Role of Land Improvement Distrticts

About two thousand years ago, rice farming was brought from China to Japan, and it quickly spread all over Japan.  Up to the late 19th century, rice remained the basic currency unit of Japan's economy, and rice farming ruled Japan's economic and social systems. For several hundreds years, irrigation and drainage projects whose objectives were mainly rice production increse together with flood control, water resource distribution and land development, supported the development of Japan's economy and culture, and played a key role in the founding of this country. This is why Japan is called a "rice country." At present, we have roughly 3 million hectares of paddy fields and 2 million hectares of upland fields.

        Much irrigation water is required for rice farming. Therefore, many irrigation facilities have been constructed and updated, and these have increased agricultural productivity. Prior to the war, management of irrigation facilities and water distribution was performed by local water user organizations based on farmers' community spirit Since the war, such management has been done by Land Improvement Districts (hereafter referred to as "LIDs") organized by farmers based on the Land Improvement Law enacted in 1949.

Status and Trends of Japan's Irrigation Sector

            The rough numbers of main irrigation facilities having a command area of 100 hectares or more are as follows: 1,000 dams, 1,900 head works, 2,400 pumping stations, and some 40,000 kilometers of canals. These irrigation facilities are worth roughly 22 trillion yen (200 billion dollars) in present value. Recently, these facilities have become larger scale, and their functions have been upgraded under the extension of national or prefectural government projects.

            Urbanization has proceeded dramatically in Japan in line with economic growth since the 1960s.  And even within rural communities, the number of non-farm houses has increased, and mixed habitation with farm and non-farm houses has increased. At present, farm houses account for about 16% of the respective communities to which they belong.  Due to the change of rural communities, irrigation facilities are gaining new roles. In addition to the original function for irrigation and drainage, they also have a more public role such as preventing flooding of urban areas, and providing amenities in the form of clean streams of canal water through urban areas.

            Irrigation facilities are constructed or rehabilitated by several executing bodies such as the national government, prefectural governments and LIDs depending on project scale. In general, however, users of irrigation water are responsible for managing such irrigation facilities. Therefore, the majority of irrigation facilities in Japan are managed by LIDs organized by farmers, though there are some facilities managed by the national or prefectural governments, such as large-scale dams, head works and pumping stations, which affect vast areas. Also, the boundary of LIDs’ direct management is generally that of the main facilities. In many cases, tertiary canals are the responsibility of the farmers of the community.

        Facility management costs are basically borne by the beneficiaries. Management costs are collected from the members of LIDs, who are charged according to the area served. While major rehabilitation costs are subsidized by the national government at 60%, there are no subsidies for routine operations and maintenance costs, which are borne entirely by the farmers.

Organization of LIDs

            An LID is established by farmers voluntarily, for the purpose of constructing and/or operating irrigation or other land improvement facilities. To establish an LID, it is necessary to define the benefit area, and to obtain the consent of the farmers in this area. In the case of an existing irrigation system which the government would turn over to the LID for management, the command area comprise the boundary of the LID, and all farmers in that area would become LID members. They would then be obliged to bear the project cost, facility management cost, and general running costs of the LID.

            At present, there are about 7000 LIDs covering 3 million hectares of agricultural land. Of these, 5000 LIDs implement facility management, covering 2 million hectares of paddy fields. About 15,000 staff are employed for facility management.  The scale of LIDs varies from less than 100 hectares to more than 10,000 hectares. Also the number of LID staff varies depending on the situation of LIDs. On average, LIDs covering more than 1,000 hectares have about 10 full-time staff.

The Management System of LIDs

            The LID draws up a water management plan based on which the LID implements project management according to the procedure of the Land Improvement Law.  Water management means adjusting water, such as at intakes from rivers, distributing a set amount to municipalities, timing of the deliveries, and so on. Each LID forms a Water Adjustment Committee consisting of representatives of each community/municipality served by the LID, and makes adjustment through discussions.  Actually, such adjustment, especially during a drought, is implemented based on traditional rules formulated over the many years of water usage in the region.  At present, the annual total of water used in Japan is estimated at about 90 billion cubic meters. Of this, agricultural water use is about 60 billion cubic meters.  Of this amount, 40 billion cubic meters of agricultural water use are managed by LIDs, which means that 44% of all water use in Japan is controlled by LIDs. I think this demonstrates the importance and public role of LIDs in Japan.

        Participatory irrigation management operated by LIDs in Japan has been formulated rationally through a long history of knowledge passed down through the generations, and of course, the activities of LIDs have helped to develop rural society in Japan.  The effect of facility management extends across a broad regional society, so the social importance of LIDs is increasing. It is predicted that irrigation water for upland fields will increase, and that water supply will also increase mainly for urban areas. Therefore, to ensure effective use of limited water resources, LIDs not only manage irrigation water, but will also play an important role in formulating rules of water use in the region.

Challenges to LID Sustainability

        The situation surrounding agriculture and rural areas in Japan is changing dramatically, such as the decrease of farm households, increase of part-time farmers, aging of the farmer population, and out-migration from many mountainous areas.   LIDs are suffering from these changes both structurally and financially.  I think that LIDs must strengthen their structural and financial basis and expand their role to become not only organizations for irrigation management but also the focal bodies for overall water resouces distribution in their regions.  LIDs should of course continue to make efforts by themselves, but further support from the government will also be necessary as LIDs take on an even greater public role.  At present, the Government is reconsidering the framework of agricultural policy and will be formulating a new Agricultural Law in the near future.  One of the main elements of this agricultural policy will be to enhance the operation and management of LIDs.

        Finally, I hope that all participants here today will be able to learn about Japan's participatory irrigation management throughout this seminar, and that this knowledge will help you improve your own countries' irrigation management.