problems, as theywere not in the agricultural department; and they
had little working experience, as they were only
sophomores.
First, the students started to examine a
different rural sustainability project than thetanada preservation activities as an example of anabandoned farmland policy. They learned neither
an abandoned farmland problem nor a sustainability
project in a specialised way. However, recalling
everyday life scenes and discussing information
obtained from the Internet or the literature for
two to three weeks, they obtained the minimum
basic knowledge to enable them to understand theinterviews with specialists. After this preliminary
research, two interviews with specialists, anddiscussions among themselves, the students foundthat referencing some successful cases regarding thetanada preservation in Ehime Prefecture may be ofinterest to proceed to devise an abandoned farmland
policy. Meanwhile, they worked on developing atheme about the tanada preservation.

Challenges of tanada preservation activities
The most significant bottleneck in preserving
tanada was the relevant income problems. If there
is a lack of sufficient income, farmers, especially
younger ones, cannot survive in these areas. Farmworkers from outside areas cannot settle in tanada
areas. Therefore, the future challenges include
establishing funding for the preservation of tanada,
as a kind of donation from those who agree toparticipate in the activities, including residents oflarge cities.

2.2 Field survey
The field survey in the Tanada area wasconducted through two interviews. The firstinterview was conducted with the Association for
Sustainable Kashidani Tanada（Kashidani Tanada
Hozon-kai）on 27 June 2018 in Ohzu City in Ehime
Prefecture. The second interview was conductedwith private farmers on 4 July 2018 in Imabari Cityin the same prefecture. The results obtained by thestudents are described below.

Preservation activities of the Association for
Sustainable Kashidani Tanada
The society undertakes fundraising activities forthe preservation of tanada, including the‘Tanada
Owner System’and the‘Tanada Trust System’.
Tanada Owner System participants who contribute
30,000 Japanese yen per year for 100 ㎡ of tanada
have the privilege of not only participating in tanada
rice cultivation activities but also obtaining 25 kg oftanada rice and local vegetables.

Kashidani Tanada（pictures taken on June 2018 ）The significance of preserving abandoned farmlandin tanada areas
Tanada has environmental benefits; it provides
dam functions, which is also important for residents
in flat areas. Moreover, maintaining landscapes andpreserving the Japanese traditional rice cultivation
culture have significant meaning. These key featuresof tanada may attract town residents, even though
they might not be involved in agriculture.

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農村サステナビリティのテーマ発見と調査：棚田保全策の提案を事例に

and the high hurdles of tanada management for lay
agricultural workers. In addition, the students gained
a deeper insight into the detailed content of theAssociation for Sustainable Kashidani Tanada andthe Tanada Owner System.

Source: Association for Sustainable Kashidani Tanada’swebsite（accessed August 2018 ）.

Challenges faced by the Association for SustainableKashidani Tanada
The number of participants in the‘Tanada Owner
System’and the‘Tanada Trust System’is low andshould be increased. A needs analysis is required todetermine how people value the tanada preservation
activities, as well as the types of people who attach
such value and are willing to contribute to thesepreservation activities.
3．Survey regarding the improvement of theTanada Owner System
In the project work in the next half of the year,with four new second-year students additionallyjoining, the theme that was started in the previous
half-year project work was continuously investigatedin a more thorough way. This project theme
continued for one year（a total of eight months）,
which led to a deliberate consideration of the tanada
problem.
In the second half of the year, students further
examined how the Tanada Owner System could beimproved. To that end, they conducted additional
interviews, a pre-statistical survey, and a statisticalsurvey. The results are described below.
Additional interviews
Field interviews were conducted on 17 October
2018 at the Izumidani Tanada in Uchiko City（for110 min）and on 21 November 2018 at the Kashidani
Tanada（for 110 minutes）. Students transcribedthe interviews. The interviews revealed a deepening
problem regarding the lack of successors of tanada,
the main reason why it is a loss-generating operation,

Pre-statistic survey
Based on the interview results, the students
conducted a pre-survey on the needs of the Tanada
Owner System. The respondents were aged 20 orolder and residents of Osaka, Fukuoka, or Ehime
prefectures. The collected data was analysed using
the free software‘R’, and the statistical methods
learnt in Statistics and Environmental Statistics,
such as the t-test, χ 2-test, and regression analysis.
The important aspects of citizen decision-making
regarding participation in the Tanada Owner
System were extracted. These aspects included
implementation/non-implementation, the contentsof agricultural experiences or events in tanada
areas, the privileges obtained by participating in thesystem, and willingness to pay for participating inthe system.
SurveyMoreover, the students conducted a web survey
between 8 January 2019 and 20 January 2019 on theneeds analysis of the Tanada Owner System. For
statistical analysis, they applied a discrete choice
experiment. The sample comprised 449 residents ofEhime, who were aged 20 or older. Participants ina web research who responded to the questionnaireand expressed interest in the Tanada Owner
System were asked subsequent questions. From thestatistically significant variables and their estimatedcoefficients, the following results were obtained.
・People interested in participating in the Tanada
Owner System in Kashidani want to participatein events or projects that can be convenientlyparticipated in, even by older people; they do notmind if higher participation fees are implemented forsuch events.
・Some people consider participating in the systemeven if participation fees were higher than usual.
・Tanada brown rice as a privileged product had ahigher value than the market value of brown rice.
・Local vegetables were highly evaluated as a
privileged product.

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Conclusion and proposal
The following conclusions and proposals wereobtained. First, the system can be improved toenable more participation, and more contributions
could be collected. Events or projects that areconveniently accessible even by the elderly areworth exploring; however, their implementationneeds careful consideration, especially with regard
to additional costs that might eventually result in
lower economic performance. Local vegetables may
be worth considering as a privileged product forcost reasons. More listening to people’s concerns,
or more investigation and change in the content ofprivileged products might be worth considering.
4.

Discussion and conclusion
Students recognised the importance of rural
sustainability and its challenges. Moreover, they
practiced the social research methods learnt
in lecture-based classes, such as statistics andqualitative research methods, to deepen theirunderstanding.
Although the Faculty does not specialise only inrural sustainability issues, which may be learned
in a specialised way in the Faculty of Agricultureof the University, a member of the Association for
Sustainable Kashidani Tanada encouraged us bycommenting that a theme such as this may be well
examined by people from other fields. Moreover,
the Association’s members showed much interestin the project analysis results, as it included novel
information that had not been previously recognisedby them.
Continuous conduct of the project with the same
theme for one year（a total of eight months）
would make the theme-setting and analysis moredeliberate and eventually lead to appropriate results.
Meanwhile, a certain level of specialised knowledge
can be obtained, and a more focused theme can begradually set. This project period is not too long;motivation or performance would be low during themiddle part of the project if the project is too long.
Theme-finding by students may lead to inefficientresearch, as their themes could change in the middleof the examination or might widely vary; theiranalyses might be one-sided; or their perspectives
might be narrow, since they do not have specialised

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knowledge. Therefore, effective devices should beapplied in the lectures to appropriately guide thestudents.
However, theme-setting by students may benefit
both students and stakeholders. Students will
be more motivated even if the themes might bechallenging to examine. Moreover, such themesetting may lead to novel findings that specialists
dealing with these issues have not been able torecognise.
Acknowledgement
The author is thankful to the Association for
Sustainable Kashidani Tanada and the second- andthird-year students（as of January 2019 ）of theEnvironmental Design course of the University forparticipating in the tanada fields projects, including
Masanori Inoue, Riku Nakagawa, Kazuho Tsukamoto,
Haruka Araki, Karen Fujita, Yukina Mando, andTakuroh Mori.
References
Association for Sustainable Kashidani Tanada’s website（https://sites.google.com/site/kashidanitanadahozonkai/）－ 50 －