Another feature of Japan's agricultural arable land area is that the average arable land area of each farmer is small. In 2006, the cultivated land area per household was 1.8 hectares in Japan, 16.9 hectares in EU countries in 2005, 180.2 hectares in USA in 2005 and 3,423.8 hectares in Australia in 2004.
The direct reason for the decrease of cultivated land area in Japan is that farmers abandon their farmland (the main reason), and cultivated land is used as residential land. According to reports, the reasons behind the serious abandonment of farming include: Japan's land is expensive and manpower is expensive, but the price of agricultural products is relatively low; Farmers are getting older, but their children don't want to engage in agriculture, and there are no successors in farmland.
Farmland fertility declines, and at the same time, a large number of chemicals are lost to water and air, causing environmental pollution. In recent years, the eutrophication of some lakes in China is extremely serious, including the inflow of pesticides and fertilizers in agricultural land cultivation in the upper reaches of lakes and around lakes. In Japan, the delegation visited Lake Biwa, the largest lake in Japan, and its management experience is worth learning. Through legislation and other measures, the Japanese government has stipulated fertilization, drainage, field water surface and barn structure. For example, farmland irrigation is not flood irrigation, but water-saving measures such as infiltration irrigation, sprinkler irrigation and drip irrigation, and rational application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Take measures such as green mulching and no-tillage planting to control the pollution of Lake Biwa from the source.