‘Local farmers missing out on business opportunities’

Local farmers are missing out on a lot of business opportunities due to lack of information, the Northern Marianas College-Cooperative Research, Extension & Education Services said yesterday.

In an interview, acting NMC-CREES associate director Edgar Cocker said the CNMI has a lot of agricultural products it can market. However, local residents have not been able to do so because they are not aware of the necessary procedures.

For instance, he said, about $600,000 in revenues is wasted every year due to the Commonwealth’s failure to utilize the da’ok fruit, which is a good source of oil used for various cosmetic products.

“Da’ok oil is very popular in Europe. You can use it to make shampoo, liquid soap, skin lotion. Da’ok can be found in different part of the island because it grows well even on sand and salty water. But we are not able maximize our resources because nobody knows how to pick and process the da’ok fruit,” Cocker said.

A da’ok oil processing facility, including equipment for extraction, dehydration, packaging and labeling, should require only between $5,000 and $6,000 to set up, Cocker said.

The current market value of da’ok oil is at $17 per 1 fluid ounce.

Another potential business opportunity for farmers is the processing of juice, tea, or capsule from the noni fruit, a popular dietary supplement.

Cocker reported that NMC-CREES recently received an order from a China-based business, called Beijing Multibio Co. Ltd., for 600 bottles of noni juice, with 16 ounces each . However, the order cannot be met because there are not enough noni plantations in the Commonwealth.

“There’s a market out there for noni juice. The demand already exists; we just have to supply it,” Cocker said. “There is a lot of available land in the CNMI. If you have one acre of land, you can plant as many as 600 trees with 5 ft. by 5 ft. spacing.”

Cocker said the noni tree yields immediate benefits, as it starts producing fruit six months after being planted. Further, the noni tree generates fruit all year round.

NMC-CREES is now growing noni seedlings, which will be distributed to local farmers.

Individuals interested in processing noni and da’ok may attend a free workshop sponsored by NMC-CREES and the Commonwealth Development Authority. The training will be held on Nov. 16 and 17 at the Kagman Community Center from 8:30am to 4:30pm.