As of January 31, 2016, 15,920 hectares, 74 percent of farm lands devastated by the tsunami waves triggered by the March 2011 Japan earthquake have been recovered in disaster-stricken prefectures, according to a report released on March 1 by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF).
MAFF’s minister Hiroshi Moriyama said at the press conference, “Recovery works are progressing as planned. Farmers will be able to grow crops next year on more than 80 percent of farm lands hit by the tsunami.”
On March 11, Japan will mark the fifth anniversary of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. In Fukushima prefecture, however, only 30 percent of devastated farm lands have been recovered due to delayed decontamination works on those lands.
From the fiscal year 2016, people of the earthquake-hit areas will come into a period of “recovery and restoration,” in which they are assisted to become independent in the next five years. Quite a few farmers are still unsure when they will be able to resume their activities of agricultural production.
The total agricultural lands devastated by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami reached 21,480 hectares. MAFF aims to complete works of recovering these lands by the end of fiscal 2018.
(March 2, 2016)