In the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster of Japan, toxic radioactive material seeped into the soil of the farming village, Kawauchi, making agriculture impossible in the region. However, hope returns as a new factory farming technique is being developed by government officials of the region to revive agriculture in Fukushima.
According to a report by Bloomberg, Takeo Endo, a local government official is leading a project of growing food in a sealed factory! Food will be grown in the factory using "hydroponics" - a technique where plants are grown using minerals and nutrients dissolved in water without using soil.
An aluminum building, almost the size of a soccer field is under construction in Kawauchi. The factory is said to start production from early April. It will produce around 8000 heads of lettuces every day and start off with just 25 employees. The produce will be sold in Fukushima's supermarkets, labeled "Kawauchi".
Experts say that the technique works best for vegetables and is less effective for grains like rice.
The factory will provide jobs to unemployed idle farmers who were hit the most by the nuclear leak disaster. Around 100,000 farmers lost assets and land worth 150 billion yen since the disaster and the new factory brings a flicker of hope to these families.
"I was concerned that Kawauchi farmers wouldn't be able to grow rice and vegetables for as long as 10 years. So I thought, 'What if we grow them in a building, shutting out radiation completely?'," Endo said in an interview with Bloomberg.
However, residents of Japan are still apprehensive about consuming food from the region claiming contamination issues.
Around 60 percent of Japan's food relies on imports. While 90 percent of the wheat comes from Australia, the U.S. and Canada, 33 percent of the fresh vegetables come in from China.
Factory farming started in Japan in 1970 and has been quite prevalent since. It has been limited to producing meat for a very long time. But with Japan's cutting edge technology, the country now has around 211 plant cultivating factories. However, not many use the hydroponics technique.
The hydroponics technique is being called a 'sustainable farming solution' especially for East Asian countries as population and pollution grows by the minute in these regions.
