A common issue of a rural village in Japan like Okuwa village is a declining birthrate and aging population. It also causes declining the number of people who engage in agriculture, which results in growing an area of fallow paddy fields. To re-activate the fallow fields, the village office invites young people from the outside of the village. They are called Community-Revitalizing Cooperator Squad. They come to the village with their own objectives, in which an organic farming is highly appreciated from SDGs view point.
The man on the tractor, whose name is Gen, is one of the squad members. He moved to Okuwa village in 2021 for the agricultural revitalization.
The organic farming is a very popular word these days but it is not an easy task since the organic farming prohibits the use of agriculture chemicals and chemical fertilizers, which are thought essential in the modern agriculture in order to commit some level of harvest.
Especially weeding the paddy fields without chemical requires a big effort in the organic farming. The following movie shows his weeding operation with lines of chains
In addition, the paddy field that has not been cultivated for many years may have a trouble in water retention capability and unbalance of soil nutrients. Without enough water, rice plants cannot grow. The unbalance of soil nutrients makes rice plants easily catch a disease. To settle those issues, an extra work in early stages of the farming is inevitable.
The fallow paddy field is a kind of symbol of the depopulation but it is hard to stop. Therefore, many village inhabitants highly respect his activities with hope in order to sustain the village in the future.
Thank you, Gen!
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