Agricultural impacts of the Great East Japan Earthquake - six years later

On March 11, 2011 the strongest ever recorded in Japan earthquake occurred, also known as the Great East Japan Earthquake, which triggered a powerful tsunami and caused a nuclear accident in one of the world biggest nuclear power stations - Fukushima Daichi. More than six years after the triple disaster the overall impacts on Japanese agri-food chains is far from being completely due to the scale of the disasters and the number of affected agents, the effects’ multiplicities, spillovers, and long time horizon, the constant evolution of the nuclear crisis, the lack of “full” information and models of analysis, etc. This paper presents updates on the impacts of the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan on country’s agriculture and food sector. First, disaster events and their effects is outlined. Second, impact on farms and agricultural resources is estimated. Third, impact on food industries is assessed. Next, extend of radioactive contamination of agri-food products is presented and effects on markets, consumers and international trade evaluated. Chapter summarises responses of different agents, assesses progress and challenges in post-disaster recovery and reconstruction, and withdraw lessons from the Japanese experiences.