Eco-Friendly Rice Growing Program Helping Participants Interact with Nature, People

Students and former students of the "CSO Learning Scholarship Program" sponsored by Sompo Japan Insurance Inc. have been participating in a rice farming program since May 2006. These students are growing rice without agricultural chemicals and with minimal use of farm machines in a paddy field named "Hyoutanbo" (gourd-shaped rice field) located in Handa, Ishioka City, Ibaraki Prefecture. As part of the "Asaza Project," this farming program is supported by the Asaza Fund, a nonprofit organization working to conserve the environment in the Lake Kasumigaura area in the prefecture. The Asaza Project has a long-term vision for restoring the natural environment so that people in the area will be able to see wild Japanese crested ibises flying overhead 100 years from now.

The Hyoutanbo rice growing program was launched under the theme "Enjoy Working in Paddy Fields and Interact with People!" Its objectives are twofold. One is to keep water sources for the Lake Kasumigaura clean. Since the rice field is located near one of the water sources, the chemical-free farming contributes to the improvement of water quality in the lake. The other objective is to provide participants with hands-on experience in a form of rice farming that is friendly to people, other living things and ecosystems. While working in Hyoutanbo, participants can experience the paddy field through their five senses, and enjoy a lot of discoveries and excitement.

To share their rice growing experience with children, the program participants visited Ishioka Elementary School in Ishioka City where Hyoutanbo is located, and Futaba Elementary School in Sumida Ward, Tokyo. They told the children about the Hyoutanbo program and what they had found and felt during the activities. The children then tried the taste of rice grown in Hyoutanbo, which triggered their interest in Hyoutanbo.

The program participants and the Asaza Fund will continue to make good use of Hyoutanbo as a means to facilitate interaction between people and living things in the paddy, between children and adults, and between children in cities and villages.

http://www.kasumigaura.net/asaza/en/index.html

Posted: 2007/06/17 01:49:23 PM
Japanese version