Takamori Town
Oku Aso Kusakabe

Seven farmers in Kusakabe established an agricultural corporation together to protect the firm land that has been abandoned and increasingly deteriorating.

The seven people who stood up to protect agricultural land in Kusakabe

One year ago, Agricultural producers’ co-operative corporation “Oku Aso Kusakabe” was established in Kusakabe section of Takamori-machi. There are seven members. Although each was individually engaged in agriculture, they were encouraged to establish a cooperative corporation from Kumamoto prefecture since it is hardpressed to manage vast farmlands on the cost front such as agricultural machinery and equipment. Representative Shinichi Sanami explains, “As the aging progresses, the average age of farmers is between 74 and 75. There are only 5 to 6 people in 20s, so we decided to protect agricultural lands as an organization by building a corporation because we can’t protect agricultural lands at this rate.”
It is “Megumi (blessing) of hundred years” being branded as Oku Aso Kusakabe rice. This naming also has episodes unique to Kusakabe. There was no paddy field in the past, only corn, foxtail millet, Japanese millet, and others could be made, and there was a time when annual income was only 5,000 yen. “We want to make rice cultivation here. Let's draw water anyway.” It was 100 years ago that the villagers were united with firm will and built waterways with bloody efforts. Because of that, they came to be able to make rice here in Kusakabe. The thought that they are always thankful for the wisdom of predecessors and they connect delicious rice making to the future is put in.
If the agricultural cooperative gets on track, it will become an employment basis of young people who have returned to the village after graduating from a school outside their hometown. It seems to be a model that shows that there is a way of being a new farmer as one choice of working way. A hundred years ago, pioneers who built a waterway with bloody efforts. A century later, the seven people who inherited the soul are trying to open new wind holes in agriculture in Kusakabe.

Interviewed in January, 2017
Writer : Hideko Takahashi / Photographer : Hiroyuki Tamura