Tohoku University Rapeseed Project for Restoring Tsunami-Salt-Damaged Farmland: Was the wisdom of agricultural science utilized for the restoration?

Abstract

Five years have passed since the triple disaster of the March 2011 earthquake and the ensuing tsunami and radioactive pollution from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. Along the coastline of Tohoku region, one of Japan’s most important agricultural areas, activities to revive farmland that suffered salt damage due to the tsunami are still continuing to this day. This chapter documents the current state of recovery of the farmland and agriculture, the work being carried out by the Tohoku University Rapeseed Project for Restoring Tsunami-Salt-Damaged Farmland that was initiated in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake disaster, and the future vision for the project. The data published by the university through this project has been accepted socially as being highly reliable and, moreover, there is a general feeling that the project has received a high evaluation thanks to its collaboration with affected persons, local municipalities and private companies. On the other hand, it was also felt that the legal system of the national and local governments, as well as factors such as the relationship between the various types of people who make up rural society, posed serious obstacles to the social implementation of newly developed technology and institutions for cultivation and processing. The importance of education as the mission of the university was also apparent through these activities. Tohoku Agricultural Science Center for Reconstruction was established within the university in 2014 to provide technical advice and continual support for farmers, companies and administrators and to nurture human resources who will be engaged in this work in the future.