Abstract
The Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University, launched an Agri-Reconstruction Project in 2011 immediately after the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake disaster, and this continues to date. The project’s objective is to support the agricultural, forestry and fisheries reconstruction process in the tsunami disaster area. The activities have been implemented through more than 40 research projects along the Tohoku region including the Rapeseed Project for Restoring Tsunami-Salt-Damaged Farmland.
Immediately after the disaster, damaged farmlands were surveyed and salt-tolerant rapeseed varieties from Brassicaceae and related species were used to restore the soil. The plants came from the gene bank developed at the Graduate School of Agricultural Science, and were planted on damaged farmland in Sendai, Iwanuma and Higashi Matsushima cities. The varieties used to restore the soil depended on the specific damage.
As part of the project, the production and sale of edible as well as fuel oil obtained from rapeseed plants was organized in coordination with the Miyagi Prefecture Sendai City government, a number of private companies and other partners. This enterprise continues to date.
Besides using the salt-tolerant varieties of Brassicaceae plants in tsunami-damaged fields they are also used overseas in the rehabilitation of salt-damaged farmlands.
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Notes
- 1.
Over the last 50 years the gene bank has sampled and managed roughly 800 phyletic lines from 177 species in 58 genera, gathered from research institutions and so on overseas.
- 2.
One of the project’s major achievements was a comment by a neighboring farmer, who stated, “Despite the almost total devastation, I was greatly encouraged by the rapeseed flowers that sprang up strongly, just as we have done.”
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Acknowledgment
We gratefully acknowledge support from the following agency and organizations: the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), Miyagi Prefecture, Sendai City, Chida Cleaning, Ltd., EAC Corporation, Miyaka Co., Ltd. In addition, this project was financially supported by Research Institute of Science and Technology for Society (RISTEX, Implementation-Support Program Funding), Kinari Inc., Kirin Co., Ltd. and Kureha Corporation.
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Nakai, Y. et al. (2015). The Agri-Reconstruction Project and Rapeseed Project for Restoring Tsunami-Salt-Damaged Farmland After the GEJE – An Institutional Effort. In: Santiago-Fandiño, V., Kontar, Y., Kaneda, Y. (eds) Post-Tsunami Hazard. Advances in Natural and Technological Hazards Research, vol 44. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10202-3_18
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