Decision-Making for Resuming Livestock Farming and Pathways to Sustainable Recovery in Nuclear Disaster Area: A Case of Iitate Village and Katsurao Village, Fukushima Prefecture

Abstract

In the disaster-affected 12 municipalities designated as evacuation zones due to the Fukushima nuclear plant accident, more than 100 livestock farming operations resumed farming activities by the end of December 2022.

This study examined the stages of decision-making, including the resumption of livestock farming through return and relocation to Iitate Village and Katsurao Village, in which dairy farming and Japanese beef breeding were the central industry before 2010. The study elucidated the decision-making process that was not sufficiently addressed in previous research and revealed initiatives towards the sustainability and recovery of farming operations.