Title
FOUR BASIC FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED FOR THE
IMPROVEMENT OF RYUKYUAN AGRICULTURE
Author(s)
Nakasone, Henry Y.
Citation
沖縄農業, 2(1): 9-12
Issue Date
1963-05
URL
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12001/903
FOUR BASIC FAC ORS TO BE CONSIDERED FOR TH
IMP OVEMENT OF RYUKYUAN AGRICULTURE
b
Henry aka one
ichigan State oi er it Group, ni r it of th yu yu
hen one i a ked to '''!Tite about hi irnpr ion of n area, he i in lined
him elf and tread on unfamiliar ground. Thi ill quit oft n 1 ad to embarra in tat me t . To keep' h e pitfall to a minimum th writ r will eo-nfin thi article to agri ultur area of hi greate t eompetance by irtu of tr ining.
any sur ha been mad to th pr nt and mu h i b Jng aid about th uau
agriculture all in good faith and dir ted to ard it de elopm nt to hi h r I I . Th ba no bad the opportunity to ob r e and to tudy th hort! ultur I ituati n in th R uk u for a total period of appro im tely t el e month. Durin thi p riod ritical
mad throughout Okina a and ral i land of the aki hima roup; 1ctur and di eu ion n variou a peets of horH ultur r h Id \ ith farmer • t chnici n and official . r por pre iou UT t am were tudi d and di eu ion carri d out ith m mb r f olh
r-ur team ho happ n d to be on the enduring th m p ri d. ~r m th tud'
and di eu ion an attempt ha b n m d t 1ct f ct r whi h m be on id r d b ie t h progre of agricultur in th Ryukyu.
In final ana) i ther ar only a f w b3 i upon in ord r to a e 1 rat the progr ' (thi
i'h mu t b on id r d and a t d
1. Th fir t and perhap th m t important ba i fa tor m to Ii in th r a 0
dueati nand th g n r 1 attitud of th alricultural p pl. EducaU nal . :lo'Yv
n n rn in th ar a f
r
rm r ducnti n 11 th' 1 ukl' main. to h ae rl[lish d. • h
\\ j)('r val u< n \ '(.1' »t: and r:J'ti ' .:
into tJ.. iti m 31U 'on· rvuti r
in r m lh in om m t and ti i n, ry wh fails to m1d l I . in
10 (1963)
To d velop a high d gr e re pon ive attitude among the farming population, there rnu t al xi t pro uctiv r earch c nter . R earch cent r , to be producti e mu t be taffed with highly train d r nnel who can produce re ult and demonstrate to farmer the value
f 1h e l' ult. Th y rnu arn th re pect and confid nce of the farmer. Thi again follow
u ational pathway. ducational n d are not confined to farmer alone but rnu t e tend
tl ward t th r earch r , ext n ion ag nt and government officials who ar entru ted with
th r p n ibBity agricultural de lopm nt. While th entire proce is now going on in the yukyu t day, it an be accelerat d 1hr ugh the will and determination of th people
them-Everyon mu t realize and ucce in the Ryuk us without n if on were to a ume that man i not able I city by an of the kno n mean , there i till that blo\! frequ n Iy during the winter month. ur durin th m nth are not attributable to low temp ra-fT ct of th wint rind. In mo t in tance crops gro -or th r prot cti e devic e cap th kind of rowing in po d ar a. vid nce howing the e dif-wint r m nth.
t argument rno t frequently given
n 1thin th financial m an of the
farm r cannot afford to relinqui h argum n app ar to be legitimate and 1n nno gi on hundr d percent protection to all crop and that th av rage Ryuk uan farmer tills a small parcel of land which he can ill-afford to wa teo How v r, a clo e tudy of the e condition out in the field ha revealed evidences
,yhich r fute th two arguments pr ented above.
In con id ring the fir t argument, that of windbreaks being inadequate to protect crops a ain t wind of typhoon elocity, evidence of one hundred percent protection has been ob-rv d by the writer. orne chry anthemum growers in the Yogi area use tightly woven bamboo f n around th flo er bed. During typhoon , similar material is placed over the beds so ha th ntir b d i nclo d within thi protective frame. By this means, beds of chrysan-th mum appro Imately a meter high and just initiating flower buds were saved wichrysan-thout damage
t a in I 1 af. Figur 1 show thi protective structue and the chrysanthemum saved during phoon roma in overnber of 1959. This ystem of protection is relatively inexpen lve and a pplicabl to oth l' flow rand g table crops. The ca e in point only proves the
function-ability of th ld adag , " her there is a ill, there i a way".
To obtain one hundr d p rcent protection for tree crops is a difficult one and such a d gr of prot etion i not p cted although de irable. However, proper types of windbreaks n 1 n h rity of damage, thu reducing mortality and increasing the rate of recovery of th . Tr planted in po ed areas without benefit of windbreaks are so severely damag d that man di ithout reco ring. Surviving ones recover slowly and are usually too
w a t produ ati actory crop. There are e idences showing good growth and high yields [ tr prot cted b indbreak. Figure 2 shows one of several lychee trees more than
twenty ti e ar old, arO\ ing
farm aki ama akigin on. The 1 che branche ar lop d into uch b autiful tr e
ell- tabH h d ukuai wind r ak bordering a ugar an fi ld The e tre '\ indbr ak are 11 'i ithin h farm r' nancial m an .
on the amashiro auld not ha e
de-ho n in Figur 3.
The cond argument the lack of pa for Indbr ak , app ar t b ontrary lo ound economic rea oning. dmitt d1 om land ill b t' d up and th total producti area i reduc d, ut th farm r who ha windbr ak and xp ri n d t chnician agr that b tter
growth and increa d i ld 0 tain d from prot ct d plot mar than ju tHy th r duction in
acreag. i hout indbr ak about i t to a hundr d p rc nt 10 rna b incurr d but \ ilh proper prot cti e m a ur tift to igh p rc nt rna b a d . <urth r in r in i Id
rna be realized b irnpro rn nt in oth r cultural practi and by planting impro d ari tie. lar e numb r of irnpro d ari ti of r p ha b n inlr duc dint th Ryuk u up to no but becau of lh lack of indbr ak , lh ir g netic pot ntia1 ha not b n full d-mon trated. 0 matt r how good a n ic pot ntial a plant po e it rnu t fir t b iy n
th hanc to gro for it d irabl rait an b mainf t d. Thi ha b n diffi ult a ac-compli h h r . n fa t th real pot ntial of many local rop ha n t b n d t rrnin d du to
th lack of windbr ak and d tici nei in oth r ultural practic . Therefor withth ta}'
h-ment of indbr ak throughout th i. land, other improv d ul ur 1 pra ti will h w th ir ff cti n upon plant rowth and i ld .
Th windbr a it efT ct .
d t
ov rnm nt of lh Ryukyu is b ginnin to how for thi program h don omm lldabl Job
ilj i . II r, mu h r mi. b I I n
n of hi . farm i' 1 r' ly hI. r on f III
nt mJ Id on .
12 1~ (1963)
t the pre ent level of agriculture in the Ryukyu , fundamental or ba ic research hould b ondary to a plied r earch. pproximately 80 to 90 percent of the research effort and m n y hould go to th ar a of appH d re earch. WUh advances in the economic levels of the farm r , appli d re earch may be reduced in favor of the more basic type of re earch. Thi app ar to be a I gical approach to the immediate needs of the economy of any area.
4. Th fourth and la t factor concern the di semination of re earch result and
inforrna-ti n to th farm r. 11 effort and money put into re earch will be \Va ted if the re ults are no di minated t th peopl concerned. hile mo t re earcher prefer to publi h their re-in t chni al langua e under to d rno tly by th ir colleague in tltution are r sponsible f r th dis emina ion [ uch t chnical information in impler form to th farmers. This i
·mp rtant a pect [farm r ducation. The writer ha e n numerou ca in th Ryukyus h rim ntal inf rmation (from local or for ign ource) ha not e en filtered do n to h n a r1 ultural ag nt. otic abl improv m nt ha e taken place, but the rate of
disse-ti n mu t in in rder t m et th requirement of the fir t ba ic factor mentioned be i nln .
r
ur ba 1c factor which are can idered to be the mo t im portant for ukyu in ord r to accel rat the rat of progre of agriculture are, 1 m rand l hni in, 2 crop protection 3 applied re earch and 4 dis e-rmatJ h r ar many ther important factor, but the e will fall int their prl ary fa t r ar impro d. There i a great potential in ith n·. Th1' p t ntial ca b d veloped by inpro lng th factor rt ilhin and among in tituti n u hath xp riment tation, ricultural a nl and th farm r. ach ha i 0\ n re pon ibilit
t I pi tur f agricultural d v lopm nt.
®
Figure 1 Beds of chrysanthemum plants protected by tightly woven Bamboo fences. During typhoons, the tops of the beds are also covered tightly with the same material. Figore 2 Well-grown lychee tree on the amashiro Farm, akijin. The entire area is endos d with ukugi windbreak. Figure 3 well-established Fukugi wind-break bordering a sugar cane field. This is also found in akijin.
