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‘It’s time to start farming all available lands in NMI’
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Posted on Nov 21 2011
By Clarissa David
Reporter
Reporter
A specialty crops producer from Rota urged farmers in the CNMI to “stop complaining and start working” and work toward exporting specialty crops from the islands to bring in more revenue and improve the agriculture industry in the Commonwealth.
“The market has been available for years. It’s just that we’re not doing anything. We’re just complaining and that’s our problem. So get your ass up and start working,” Frank Atalig, president of TJ Enterprise, said on Thursday.
Atalig was the keynote speaker at the 1st CNMI Specialty Crop Conference hosted by the Department of Land and Natural Resources and the Northern Marianas College Community Development Institute held at the Fiesta Resort and Spa Hibiscus Hall.
The conference theme was “Strengthening Specialty Crops Competitiveness & Marketability.”
Atalig said people in the CNMI “talk too much” and complain about the government but do “too little.”
“When do we change that attitude?” asked Atalig. “We should just blame ourselves for not doing anything.”
He called on local farmers to “farm the lands available” instead of getting “mad” at foreign nationals who are earning income in the CNMI by working on available lands to produce crops.
Atalig said the Commonwealth should focus on exporting its specialty crops such as the hot pepper to bring in “fresh revenue from the outside within our economy.”
“It’s something whereby we can turn our natural resources available within the CNMI and exporting it, thereby bringing in revenue from the outside,” he said.
With the abundance of breadfruit on the islands, Atalig said it could be a potential specialty crop which, when given added value like turning it into flour, can bring in more revenue for the CNMI.
The conference also discussed agricultural issues such as specialty crops program and promotions, agri-tourism, quality assurance marketing, and specialty crop market partnerships.
