III. Development of forestry activities

1. Trend of Forestry Management

The ownership structure of privately owned forests (excluding forests owned by prefectural or municipal governments) is characterized by the fact that some companies have large forest areas while many individuals have small forest areas. The average forest area owned by a forest owner slightly increased from 5.1 hectares in 1960 to 5.6 hectares in 2000. However, the majority of forest owners consists of small-scale forest owners.

The structure of forest owners over the past 40 years shows that the ratio of forest owners who are engaged primarily in jobs other than forestry, such as permanent employment by a company, has increased from 5.1% to 43.0% among those who own at least 5 hectares, mainly in the group of small-scale owners. Such a change is considered to have caused a decrease in the number of household members engaged in forestry activities and an increase in non-residential forest owners.

Forest owners' cooperatives play a major role in forest management fulfilling about 80% of new planting and about 70% of thinning in private forests.

Since forest owners' cooperatives are increasingly expected to play a major role in the efficient maintenance and management of local forests, financial empowerment and the institutional improvement are becoming more important.

2. Trend of Forestry Work

According to the Population Census in 2000, the number of workers engaged in forestry was 67,000 and is on the decline. However, there is an indication that the employment structure is changing, such as an increase in the number of workers in the age of 20s.

One quarter of newly employed forestry workers has moved from urban areas. With the diversification of lifestyles, forestry workers are also diversifying to cover urban people as well as rural people.

Since most of newly employed forestry workers have changed their jobs from other sectors, many of them do not have any experience in forestry work. The acquisition of knowledge and skills for forestry work is becoming important.

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