FUKUSHIMA (Kyodo) — The Fukushima prefectural government said Friday that 38 of the approximately 23,000 rice farms surveyed in the prefecture were found to have radioactive cesium levels in excess of the central government-set allowable limit of 500 becquerels per kilogram.

The figure is equivalent to 0.2 percent of the 23,240 farms tested in the local government's emergency survey after excessive levels of radioactive cesium were detected in some rice harvested in the northeastern prefecture last year.

Among the farms examined, 583, including the 38, had levels exceeding 100 becquerels per kg -- the new allowable limit that the central government is set to introduce in April for rice to be harvested this fall.

The prefectural government said it will continue to urge operators of the 583 farms not to ship their rice.

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