Irrigation and Drainage Canal Maintenance

A study on the "Trends and Regional Conditions in Irrigation andDrainage Canal Maintenance in Japan" reveals that:

1. The declining functionality of farmhouseholds and agricultural disadvantages associated with farmland location were moreimportant factors in deciding over the maintenance of the canals by the communities than theincrease of non-farmers;
2. More urbanized communities had less power to assign non-farmersto the maintenance of canals;
3. Urbanized or depopulated communities were characterized byhaving difficulty in maintaining the canals whereas the communities in the middle elevatedlocations succeeded in keeping up their maintenance;
4. There were regional differencesbetween the influences of the substandard farmland location on the maintenance of the canalsby communities.

http://www.arsa1996.org/pictures/pdf/ARSA_IV_PRCDGS_VOL1/SOCIAL%20CHANGE%20AND%20TRANSFORMATION/11_YASUKO%20HONDA_412-421.pdf