TOKYO - Traditional vegetables cultivated in Tokyo for generations are facing a growing threat from extreme heat and a shortage of farmers willing to carry on their cultivation, with some growers reporting that seeds are failing to germinate or young plants are dying in increasingly severe summer temperatures.
At a commercial facility in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward, visitors can experience harvesting vegetables grown locally. However, some of these crops are now being described as "endangered vegetables" because of the difficulties involved in keeping their varieties alive.
Vegetables grown in Tokyo, including komatsuna mustard spinach and small turnips, have come under increasing pressure in recent years from abnormal weather and a shortage of successors to aging farmers.
Traditional regional varieties, including Edo-Tokyo vegetables that have been cultivated and passed down locally over generations, are considered particularly vulnerable to changes in their growing environment and now face the possibility of disappearing.
The United Nations said in April that extreme heat is already affecting crop yields around the world. It projects that agricultural yields could decline by roughly 4% to 10% for every 1 degree Celsius increase in temperature.
Farmer Tomohiro Hanjo, who has grown around 10 varieties of Edo-Tokyo vegetables in Ome, western Tokyo, for about 10 years, said he has increasingly felt the effects of the changing climate over the past several years.
"With the heat in recent years, sometimes seeds do not germinate even after they are planted, and even when they do germinate, the seedlings can die because of the heat," Hanjo said. "I feel that conditions have become extremely difficult for growing traditional vegetables."
Hanjo said the shortage of younger farmers poses another serious challenge to preserving the varieties. "There are very few young farmers, so unless we communicate the appeal of agriculture, I think there will eventually be no one left to grow these traditional vegetables," he said.
Despite the difficulties, Hanjo said he intends to continue cultivating the vegetables so more people can experience their distinctive flavors.
"Traditional vegetables have a richness and deliciousness that are unique to them," Hanjo said. "I want more people to know the depth of flavor they naturally have, and that is why I continue growing them today."
With vegetables that have been handed down in communities across Japan increasingly vulnerable to climate change and the decline of the farming population, the challenge is how to preserve those varieties for the next generation.
Source: TOKYO MX
