Dairy farmers in Fukushima Prefecture plan to build what they call "reconstruction farms" by fiscal 2020 as part of efforts to boost the industry in the areas tainted by the 2011 nuclear disaster.

The Fukushima Dairy Farmers' Cooperative, their industry body, is eyeing three locations for the new farms — Minamisoma's Odaka Ward, the town of Kawamata's Yamakiya district and the village of Iitate — which residents were forced to flee after the triple core meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant.

The envisaged farms would host a combined 1,600 cows for milk production and also host a research and development hub for cutting-edge biotechnology, according to people familiar with the plan.