日治時期臺灣的農事改良政策與農村社會

Abstract

本論文探討日治時期臺灣的農村如何導入近代農業技術的過程，並觀察此過程中，殖民政府如何使用自身和臺灣本地社會的資源，以及本地社會如何因應自己的需要，接受殖民政府的需求。 臺灣「農事改良政策」的出現，是作為殖民地統治的一部分，由殖民政府引進的。「農事改良政策」的體系以農事試驗場和農會制度為主，前者作為農學研究機構，負責調查殖民地的農業環境並分享農業知識，後者則是作為農村統治機關而存在。這兩個制度是在兒玉源太郎總督任內規劃，直到1908年下一任總督佐久間左馬太任內完成制度化。 作為日本第一個殖民地，臺灣被賦與糧食或者是工業原料生產基地，以輔助日本正在發展的工業部門。臺灣總督府積極找尋具有商品價值的工藝作物的發展可能性，甘蔗的重要性被凸顯出來，然而日俄戰爭前後所產生的日本國內糧食缺口，讓殖民地的稻米的重要性提升，改良稻米的生產成為臺灣總督府內部農業發展的一個路線。因此，自1910年代開始，臺灣總督府積極進行臺灣在來米品種汰選以及日本品種稻米的試植，一方面也透過農談會或品評會等方式，積極推行日本「精耕、多肥」的耕作理念。 直到1920年後期以後，由於蓬萊米品種技術的突破造成種植的風潮，本文試圖以屏東平原的萬丹地區作為例子，探討在水利設施不足的萬丹地區，如何透過農村人物力量的匯集，向臺灣總督府請願建造萬丹水圳，並且這些人物又是如何在自身利益的考量下反饋農事改良的理念，並且這些「看不見」的體系，仍然在戰後臺灣影響著農村的運作。

This thesis aims at investigating the process of how Japanese colonial government introduced the “policy of farming improvement” to Taiwan rural, and observing how the colonial government made use of and absorbed the regional resources of Taiwan society to its own goal, and how Taiwan society, according to its own ability and need, ingeniously responded to the demands of the colonial government. The “policy of farming improvement” contains system of agricultural experiment station and farmer association. Agricultural experiment station is a scientific research center that investigates potential improvements to food production and industrial crop. Farmer association is a public institution, which played a role of leading rural production. As the first colony of Japan, Taiwan became food and industrial crop’s supply region, so that mother country’s growing industrial concern could get support. Japanese colonial government strived to find the possibility of processing crops, sugar cane had been earned attention by colonial government. Due to Russo-Japanese War（1904-1905） caused food shortage in Japan, since 1910s Japanese colonial government started improving of indica rice policy, such as holding nou-dan-kai（農談會）and hin-pyou-kai（品評會）, choosing saline election and actively repellenting projects. Up to 1920 later periods, the dilation of the Japonica rice affected by market incentives and brought a fervor of farming in Taiwan rural. This article tried to based the Wandan village to describe the effort of “policy of farming improvement”. Wandan village emerged as the major trading post of rice and sugar. Nevertheless, there is a lot of local elites corporately requested to build the water pump and irrigation canal by own expense in the 1930 late periods under the Japanese rule. The participation of farming japonica rice and requesting irrigation canal movement finally became the turning point for people to accept “farming improvement”.