SAPPORO (Kyodo) Herbal medicine maker Tsumura & Co. said Thursday it plans to develop a 100-hectare farm to produce herbs in Hokkaido's Yubari municipality, which is now under financial reconstruction.
The plan is designed to create jobs to support the financial reconstruction, the Tokyo-based company said.
Tsumura said it will build facilities in Yubari by fall 2010 to process and store herbs produced in Hokkaido before their transfer to herbal medicine plants in Ibaraki and Shizuoka prefectures.
Within 10 years, Tsumura plans to produce 2,000 tons of herbs with its farms expanded to cover 1,000 hectares stretching to other areas in Hokkaido.