No.63 “Inagi Agriculture Fureai Juku” started

This cram school, which opened on January 19, 2017, is the first agricultural volunteer training course in Inagi City. I serve as the school principal, and the chairman of the Agriculture Committee acts as the facilitator, with staff from the JA Tokyo Minami Inagi Branch serving as lecturers for classroom lectures, and agricultural committee members serving as instructors for practical training.
The farm support volunteer system is aimed at farmers who are finding it difficult to continue farming due to the aging of the population or a lack of farmers.In addition to assisting farmers with their work free of charge due to the aging of the population or a lack of farmers, those who are willing to help support the farm. The purpose is to deepen public understanding of
The volunteer system itself had previously been trialled in Inagi City, but at that time, applicants were introduced directly to farmers for help, which caused hardship for both farmers and volunteers, and unfortunately it did not last long. It was.
Therefore, in taking on the challenge of this system again, we spent a lot of time considering this system together with the Agricultural Committee, and as a result of visiting advanced cities, we learned that after having acquired the minimum knowledge and skills through a training course of approximately one year, I decided to get involved.
By the way, there are two problems in urban farming: urban planning and taxation issues, and a lack of successors.
First of all, regarding the first point, the City Planning Act enacted in 1968 reflected the housing shortage at the time and stipulated that farmland in urbanized areas should be converted into residential land within 10 years. The Productive Green Land Act, which was revised in 1992, requires continuation of farming for 30 years in order to be designated as a productive green space and exempt from taxation at the same level as residential land. It is said that the purpose was to encourage The Urban Agriculture Promotion Basic Act enacted in 2015 aims to ensure the stable continuation of urban agriculture and contribute to the creation of a good urban environment through the appropriate and sufficient performance of various functions. The policy has changed in the direction of conserving the area.
For this reason, although we are requesting the national and local governments to take the necessary measures, there are currently no system reforms regarding inheritance taxes, etc., and there is no new support for continuing farming in terms of taxation. We will continue to request the national government to reform the system through the Mayor's Association, but this is an issue that is difficult to resolve at the municipal level.
Regarding the second point, I hope that the functioning of the agricultural volunteer system will have some effect on the problem of the lack of successors.
Recruitment for this first period began in September last year, and due to the large number of applications, 10 people were selected by lottery from those who passed the qualification screening.
We understand that there may be some hardships from now on, such as cold or hot days, but please take care of yourself and pray that everyone will complete the course safely.