Section 111 



EESOURGES 



1. AGRICULTURE (See Plates 9 and 10 ) 



a. General statement 



(1) Agricaltare the most important single industry 



(a) More than 40 percent of national capital invested 

 in it 2/ 



(b) Approximately 47 percent of population derive all 

 or part of their income from agriculture 3/ 



(2) Principal features of Japanese agriculture 



•(a) Small cultivated area in relation to large agri- 

 cultural population 



(b) Small-scale farming 



(c) Widespread dievelopment of tenancy 4/ 



(d) Bmphasls on food production 



(e) Predominant position occupied by rice crop 



(3) Agriculture has provided 80 to 85 percent of food re- 

 quirements of Japaji enuring past twenty years 



b. Economic factors 



(1) Intensity of agriculture reflected by these facts: 



(a) Only 14,208(000 acres or 16 percent total land 

 area assd for eultlTation 



(b) Approximately 5,698,000 farms in Japan compared 

 to about 6,800,000 in United States 



(c) Average sized acreage of a Japanese farm 2.49 

 acres. Median acreage is 1.64 acres 2/. 



2/ Bttimate of Japan Hypothec Bank as of 1946 



5/ Besulte of Agricultural Census conducted by Ministry of Agriculture 

 and Forestry as of 26 April 1946 



4/ As a result of land reform laws passed by the Japanese Diet on 11 

 October 1946, it is anticipated that before 1949 tenants on approxi- 

 mately 2,000,000 of the 2,600,000 cho of land now cultivated by them 

 will be able te purchase the land they cultivate. One cho equals 

 2.45 acres. 



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