2021 Volume 1 Issue 2 Pages 59-62
Iitate Village, which is in the Abukuma Mountains and has a population of about 6,000, has been highly evaluated for its livestock farming that makes use of the vast mountains and the cultivations of flowers and highland vegetables that make use of the cool climate under the location conditions of high and cold mountains. However, due to the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station of Tokyo Electric Power Company in March 2011, the entire village was forced to evacuate, and the villagers were forced to evacuate for a long period of more than 6 years. As a result, local communities and villagers' lives were fundamentally destroyed. Itatei Yui Farm is in the Okubo-Gainai area, which is almost in the center of the village. Through the activities of the "Okubo-Gainai Reconstruction Team" made by about 25 volunteers in 2017 after the evacuation was lifted, we realized once again the importance of gathering local people and collaborating. Therefore, to continue to carry out joint projects in the region, 49 households in the Okubo-Gainai district became members in April 2021, and the "Iitate Yui Farm" was established. Considering that many of the participants are elderly people, they are engaged in the cultivation and processing and sales of minor grains such as perilla and buckwheat, which require patience and cultivation techniques cultivated up to now. In addition, we are actively engaged in exchange projects with Fukushima University and consumer groups in urban areas. With the goal of "an area where people can work energetically even when they become elderly" and "somehow a fun town of Yui," we would like to revitalize the area lost in the nuclear accident.
