Overview of Land Improvement Districts

Editor's note:  The following paper was presented during the first day of the seminar by the Director of the Office of Land Improvement Facilities Management in the Agricultural Structure Improvement Bureau of Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries..

Introduction

            Irrigation development in Japan is carried out under terms of the Land Improvement Law enacted in 1949.  Land improvement projects are intended to contribute to improvement of productivity, increase agricultural production, promote diversification of crops, and enhance farm management.   Recently, improvement of living conditions in rural areas is also considered as one of the objectives, over and above increased productivity.

Features of the Land Improvement Law (1949)

            Irrigation/drainage projects are a form of public investment to create both physical infrastructure (river diversions, canals, etc) as well as social capital (the LID organization itself) in rural areas.   Four basic principles underlie the Land Improvement Law:  (1) Farmers must request the projects, with at least 15 farmers submitting the initial application; (2) At least 2/3 of the affected farmers must agree to the proposed improvements; (3) The roles and responsibilities of the national and local governments and farmers are clearly defined by the law; and (4) LIDs manage the facilities after construction.

1.  Initial project request.  The fifteen farmers requesting that a project be taken up must be actually engaged in cultivation, either as owners or tenants.  An appraisal of the project (e.g., project area, main facilities, etc.) is then conducted, and by-laws for the new organization are drafted.

2.  Agreement of majority of farmers.  When a 2/3 majority of farmers votes in favor of the project, then all farmers are compelled to become members of the LID and share in the cost of the project.  In practice, the proportion of farmers voting in favor of the LID is normally more than 90%.  Once the 2/3 majority is reached, the application is forwarded to the prefectural governor for establishing the LID.

3.  Roles of national and local governments and the LIDs.  Irrigation/drainage projects are undertaken by LID, municipality, prefecture, or the nation (public corporation), depending upon their scale, technical difficulties, etc.  Small projects (command areas under 200 ha) are implemented by the LID itself, with a 45% capital subsity from the Ministry of Agriculture.  Projects between 200 and 3,000 ha are implemented by Prefectural governments with a 50% subsidy from the central Ministry of Agriculture.  National projects are normally greater than 3,000 ha and capital improvements are subsidized at a rate of 67%.

(4) Operation, maintenance and management (OMM) by the LIDs.  Irrigation/drainage facilities must be managed not only through maintaining/managing the functions of a facility but also by water management within the benefited area through the operation of facilities.  It is considered more rational that these facilities should be managed and controlled by LID areas composed of benefited farmers since how they are managed is deeply associated with the interests of individual farmers within the benefited area.  There are 1200 major irrigation facilities constructed through national projects; about 80% of these facilities are managed by LIDs.

Outline of Land Improvement Districts

            Since land improvement projects themselves are of a public-purpose nature, the LID as an organization is non-profit and regulated by law to serve the interests of the public at large.  There are 7,681 LIDs in the country with an average area of 411 ha and an average of 592 persons.  In fact, these figures mask the great diversity of LIDs, with some very large organizations having several thousands of members.

                      Fig. 1  Organization chart of a typical LID

The LID organization

A general meeting of the LID must be held at least once per year and requires attendance by a majority of Members.  In LIDs having over 200 members, representatives may be elected by the members for a four-year term, and the general meeting then consists of these representatives.  The LID is administered by an elected board of directors and auditors.  There are at least five directors (average number is 12) and at least 2 auditors (average number is 3).  The LID president is usually elected from among the directors, unless otherwise specified in the LID articles.  The organizational arrangement is given in Fig.  1.

            LIDs may merge to form larger organizations, or may dissolve.  In either case, both the general meeting of members (or representatives) and the prefectural governor must approve the change of status.      A prefectural governor(s) may also order any LIDs to be disbanded if it is illegally operated.

            Associations of LIDs are established under the Land Improvement Law at both the Prefectural level and at the National level (see Fig. 2).  These associations promote the common interests of their member LIDs.  There are 47 associations at the prefectural level, and a single national federation.  Within the government, oversight of the LID associations is done through the Ministry of Agriculture (MAFF) or the respective Prefectural Governor.

Fig. 2  Levels of LID organizations

Main activities of the LIDs

            The primary activities of the LIDs are to undertake works such as new construction/improvement of irrigation/drainage facilities, and the subsequent operation, management, and maintenance of these facilities.  LIDs may also undertake projects which are closely linked to land improvement projects, such as rural community sewerage projects, small-scale hydro-power generation projects, fish culture, and cultivation of headwater conservation forests.

Fig. 3   % of LIDs involved in various activities

Collection of expenses

            The costs required for LID operating expenses are shared among the government, prefectures, municipalities, and the concerned LIDs (see figure __).  The member fees for the LIDs are composed of the following items:  (i) 100% of the construction cots of projects implemented by the LIDs, of the LID portion of the costs for prefectural or national systems, and (ii) 100% of the operations and maintenance costs. 

Loan systems for LIDs

            Since land improvement projects are very costly, even with a capital subsidy from the prefectural or national governments, farmers can hardly pay their share of the burden at one time.  For this reason, LIDs have the right to receive long-term and low-interest loans from the government.

Fig. 4   Sources of Income to the LIDs

Present status of LIDs

            The present number of LID is about 7,700 covering an area of 3.2 million hectares with some 4.5 million members.   LIDs of less than 100 hectares account for a little less than 50 percent while those of 1,000 hectares or more, only a little less than 10 percent.

            In terms of District Members in number, Districts with less than 300 members account for a little less than 60 percent while those with 1,000 members or more, a little over 10 percent or so.  As for the business activities of LIDs, 55% are engaged exclusively in OMM, 36% are involved with both OMM and construction, and 7 % are concerned with construction only.

Second Generation Problems Facing LIDs

            During the process of high economic growth since the 1960s, a decrease in the number of farmers and increasing numbers of part-time farm households were accompanied by progressive rural depopulation and rapid population ageing in the rural areas due to the outflow of young people into cities.  As a result, the nature of Land Improvement Districts has substantially changed.  The LID members are predominantly part-time farmers with a small number of full-time farm households.

            This trend has brought differences in opinions about the management of the irrigation facilities and has also undermined the voluntary spirit of cooperation within the LIDs.  At the same time, the expanding peri-urban areas have introduced mixed residential areas where farm and non-farm households co-exist.  Water quality is a particular problem, as municipal waste water and refuse are allowed to flow into irrigation canals managed by the LIDs.

            Financial viability of farm enterprises poses another set of challenges.  While farm incomes are declining with the internationalization of agriculture and liberalization of farm products including rice, the expenses of constructing and managing land improvement projects and the peration of the organizations have steadily increased.  Under such circumstances, small-scale LIDs, which still account for an overwhelming majority of cases, are merging to benefit from economies of scale.  Both the national and prefectural governments are subsidizing some of the expenses of the LIDs in preparing master plans and strategies for responding to these new circumstances.

Improvement of irrigation/drainage facility management

            Newly constructed LIDs, as well as newly modernized LIDs, require sophisticated management technologies including water management/control equipment for rationalized management and labor saving.  The necessity to properly and safely manage such large-scale and advanced irrigation/drainage facilities poses a problem for the management systems of the LIDs; there is a new need for highly trained technical staff, including dam management engineers, electricians, and other technical personnel for daily checking and maintenance.

            Multiple use of irrigation facilities, especially the recreational use of storage reservoirs, increases the risk of accidents such as falls at dam sites, on headworks, or along irrigation/drainage canals.   This highlights the necessity of strengthening safety management measures while ingeniously utilizing irrigation/drainage facilities as recreational areas.

            The management of land improvement facilities is the responsibility of each LID; however, these facilities provide support to agricultural production and, at the same time, represent an important dimension of social capital in rural areas.  In this sense, LIDs also constitute a type of public good, and it is vital to properly manage them.  The Government takes a variety of measures to ensure this, including:

·        Subsidies for advanced technologies needed to manage large-scale irrigation/drainage facilities.

·        Subsidies of the LID's management systems, consolidation/repair of land improvement facilities, enhancement of management engineers' technical skills, etc.

Taxes:   Local allocation taxes are allocated to prefectural and municipality governments as a measure to provide the source to fund the costs for shouldering land improvement facility management.