Tinian eyes agricultural renaissance

[B]TINIAN[/B]—Long known as the bread basket of the CNMI, the island of Tinian is now poised to see its ranches and farms sprouting new produce and new economic opportunities with several major efforts to lay the groundwork for an agricultural renaissance here now in development.

Farming and ranching on Tinian dates back to its colonial past. Agricultural production here, however, has diminished in recent years for lack of a viable market to sell meat and produce, William Cing, an advisor to Mayor Jose San Nicolas, said in an interview last week.

To revive Tinian’s agricultural economy, the mayor’s office has proposed to construct a new market complex where local growers, ranchers, and fishermen can sell the produce they raise and earn additional money by having them processed into so-called “value added” items. Last month, the mayor’s staff met with Marianas Public Land Trust officials in a bid to gain a $1.3-million loan for the project.

“We’re trying to entice people to come back to farming, ranching and fishing,” Cing said. “The whole idea is to give them this public place where they can sell what they have raised themselves.”

Tourists in search of local goods, the pending military buildup in the region and the expanding consumer interest in organically grown foods, Cing added, could ensure a sustainable market for Tinian’s fishermen and agribusinesses.

Plans for the new market include a mobile slaughterhouse compliant with U.S. Department of Agriculture standards that Cing said would let Tinian ranchers obtain a federal approval to sell their meet in stores.

The proposal also calls for processing equipment to produce “value added” items at the market, such as smoked meats, candies or jams that have a long shelf life and can fetch higher prices.

“There is a lot you can do with some of the local products,” Cing said. “The equipment is out there but we’re not taking advantage of it.”

Mayoral staff have examined an old power plant, a vacant dairy farm and a swath of public property as prospective sites for the new market, he added, yet any progress will depend on funding for the project.

In addition to the proposed market, local people on Tinian have organized to work together on improving the state of the island’s agriculture sector. In recent months, a new group has formed here, the Tinian Farmers, Ranchers and Fishermen Association, to represent the collective interests of local food producers. The association is now crafting its bylaws and planning a survey of its members.

“Almost everybody here was raised on farms,” said Eddie Quichocho, the association’s president. “We have more ranchers on Tinian than on any of the other islands.”

Meanwhile, the future of Tinian’s agribusiness is emerging in research Northern Marianas College’s Cooperative Research Extension and Education Service (NMC-CREES) is conducting on the island aimed at uncovering what varieties of fruits and vegetable can best grow here and resist common tropical plant diseases.

On a green plot tucked behind NMC’s Tinian campus, agricultural researcher Lawrence Duponcheel and his colleagues last year began raising orange trees to test various strains’ abilities to survive on the island. Tropical diseases, Duponcheel said, commonly kill citrus trees in the South Pacific and Asia. Over the next several years, researchers will monitor the progress of the trees—now tall saplings—and conduct tests.

“We want to determine which varieties are suitable to our climate, which will be resistant to diseases and which will deliver a high quality product,” said Duponcheel, adding the research will likely help local farmers select the best citrus crops to grow and aid efforts to ensure the quality of local seeds is controlled.

“We’re also hoping to find out, almost more importantly, which strains don’t work. It’s important to find out which ones do well—we’re guaranteed that some will probably do well—but it’s important to know which definitely do not do well and which you don’t want to grow.”

Mangoes, papayas, and a host of other fruits could see the same type of research on Tinian in the near future, he added, giving farmers an added advantage.