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In urban areas, infrastructure projects to improve the living environment, such as construction of roads and parks, have been carried out by modifying and abolishing agricultural land. The majority of these projects are land readjustment projects, under which agricultural land is appropriated and replaced with reduced substitute land. The author took up the case of a land readjustment project and the cultivation of pears in Enokido, Yanokuchi, Inagi in order to investigate the effect of such projects, which aim to secure land for public use, on urban agriculture. The Enokido region was an area of highly productive cultivation of pears. In 1988, a decision was made to carry out a land readjustment project, with the aim of constructing a trunk road. In the 25 years that have elapsed since then, the area of agricultural land in the region has been reduced by twice as much as originally planned and the number of pear producers has fallen by approximately half. Research was carried out into fifteen farmers who are cultivating pears in the region to gain an understanding of the causes of the reduction in agricultural land. The area of agricultural land fell first because under the project the area of the replacement land was less than that of the original area. Other reasons for the reduction in agricultural land were that the designation of being a productive green zone was lifted because the area of the agricultural land no longer met the requirement to be a productive green zone. Moreover, some farmers decided, of their own accord, to develop their agricultural land into real estate projects. Some farmers gave up fruit cultivation either because the replacement land was inadequate or because it took a long time for the project to reach completion. On the other hand, of the thirteen farmers who abandoned pear cultivation during the 25 years from the commencement of the project, ten of them experienced a transfer of property as part of an inheritance. It is not known which came first, the change in ownership due to inheritance or the conversion of their agricultural land. Nevertheless, it is considered that inheritance significantly affected the continuation of farming to the next generation. In land readjustment projects, the rate of loss of agricultural land is generally high, and the same rate applies to all of the farmers regardless of whether or not they wish to continue farming; consequently, the area of agricultural land is reduced. The necessity for urban agriculture is now being seen in a better light. It is desirable to reconsider the present way of securing land for public use to ensure the future of urban agriculture.
