nuclear-news

Rice planting to resume in Fukushima Prefecture

“Which governmental agency is doing the tests (..of the produce)?”

“It is not the government, it is unfortunate that the government is not wiling to test all the products in Japan. The testing started as a voluntry move by the farmers…”

So, if the farmer volunteers information that is incorrect the goverment will allow that product to be sold?

“yes, if it is declared under the government limits..”

 

Rice planting to resume in Fukushima Prefecture

The Yomiuri Shimbun

The town government of Hirono and the village government of Kawauchi in Fukushima Prefecture have decided to resume planting rice next year.

[…]

On Tuesday, the Hirono town government decided to resume rice planting in all areas, and the Kawauchi village government decided to plant rice in areas other than that formerly designated as a no-entry zone.

[….]

This month, the Hirono town government began decontaminating about 400 hectares of farmland by using such techniques as a process called sparging in conjunction with the mineral zeolite, which can absorb radioactive substances.

[…]

“If I can grow rice, the town will be revitalized even if only a little,” he said. “Some of the residents will return.”

[…]

This year, Ryohei Niitsuma, 53, planted rice despite the town government’s request to refrain from doing so.

But after he sent letters to about 100 individual customers, only five or six replied that they would buy the rice.

“It’s painful for me that the rice I produced through hard work doesn’t sell,” he said. “But unless I continue production, this town will decline.”

[…]

This year, all bags of rice experimentally grown in the town were examined, and two of them were found to contain radioactive cesium in quantities exceeding the government-set maximum limit of 100 becquerels per kilogram.

But it is believed the radioactive substances detected in the bags came from such sources as dust in rice hullers, not the rice itself

“The rice itself had no problems,” the town government said, adding that all bags of rice to be shipped next year will be carefully checked to ensure safety.

At a meeting of the Kawauchi village agricultural committee held Tuesday, Mayor Yuko Endo asked villagers about rice planting next year, and all committee members said they planned to resume.

One of them said, “If we don’t plant, the paddies will be ruined.”

According to the village government, quantities of radioactive cesium in rice experimentally grown in 30 locations were lower than the central government-set limit.

Endo said: “If we don’t plant rice for three years in a row [since the nuclear crisis], morale will suffer. As the experimental growing showed no problems, there’s no reason not to plant rice.”

An agriculture committee in Minami-Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, on Tuesday asked Mayor Katsunobu Sakurai to decide as soon as possible whether they should plant rice next year.

[…]

The city government grew rice experimentally in 130 locations, including those in the former no-entry zone.

The harvested unpolished rice fell within the government-set limit for radioactive cesium.

November 26, 2012 - Posted by arclight2011 | Uncategorized