Abstract
Japan is one of the top greenhouse gasses (GHGs) emitters in the world. The overuse of chemical fertilizers has resulted in polluting air, water, and soil, especially hardening the soil, reducing soil fertility, and weakening soil microbial activity, thereby affecting soil health. The Japanese government has recognized its responsibility to address agri-environmental issues in its domestic agricultural policy. This paper aims to investigate the benefits of sustainable agricultural practices (SAPs) on rice productivity and soil fertility in Shiga Prefecture, Japan. Observational data were obtained from survey questionnaires and key informant interviews. Soil samples were also collected from eight rice fields. The results from the propensity score matching technique showed that farmers’ age, land ownership, farming scale, awareness of sustainable agriculture on soil health, and awareness of receiving direct payment subsidies significantly influence farmers’ choice to implement SAPs. SAPs have lower rice productivity by 37.4 kg/10a compared to conventional farming practices. Nevertheless, the soil fertility analysed using the Soil Fertility Index (SOFIX) in SAPs (i.e., organic farming) performs significantly better than those of conventional farming practices. More specifically, the amount of bacterial biomass is higher in organic rice fields, ranging from 14.5 – 23.3 (108 cells/g) than that in conventional rice fields of 8.8 – 11.5 (108 cells/g). Total carbon (TC) is significantly higher in sustainable rice fields (14,850 – 20,074 (mg/kg) compared to that in conventional rice fields (13,560 – 19,190 mg/kg).
