High school students are helping tangerine farmers in western Japan with the harvest to make up for a shortage of seasonal workers amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Farmers in the city of Uwajima, Ehime Prefecture, are having difficulty recruiting seasonal workers from across the country this year, even though the harvest season has already begun.

Construction work for Japan's high-speed maglev train line is facing another hurdle, as farmers have launched a legal battle to block the project.

A total of 107 people, including tea farmers in the central prefecture of Shizuoka, filed a lawsuit with a District Court on Friday. They say that the construction of a tunnel could have a grave impact on their livelihood as it may reduce the flow of river water.

NHK has learned that Japan's national farmers' organization is teaming up with one of the country's largest travel agencies to secure labor for farmers in need of helping hands.

Foreign technical trainees have mitigated labor shortages in Japan's agricultural sector, but there is a shortage this year as they cannot enter Japan due to coronavirus restrictions.

Farmers in Yamanashi Prefecture, west of Tokyo, have sold vegetables at a drive-through market as many stores remain closed due to the coronavirus epidemic.

Fourteen farmers gathered at a parking lot of the municipal office building in Chuo City on Sunday. Shoppers were waiting for the makeshift market to open at 10 a.m. They bought tomatoes, turnips and other vegetables.