Fitting the Radiation Safety Piece into the Jigsaw Puzzle : Restoring

Agriculture and Food Sector Aftermath the Great Tohoku and

Fukushima Disasters

SVRK PrabhakarInstitute for Global Environmental Strategies,

Hayama, JapanAugust 2011

A Thought Notes for Comments

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Suggested citation: Prabhakar S.V.R.K. 2011. Fitting the Radiation Safety Piece into the Jigsaw Puzzle : Restoring Agriculture and Food Sector Aftermath the Great Tohoku and Fukushima Disasters. Presented to the Disaster Management Project Team, 25 August 2011, Hayama, Japan

Important questions being asked

Agriculture & food specific› What measures are required to kick-start the agriculture and

food sector in the affected areas?› How to ensure safe agriculture and food supply from and

within these regions? From emergency management perspective:

› To what extent the civil and nuclear safety authorities are connected at the local level (or how best they can be strengthened)?

› What is the level of radiation safety preparedness in prefectures with nuclear power plants? [What level of changes happened in these prefectures before and after the Fukushima?]

From the cognitive and behavioral perspective:› How people perceive and rate different aspects of responses

by various agencies aftermath of Tohoku and Fukushima and what these perceptions mean for the systems in question? 2

Broad Category of Measures Needed: Immediate and Long-term

Immediate measures:› Initiate damage assessment and decision support systems › Establish Agricultural and Food Restoration Committees at

all levels › Make available information on immediate ‘deployability’ of

agriculture in the affected areas (how-soon, how-far, how many, and how farmers can get to their normal lives)

› Enhanced insurance payouts and other relief measures Long-term measures:

› Strengthening Institutional systems (and farmer support systems)

› Strengthening capacity across the spectrum of stakeholders involved in food production and distribution chain

› Introduction of policies to enable the above3

Initiate Damage Assessment and Decision Support Systems

Impacts of the triple-disaster: Salinization of vast

agricultural land along the Northeast coast of Japan

Radiation contamination in areas near Fukushima nuclear power plant

Damage to irrigation and other related agricultural infrastructure due to the earthquake and tsunami

Salinization

Physical damageRadiation

A

B

C D

E F

G

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Measures for Damage Assessment for DSS

Initiate measures to identify and quantify areas and impacts related to radiation, salinization and physical damage (this step spans from short to medium term but should be initiated at early stages of disaster management). › Damage assessment teams at village and city levels.› Self-assessment forms wherever possible and through

websites if the nature of damage allow.› Remote sensing for estimating salinity/Systems to

collect soil samples for checking radiation and salinity levels.

Livelihood and skill mapping: to identify means of livelihood diversification for farmers who cannot farm sooner (or never).

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Agricultural and Food Restoration Committees and Guidelines

Consist of an agricultural technology expert (preferably from a research center or university), radiological food health specialist, and JAs, local administrative representatives. Committees at local level can have farmer representatives.

Would have to be established at the national, provincial (ken) and district (gun) levels anchored within the agricultural department of the prefectural governments and the Ministry of Agriculture at the national level.

Able to engage experts on specific subject matters (e.g. salinity, infrastructure engineers, radiation safety etc) as the need may arise.

Will assist governments at relevant levels in formulating plans for relief and rehabilitation of agriculture and food.

Will come up with guidelines and procedural details for farmers for rejuvenating the agricultural activities and to avail various policy provisions that government has provided for them.

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Re-deploying Agriculture in

Areas with No or Safe Radiation Levels

Salinity could be a potential limitation in these areas. Classify areas with various degree of salinity

Areas with low salinity› Introduce saline tolerant rice varieties/sugar beet/soybeans

Areas with medium salinity› Provide support for reclamation (scraping, leaching,

flushing as has been done in Iraq and Australia)› Introduce saline tolerant rice varieties

Areas with high salinity› Assess feasibility for reclamation (in addition application of

gypsum)› If no reclamation is feasible, Halophytes can provide

alternative here (Science, 2008)

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Re-deploying Agriculture in

Areas with High Radiation Levels

More difficult to restore than areas affected with salinity and hence due care should be taken in finalizing plans for restoration in these areas.

Where remediation is not feasible:› Consider using land for alternative purposes such as wind-

mills, solar power fields etc.› Establishment of ‘sanctuaries’ in areas with relatively low

radiation levels.› Permanent compensation packages to farmers and others

affected due to evacuation and loss of livelihood Where remediation is feasible:

› Initiate procedures for phytoremediation and related reclamation procedures.

Continuous monitoring of radiation levels for timely restoration of permissible activities. 8

The role of JA (nōgyō kyōdō kumiai)

Strengthen its own staff to provide suitable skills and knowledge to farmers on farming under saline conditions, phytoremediation etc.

Participate and contribute to Agriculture and Food Restoration Committees

Hazen insurance payments to those farmers who obtained crop insurance through JA and associated agencies.

Assess its post-disaster performance and establish its own internal standard operating procedures for quicker response to similar events in the future.

Assist agriculture extension centers to disseminate necessary information and skills to farmers for restoration.

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Extension Centers and Agriculture Departments

Strengthen local extension agencies including/in consultation with Japan Agricultural Development and Extension Association (JADEA).

Assess its post-disaster performance and establish standard operating procedures to handle similar events in the future.

Conduct livelihood/skill mapping to assist farmers to diversity livelihoods etc.

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Communities

Dissemination of necessary radiation safety information to communities (jichikai), integration with the civil disaster management planning, mock-drills, and other activities carried out as a part of ‘Disaster Countermeasures Basic Act’ [e.g. Integrate radiation hazard and response procedures into community level disaster management plans and response procedures including earthquake emergency kits].

Display of relevant SOPs and standards in community halls where jichikai and other community members meet on regular basis.

Disseminate appropriate FAQs to bust myths and misperceptions related to radiation safety.

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Prefectural and National Level Interventions

Agriculture and Food Specific Interventions:› Assess the health impacts of indices proposed by the

Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan and integrate the same into the Food Safety Standards of Japan.

› Integrate radiation standards into major food certifications offered in the country in consultation with Japan Agricultural Standards Association (JAS) Review and modify HACCP and TQM standards to

accommodate related radiation safety considerations. Establish regulations for screening and certification

procedures for radiation safety in food. Mandatory display of radiation levels in food in retail

stores through labeling. Mandatory certification of farms for radiation safety in

areas affected by radiation.12

Cont…

Agriculture and food-specific› Move from the primary responsibility of

individual food vendors to check and report radiation safety towards legally binding and compulsory monitoring and reporting procedures.

› Establish sufficient radiation safety testing equipment for food.

› Wide dissemination of food safety information to all citizens and lower level response personnel for better decision making .

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Cont… Generic interventions:

› Assess radiation hazard preparedness learning from the Tohoku incident and strengthen the gaps.

› Greater connectivity between civil and radiation safety authorities for better radiation safety preparedness. This should be the priority at the prefectural and local levels and especially in those prefectures where nuclear power plants operate.

› Assess its post-disaster performance and establish standard operating procedures to handle similar events in the future for all relevant civil emergency management agencies.

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Thank YouPlease write your comments to

sivapuram.prabhakar@gmail.com

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