This study examines the actual conditions of rural landscape management projects and proposes improvements to the problems associated with the projects. We firstly examined the present condition for rural landscape management. Secondly, we specified the effect factors of the direct payment program for rural landscape conservation based on a monitoring of program districts. We surveyed local government officers across the nation and interviewed target district farmers.
The rural landscape management policy has started to take effect with the launching of a direct payment program for rural landscape conservation in 2005. The direct payment program has achieved considerable results, but there is the limitation that the program can't manage the rural landscape totally.
The target district farmers seldom act to manage the rural landscape except cultivating "landscape crops." They consider the program as a source of income and the program's feature of providing crop assistance compared to landscape management has become conspicuous since 2008 when feed crops were included as landscape crops.
To provide countermeasures to the problem and others such as lack of resident participation, lack of linkages between landscape planning and projects, and lack of coordination among different departments, it is necessary to make use of the direct payment program by improving the limitations and problems. Secondly, it is important to induce local governments to establish a rural landscape plan. Finally, it is necessary to induce local governments to participate in rural landscape conservation and expand landscape management projects considering regional conditions such as residents' awareness about landscape management.