The labor structure of dried shiitake mushroom in oita prefecture

Dried Shiitake Mushroom is a staple in rutal areas. But we can't catch the actual conditions well by materials for present statistics. In this paper, using the questionnaire of Oita Shiitake Cooperation, I studied the labor structure in terms of the production size and region. As a result, it was obvious that the productivity of Dried Shiitake Mushroom is decreasing rapidly for the labor's ageing and the successor's shortage. 78. 5% of male key workers were over 50 s, and only 7. 3%of the families expected to sustain their production after the present heads' retirements. Strikingly families of the level under 300 kg were ageing. 1/3 of the level under 100 kg were going to stop the production activity in five years. The level above 1,000 kg had young workers all over the prefecture. But, the level of 300~1, 000 kg, especially 300′500 kg had regional differences. In this level, Kusu area got the most successors, which was also the highest percentage of compound management. Therefore, the smaller production in compound management as well as the large production in special management should be attached importance in policy for the promotion.