Cattle export to Guam nears

Months after Marianas governors and lawmakers took a strong interest in improving interisland agricultural trade, the CNMI is now a step closer to exporting cattle to Guam with the recent introduction of a bill in the Guam Legislature removing the required testing for a cattle disease that is endemic to the whole Marianas but is no longer considered a major concern by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“It’s about time Guam allows livestock from the CNMI. Ultimately, everybody will benefit,” longtime rancher Ernest “Ernie” Torres told Saipan Tribune.

Torres will be among the individuals traveling to Guam to testify on Bill 297-32 on Monday morning at the Guam Legislature.

Guam Speaker Judith T. Won Pat and Sen. Vicente C. Pangelinan’s Bill 297-32 amends Guam’s animal quarantine regulations to, among other things, remove anasplasmosis testing as condition for allowing cattle entry into Guam.

Anaplasmosis is a cattle disease that is endemic to Guam and the CNMI but USDA no longer considers it of major importance.

For several years, the CNMI Department of Lands and Natural Resources has been requesting Guam’s Department of Agriculture to propose amendments to phase out entry requirements and conditions that are no longer considered essential, are overly restrictive, or are not performing their intended purpose.

When CNMI Gov. Eloy S. Inos and Guam Gov. Eddie Calvo made it one of the key issues of common concerns during their historic summit last year, along with efforts of the newly-formed Mariana Islands Legislature Association comprising CNMI and Guam lawmakers, the proposed export of cattle from the CNMI to Guam picked up speed.

“This will open up a whole lot of opportunities for the CNMI, as well as Guam. Cattle ranching could be a much bigger industry for the CNMI once we’re allowed to export cattle to Guam. We have a very robust ranching especially on Tinian and Saipan,” DLNR Secretary Arnold Palacios told Saipan Tribune yesterday.

On behalf of the CNMI government, Palacios will testify on Monday in Guam in support of the bill.

The governor has tasked him to do so, since he is the CNMI’s lead in this effort.

CNMI veterinarian Dr. Ignacio Dela Cruz said earlier that the productive qualities of CNMI cattle have tremendously improved due to the practice of artificial insemination using frozen semen imported from the U.S. mainland.

He said allowing such CNMI cattle with superior genetic characteristics to enter Guam would greatly improve the productive qualities of Guam cattle, thereby promoting their agricultural economy.

It would also be a tremendous economic benefit for CNMI ranchers as it would provide a large market for CNMI livestock, he said.

Press secretary Angel Demapan said yesterday the governor is optimistic that the bill will pass the Guam Legislature.

“A regulation in particular that has made it difficult for livestock transport is the requirement for an anaplasmosis test as a condition of entry into Guam. Anaplasmosis is a cattle disease that is endemic to Guam and the CNMI. However, it is no longer considered to be of major importance by the U.S. Department of Agriculture,” Demapan said.

He said the CNMI has sought to enhance and facilitate movement of CNMI cattle to Guam, “where a serious inbreeding problem is widely evident.”

“These overly restrictive quarantine regulations have been causing unnecessary and unwanted productive and reproductive problems and failures,” Demapan added.

He said this was a “joint effort by both Governor Inos and Governor Calvo since the Marianas Governors Summit held here late last year.”

Rep. Ray Tebuteb (Ind-Saipan) said that allowing for interisland trade between the CNMI and Guam is “long overdue.”

“These are issues that can be achieved by working together, each one understanding the positive things that can come about. It’s not complex. I am asking our counterparts in Guam to support this legislation for their sister-island,” Tebuteb said.

The lawmaker said once the bill becomes law and the exportation of live cattle becomes regular, it will also pave the way for agricultural crops from the CNMI to reach Guam’s bigger market, given its population and the presence of military bases there.

Isidoro Cabrera, another longtime rancher in the CNMI, said he supports the Guam bill “100 percent” and shares the government’s optimism that it will pass the Guam Legislature.

“This will open up our agricultural market to Guam. We can supply them live cattle for breeding and other agricultural products,” he added.

In November, the first assembly of the Mariana Islands Legislature Association adopted a resolution recognizing the need to address political, social, and economic issues and concerns, including agriculture and trade relations between the CNMI and Guam.