Table 3.
Summary of variables used in the analysis
| Variables | Description | Mean | SD |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dependent variable: | |||
| Farmland abandonment ratio for each farmer (n = 12,261) | Ratio of abandoned farmland area to total owned farmland | 0.17 | 0.24 |
| Independent variables: | |||
| Characteristics of communities (n = 960) | |||
| Payment | Area of enrolled plots in the community (ha) | 4.6 | 9.2 |
| Community-based activities | 0: None (14.6%); 1: Yes (85.4%) | − | − |
| Cooperation between communities | 0: None (31.4%); 1: Yes (68.6%) | − | − |
| Cooperation with outsiders | 0: None (88.6%); 1: Yes (11.4%) | – | − |
| Slope | Average slope (degrees) | 14.4 | 8.9 |
| Distance to the town center | Average distance to the town center (km) | 5.8 | 4.2 |
| Characteristics of farmers (n = 12,261) | |||
| Total farmland | Total owned farmland (are) | 77.4 | 80.6 |
| Off-farm income dependency | 0: No dependency (18.5%); 1: Partial dependency (40.5%); 2: Full dependency (41.0%) | − | − |
| Gender | 0: Female (3.9%); 1: Male (96.1%) | − | − |
| Age | Age of household head (years) | 69.3 | 10.1 |
| Successor | 0: None (52.8%); 1: Yes (47.2%) | − | − |
| Labor | Number of hired laborers | 0.62 | 2.2 |
| Machine | Number of farm machines | 2.2 | 1.4 |
| Crop type | Number of crop types | 1.6 | 2.1 |
| Sales | 0–15 (annual sales level from <150,000 JPY to 500 million JPY) | 2.1 | 2.2 |
Data sources: Census of Agriculture and Forestry 2015 for the characteristics of farmers and collective practices. Area of enrolled plots in the community, slope and distance to the town center were calculated using the GIS-based dataset developed in this study
Off-farm income dependency was defined based on the definition of farmer type: 0, farm organization and full-time farmer; 1, part-time farmer; and 2, self-sufficient farmer. Types of farmer are defined in Table 2. The data contains null values in gender, age, and successor for 6893 farmers