Fukushima – Though the 2011 nuclear catastrophe in Fukushima Prefecture nonetheless casts a shadow over native agriculture a decade later, rice farmers are working to shake off radiation-related rumors and cross on Fukushima’s rice farming to the subsequent era.
Some are pinning hopes on an unique rice model developed within the prefecture to discover a technique to overcome the difficulties posed by the triple meltdown at Tokyo Electrical Energy Firm Holdings Inc.’s Fukushima No. 1 plant. The catastrophe was triggered by the main earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011.
The annual rice harvest in Fukushima, which totaled 445,700 tons in fiscal 2010, slid to 353,600 tons within the following 12 months and has since remained at round 350,000-380,000 tons. Though exports of Fukushima-grown rice have been rising lately because of promotion measures by the nationwide authorities, shipments to Hong Kong, for instance, plunged to 2.6 tons in fiscal 2019 from some 100 tons in fiscal 2010 because of the strengthening of buy restrictions launched after the catastrophe.
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All Fukushima-made rice needed to bear checks for cesium and different residual radioactive substances to safe security. Lastly, in 2020, rice grown in areas aside from 12 municipalities close to the accident-hit energy plant was switched to random checks.
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Fukushima Prefecture plans to permit solely farmers licensed by the Good Agriculture Apply program and different chosen producers to interact within the cropping of the brand new rice model, with the intention to guarantee high quality and credibility.
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