The seeds of change grow through precision agriculture

Once a month I head to Tohoku, which 10 years after the devastating Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in 2011 is still a completely changed place.

Before the earthquake, this rural coastal area looked similar to other ordinary residential towns in Japan. But people's homes, livelihoods and senses of normalcy were all washed away. The land has yet to recover and in some places it is still too dangerous to rebuild permanent structures here. But there are many memories and also many hopes. Every month, when I stay two weeks in the prefecture, I focus on hope.

Through all the devastation, there are seeds that grow. One of those blossoming is the Menorah International Leadership Center, a community and leadership center built by my organization, NPO Celia Circle. It allows the people who once lived there to come together and be their most authentic selves. I am an Indonesian, a Jew, a musician and a businessman. After the tsunami, the former Israeli ambassador asked me to help Israeli volunteers traveling to Japan to help the people in Tohoku immediately after the earthquake. After their mission ended, I continued to provide support to residents of temporary housing, local crèches and kindergartens. I visited the children every month, taught them art, dance, and showed them the power of music and culture to bring light to our lives in the darkest of times.

But in a place where so much had been erased, I realized that I wanted to build something that would last. Thus was born the idea of ​​the Menorah International Leadership Center, which provides a place to talk openly about trauma, something that is unique in Japanese culture. Creativity is also used there as a therapeutic force for good. In a corner of the country where so much has been taken away, NPO Celia Circle has built a safe space where you can gather again. It's powerful and I'm honored to be a part of the region's recovery.

And as we grow the community here in Watari, Miyagi Prefecture, we're also growing something more tangible—rice.

 Take a look at the aerial images of the ground in Watari and you'll understand that it's still a disaster area. The country remains devastated in many places. And yet, against the odds, we grow food here. With the establishment of Menorah Farm in the center, we grow and harvest rice, strawberries and other crops thanks to the technologies of three companies: Netbeat from Netafim, green heating solutions from GHT Japan, and growing gutters and soil from Noyusha.

Netafim donated not only its breakthrough irrigation technology to Menorah Farm, but also its consulting and maintenance staff for free. It changed the country and is now changing lives as a result. While the local average rice yield is 510 kilograms per 1,000 square meters of rice, this could be increased to 666 kilograms using Netafim's irrigation methods. During 2021, we harvested 40 kilograms on 60 square meters and grew two types of rice: Hitomebore and Sasanishiki, the latter of which is for sushi and is particularly difficult to grow successfully. The community eats the rice it produces, and growing traditional crops like rice with modern technology restores people's sense of pride in the land and reestablishes roots in a place that even a tsunami cannot completely wash away.

 Today, Tohoku looks bleak on the surface – scattered permanent housing, poor soil and a community still suffering from the effects of trauma. But scratch the surface and you'll find that there's so much growing. There is food in the attic and a community of all ages at the Menorah International Leadership Center. I'm so proud of what's being built here and so grateful to the people of Watari Town, my backers, Israel and specifically Netafim, GHT Japan and Noyusha for all the tools and support they've provided to help make this happen.

 Reference :

https://www.netafim.com/en/blog/growing-rice-in-japan/