The world's largest vegetable factory to make use of light-emitting diodes has been built in one of the cities damaged by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, the factory's operator said.

Mirai Co., a Tokyo-based company that runs vegetable growing factories, said Wednesday it built the factory on about 2,300 sq. meters in Tagajo, Miyagi Prefecture, to produce 10,000 heads of lettuce and other vegetables a day that will be sold to local supermarkets.

The company plans to hire more than 30 residents as part of efforts to help the local economy. It is looking to build more LED-powered factories in areas not suited for farming because they are "unaffected by weather conditions and not damaged by seawater brought by tsunami," Mirai President Shigeharu Shimamura said at the factory's unveiling ceremony.