Half of rice harvest to be tested for cesium

By KANOKO MATSUYAMA

Bloomberg

The rice harvest is traditionally a time of festivities celebrated even by the Emperor, as farmers reap the rewards of four months of labor in a 2,000-year-old tradition. But not this year, with radiation seeping into the soil.

Farmers growing half of the nation's rice crop are awaiting the results of tests to see if their produce has been contaminated by radiation from Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s wrecked Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. Rice, used in almost all meals and the key ingredient in sake, is being tested before the harvest starts this month. Radiation exceeding safety levels has so far been found in produce including spinach, tea and beef.

Shigehide Oki, a 61-year-old farmer near Tokyo, this week passed the first hurdle after a preliminary round of tests showed no trace elements of radioactive cesium, the main source of concern. Losing his crop of about 80 tons of rice would "destroy" him, he said.

"I'm very relieved and I'm telling customers that I can be 90 percent certain my rice is safe," said Oki, who's been farming rice for 40 years in Katori, Chiba Prefecture, about 190 km south of the nuclear station. "But I'm also saying it's not the end yet because we still have to pass the main part of the survey after the harvest."

The government is asking 17 prefectures in eastern Japan to test farmland for radiation, an area accounting for 54 percent of domestic rice production. If initial surveys show a certain level of radiation, wider tests will be carried out, the government said.

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