SENDAI--There were fears there wouldn't be much in the way of a strawberry harvest this year, at least in the tsunami-stricken Tohoku region.
SENDAI--There were fears there wouldn't be much in the way of a strawberry harvest this year, at least in the tsunami-stricken Tohoku region.
But to the delight of consumers, the first shipment of strawberries this season was delivered from a market in Sendai on Nov. 19.
The fruit was harvested in Watari, Miyagi Prefecture, an area with the largest yield of strawberries in the Tohoku region, but also one that was devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake.
As a result, the first shipment from market came about a month later than usual.
Because so many farms were affected, there has been a huge decrease in the volume of strawberries harvested this year.
Still, market insiders and agricultural cooperative officials celebrated the first shipment of the season as one step toward recovery in the region.
Watari was known for its many strawberry farms along the coast, which was inundated by tsunami spawned by the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake.
Farmers resumed planting by moving their farms farther inland and planting seedlings from farmers in Tochigi Prefecture.
However, officials of the Miyagi prefectural association of agricultural cooperatives said the total acreage for strawberry farms in the prefecture had decreased this year to about 50 hectares from the approximately 130 hectares of a year ago.
That is expected to lead to a decrease in production volume to less than half of last year's level.
At a ceremony for the first shipment, Kunio Iwasa, the chairman of the JA Miyagi Watari cooperative, said, "We are glad we were able to make the first shipment in time for Christmas. Even with the major disaster, the feelings toward and technology for growing strawberries were not swept away."