Japan uses agricultural land for renewable energy

Japan's Ministry of Agriculture-Forestry-Fisheries (MAFF) has just finalized a bill aimed at simplifying procedures for concentrating abandoned agricultural land to serve renewable energy production projects with hope in the region. teach rural areas by creating jobs and increasing income.

As expected, the Government of Japan will pass the bill this week to simplify the approval and notification procedures described in seven different laws, including the law on agricultural land - one Legal version prohibiting conversion of agricultural land.

As the population of Japan is aging rapidly, about 9% of farmland in Japan is not cultivated.

Use abandoned agricultural land for production of renewable energy projects

The area of ​​abandoned agricultural land in this country is now up to nearly 400,000 ha, mainly in Saitama Prefecture, adjacent to Tokyo.

However, the construction of large-scale solar power plants in Japan is difficult because agricultural land is being dispersed into small, different-owned pieces. Therefore, according to the above bill, local governments can exchange plots for small agricultural plots with the consent of the farmer who owns the land to concentrate unused land into a larger plot. .

Farmers who have leased or leased electricity to power companies to build power plants will not be exempt from agricultural land tax, but they can receive money for land tax as well as a certain percentage. in electricity sales.

According to MAFF estimates, if the bill is approved by the Government and the National Assembly, about 170,000 ha of abandoned agricultural land can be used for renewable energy production projects.

By using land for these projects, MAFF hopes to increase the rate of renewable energy in total electricity supply in Japan to three times the current figure of nearly 1.2%.