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Agriculture in the Islands of Kagoshima - Special Reference to Fruit Production in the Yakushima and Amami Islands - Shigeto TOMINAGA

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Agriculture in the Islands of Kagoshima - Special Reference to Fruit Production in the Yakushima and Amami Islands - Shigeto TOMINAGA KAWAI, K., TERADA, R. and KUWAHARA, S. (eds): The Islands of Kagoshima Kagoshima University Research Center for the Pacific Islands, 15 March 2013 Chapter 14 Agriculture in the Islands of Kagoshima - Special Reference to Fruit Production in the Yakushima and Amami Islands - Shigeto TOMINAGA 1. Introduction are located at the south end of this island group. here are more than 200 islands in the One city, 8 towns, and 2 villages are present in the TKagoshima Prefecture, extending 600 km Amami Islands. Further, these islands have a warm from the north to south. However, the Osumi subtropical climate; however, the rainfall and sun- Islands (comprising Tanegashima Is., Yaku- shine vary among the island; therefore, the imple- shima Is., and Kuchinoerabujima Is.) and Amami mented agriculture type varies across the 5 islands Islands (comprising Amami-Oshima Is., Kikaijima constituting the Amami Islands. Different types of Is., Tokunoshima Is., Okinoerabujima Is., and agriculture such as forced culturing of temperate Yoronjima Is.) are major islands involved in ag- vegetables and tropical and subtropical crops and ricultural production. Many of the smaller islands diversified farming, including sugarcane cultiva- other than the above major islands, for example, tion and livestock production are employed. Mishima Village Islands (comprising Takeshima Here, the agriculture structure of the Yakushima Is., Iojima Is., and Kuroshima Is.) and Toshima and Amami Islands is shown, with special focus on Village Islands (comprising Kuchinoshima Is., fruit production. Nakanoshima Is., Suwanosejima Is., Tairajima Is., Akusekijima Is., Kodakarajima Is., and Takarajima 2. Outline of the agriculture in the Yaku- Is.) have low population and produce only beef shima and Amami Islands cattle. 2.1. Yakushima Is. The Osumi Islands have 1 city and 2 towns he total cultivated area and economic output in Tanegashima Is. and 1 town in Yakushima Is. Tof Yakushima Town were 625 ha and JPY Tanegashima Is. is not mountainous, but has ¥1,299 million in 2009 and 631 ha and ¥1,161 many flatlands; therefore, the predominant agri- million in 2010 (Table 1). The agricultural outputs cultural crops include sugarcane, sweet potato, (except for livestock) of these islands were 1,050 vegetables, rice, and tobacco. In comparison, the and 930 million in 2009 and 2010, respectively. central part of Yakushima Is. has a high moun- Fruit production is the largest form of agriculture tain (Mt. Miyanouradake) of altitude more than on Yakushima Town, representing approximately 1,000 m; hence, the cultivation area is concen- 50 % and 60 % of the total production from the trated along the shoreline, with few rice fields and Yakushima Town in 2009 and 2010, respectively farms. Approximately 60 % of agricultural input is (Yakushima Town 2012). For this reason, the fruit production, for example, ponkan (Citrus re- Yakushima Is. is called “the island of the fruit ticulate Blano) and tankan (Citrus tankan Hayata). trees.” The second most important form of agricul- The Kuchinoerabujima Is., which is a part of the ture is livestock (mainly beef cattle), followed by Yakushima Town, is small and similar to the sizes vegetables, industrial crops, and ornamental crops. of the Mishima and Toshima villages. The agri- cultural population is low on this island, and beef 2.2. Amami Islands cattle production is the main industry. The number of agricultural farms and the agricul- The 5 Amami Islands are located 300-500 km tural population in the Amami Islands were 12,058 away from Kagoshima and Yoronjima Is., which and 38,209, respectively, in 1990. Subsequently, 84 The Islands of Kagoshima there was a gradual decline, with 8,723 farms Is., 5,205, followed by Okinoerabujima Is., 3,966; and 19,315 people in 2005 (Fig. 1) (Kagoshima Yoronjima Is., 1,968; Amami-Oshima Is., 1,929; Prefecture 2012). and Kikaijima Is., 1,208. The total cultivated area in the Amami Islands Moreover, in the Amami Islands, over 50% of was 123,139 ha in 2009, with the average culti- the farmers were aged about 60 years, and thus, vated area per farm being 1.93 ha. When consider- the numbers of farmers aged 70 years or more be- ing the total cultivated area and average area per came particularly high. However, the ratio of farm- farm in every island, the largest total cultivated ers aged 45-54 and 40-45 years were high, and the area was in Tokunoshima Is., 6,942 ha, followed ratio of farmers aged 30 years or less were higher by Okinoerabujima Is., 3,875 ha; Kikaijima Is., than all farmers in all other age groups. The num- 2,226 ha; Amami-Oshima Is., 1,790 ha; and ber of farmers of all age-ranges was the highest in Yoronjima Is., 970 ha. However, the average area Tokunoshima Is. followed by Okinoerabujima Is., per farm in 2009 was the highest in Kikaijima Is., 5,205 and 3,966, respectively (Fig. 3). 3.37 ha, followed by Okinoerabujima Is., 2.43 ha; Because of the humid and wet subtropical Tokunoshima Is., 2.38 ha; Yoronjima Is., 1.23 ha; weather of the Amami Islands, several crop types, and Amami-Oshima Is., 0.9 ha (Fig. 2). except rice paddy, can be cultivated. The output The number of agriculture workers on each percentage of horticultural crops such as vegeta- island in 2005 was the highest in Tokunoshima bles, flowers, and fruit trees increased after 1990, Table 1. Agricultural production in Yakushima Island (2009, 2010) 2009 2010 Cutitavted Cutitavted acreage % Production % acreage % Production % ha of total million Yen of total ha of total million Yen of total Common crops 41 6.6 54 4.2 50 7.9 33 2.8 Indutrial crops 84 13.4 136 10.5 90 14.3 136 11.7 Vegetables 83 13.3 201 15.5 74 11.7 129 11.1 Ornamental crops 6 1.0 84 6.5 6 1.0 84 7.2 Fruit 411 65.8 574 44.2 411 65.1 547 47.1 Livestock - - 250 19.2 - - 232 20.0 Toal 625 100.0 1299 100.0 631 100.0 1161 100.0 800 35000 700 Area under Farm 30000 cultivation（×10ha) Population 600 Acreage/A farm 25000 (（××100m100m2)2) 500 20000 400 15000 300 10000 200 5000 100 0 0 Amamioshima Kikaijima Tokunoshima Okinoerabujima Yoronjima 1990 1995 2000 2005 Amami- Kikai Tokuno Okinoerabu Yoron Oshima jima shima jima jima Fig. 1. Changes of number of agricultural Fig. 2. Agricultural scale of each island in farms and population in Amami Islands. Amami Islands (2009). 85 Kagoshima University Research Center for the Pacific Islands followed by sugarcane production. Only a very ticultural crops increasing to more than 50% of low percentage of the cultivated crops are tradi- the total agricultural income. Thus, the distinctive tional crops such as rice. Beef cattle production features of agriculture in the Amami Islands is di- has gradually increased since 1990 (Fig. 4). versified farming, with sugarcane being the main The sugarcane cultivation area is the high- crop, because of its tolerance to natural disasters, est, representing about 60% of the total cultivated including typhoon and drought, in combination area in the Amami Islands, followed by vegetable with horticultural crops and beef cattle production, crops, animal feed crops, fruit trees, and ornamen- which have also shown high-yields (Fig. 5). tal crops. However, the income from sugarcane The gross agricultural output was the highest in decreased to about one-third of the total income from the Amami Islands, with the income of hor- 180 Common crops 160 Industrial crops 2500 Horticutural crops Yoronjima Beef cattle 140 Okinerabujima Pig 2000 Tokunoshima 120 Kikaijima Amamioshima 100 1500 80 1000 60 JPY ¥ million JPY 40 500 Number of the farmers 20 0 0 >30 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 65-69 70-74 75< 1990 1995 2000 2005 2008 2009 2010 Age Year Fig. 3. Agricultural population in all age groups Fig. 4. Changes of agricultural output in of each island in Amami Islands (2005). Amami Islands (JPY ¥ million). Area under cultivation (ha) Gross agricultural output (JPY ¥ million) Others, 466 Chiken, 319 Others, 305 Animal feed Pig, 125 crops, 2552 Beef cattle, 4898 Ornamental crops, 324 Tabacco, 422 Sugar cane, Fruit, 584 10142 Ornamental crops, 4327 Vegetables, Sugar cane, 2771 9126 Fruit, 1363 Vegetables, 7709 Fig. 5. Agricultural production in Amami Islands (2010). 86 The Islands of Kagoshima Tokunoshima Is., followed by Okinoerabujima Is., cilities is necessary because the Amami Islands are Amami-Oshima Is., Kikaijima Is., and Yoronjima frequently subject to typhoons and droughts. Is. (Fig. 6). Each of the islands constituting the Amami Islands has a predominant agricultural 3. Fruit production in the Yakushima and crop. For instance, in Okinoerabujima Is., sugar- Amami Islands cane production is limited, and horticultural crops 3.1. Fruit production in Yakushima Is. such as potato, chrysanthemum, and flower bulbs ruit production is the primary industry in are prominently cultivated. In Tokunoshima Is., FYakushima Is., representing about 60% of the although sugarcane is the major crop, vegetable island’s total agricultural output. In 2010, the ma- crop and beef cattle production are equally high. jor fruit produced in Yakushima Is. was ponkan, In Kikaijima Is., both sugarcane cultivation and with the cultivated area, yield, and gross output beef cattle production are high. In Amami-Oshima value being 216 ha, 774 t, and JPY ¥1,300 million, Is., sugarcane, vegetable crop, and beef cattle respectively. The second major fruit was tankan, production are the main agricultural outputs. In with the cultivated area, yield, and gross output Yoronjima Is., sugarcane and beef cattle produc- value of 178 ha, 1,227 t, and ¥3,800 million, re- tion are the major agricultural outputs.
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