Kumamoto Quake Damages Japan’s Top Tomato Production Center

Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Pref., Aug. 26 (Jiji Press)–The July 28 earthquake in Kumamoto Prefecture has dealt a blow to Japan’s top tomato production center in the city of Yatsushiro, damaging irrigation systems and greenhouse equipment. Yatsushiro, where a seismic intensity of upper 6 was recorded on the Japanese scale of 7, topped the country’s municipalities in tomato harvest volume for the 2024 winter-to-spring shipping season. In the city, farmers plant seedlings from mid-August and begin shipping tomatoes around October. The quake struck when farmers were preparing for the upcoming growing season. The agriculture ministry has learned through interviews with the Yatsushiro agricultural cooperative that only about half of the planned seedlings had been planted as of late August. Some irrigation channels collapsed, halting water supplies in parts of the area. The central government is carrying out restoration work, while water trucks and emergency pumps have been deployed. A prefectural survey also found elevated salt concentrations in some groundwater. How to secure a stable supply of agricultural water is therefore a real headache. At a greenhouse operated by Kenshiro Okada, 40, who grows cherry tomatoes, water flowed in from a channel damaged by the quake. Even after repair work, water continued seeping through cracks, leaving puddles in the greenhouse. Okada said he may have to reduce planting because he cannot prepare the soil as planned. “I may not be able to plant the seedlings, but I can only do what I can,” he said. At a greenhouse of Masahiro Ikeda, 34, all pipes used to deliver water and fertilizer were damaged. Soil liquefaction, in which wet soil acts like liquid due to ground shaking, left sand and other material spewed onto the surface, rendering rails for a harvest trolley unusable. Water in his well also changed. Pumped groundwater got cloudy, and it often contained shellfish, possibly because the area is close to the sea. “I went completely blank after the earthquake,” Ikeda said. Although his equipment has been restored, he remains concerned about the well water. “Water is the lifeblood of tomatoes,” he said. “I don’t know how long the well will last, but I want to do everything I can each day to get shipments out in time.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]