Recent Changes of Agriculture in South-west Japan

近年,経営耕地規模拡大の動きが活溌であった遠隔諸地域のうち,四国・九州地方の動向を農林業センサスと農家経済調査報告を中心に,県別に検討することにより,農業構造の変動をもたらした要因の解明を試みた。自家労働評価の上昇に刺激された経営規模拡大の動きは,多くは稲作以外の分野,とくに果樹で展開することにをったが,そのことが,当面の事情のもとでは,規模拡大農家の経営不安定の一因をなすと考える。In this paper the author examines recent changes of agricultural structure in Shikoku and Kyushu (southwest Japan). Where employment opportunities were scarce and where relatively profitable crops such as the mandarin orange could be cultivated, many peasants expanded their area of cultivation using former forests and grass lands. The government gave financial support to this tendency, but expansion of cultivation sometimes brought overproduction of the crops, and this created a seriously unstable economy for many peasants