March 11 marks the 5th anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake. The three prefectures in the Tohoku region – Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima – and other areas hit by the earthquake and tsunami are still midway through the reconstruction process. We first have to face the reality in order to think of what we can do for the future. How to recover agriculture, the primary industry, becomes the key to revitalizing the regions. We believe the focus should be “working together” and “connecting.” We must continue to closely support people in the regions facing hardships.
Poet Shuntaro Tanikawa wrote in his poem “Words” right after the disaster:
Everything was lost
Even words were lost
But words were not broken, were not swept away
(provisional translation)
About 1,820 days have passed since the disaster, taking away vast amount of things, but people must have gained a lot through these days as well.
The important thing is how to restore the local community. In doing so, we must take into consideration a Latin term “communicatio,” which the word “community” derives from, meaning sharing and imparting. Nothing is more important than recovering communities of solidarity and support for people stricken with grief and despair.
Five years ago, as we encountered the unprecedented tragedy, we at The Japan Agricultural News repeatedly asked ourselves what we can do as a newspaper publisher. Much of the disaster-hit areas are underpopulated regions. Agriculture has supported residents’ lives as the key industry in those regions. Words have not been broken nor have they been swept away. Now is the time to utilize the power of agriculture. As a daily newspaper specializing in agriculture, The Japan Agricultural News has reported on efforts to reconstruct the regions and supported moves to revitalize the areas focusing on food and agriculture.
How should we face and tackle the world’s first multiple disaster of a severe earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis, and open the way to the future? The answer should lie in the regions themselves. Five years after the disaster, the devastated regions are slowly moving toward reconstruction.
Ido Producers’ Association, the first corporation financed by a farm co-op JA Sendai, has led the efforts to restore agriculture in the Ido district of Sendai’s Wakabayashi Ward which was hit by tsunami and suffered a large number of casualties. Yasunori Suzuki who heads the association stressed that although they lost everything, they stood up again with support of the local community, believing that they would never give up. Their slogan is “Together.”
Dairy farmers of Fukushima Prefecture, who were forced to dispose of raw milk after the nuclear disaster, are also moving forward. The farmers who evacuated to the city of Fukushima jointly operate a reconstruction farm Feliz Latte, meaning “happy milk.” They expanded the farm size by restoring dilapidated lands and began regular shipments of raw milk.
Strawberry growing in the towns of Watari and Yamamoto in Miyagi Prefecture has become the symbol of reconstruction, as the region was turned into the nation’s top-class strawberry production area using greenhouses with a high-bench culture system.
Choe Okuno, president of the Central Union of Agricultural Co-operatives (JA-Zenchu) who visited the disaster-hit prefectures in the Tohoku region, said he believes JAs, or farm co-ops, can play a center role in rebuilding local communities. The next five-year stage of reconstruction overlaps with the beginning years of JA group’s reform. Now is the time for co-operatives to show their real strength.
(March 9, 2016)