2018-05-29 Governor Ige NR18-06 - Disaster Ag Loans Approved 5-29-18

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Hawaii Board of Agriculture Approves Emergency Disaster Loan Program May 29, 2018 Page 2 “The financial burden of the recent natural disasters hits the agriculture industry particularly hard,” said Scott Enright, chairperson of the Hawaii Board of Agriculture. “HDOA’s agricultural loan program will do its best to help our farmers and ranchers get back in business as soon as possible.” On April 15, 2018, Gov. David Ige declared the County of Kauai a disaster area due to heavy rains and flooding and authorized state funds for disaster relief. A supplementary disaster proclamation was issued by the Governor on April 18 to include the City and County of Honolulu due to heavy rains and flooding. On May 3, 2018, Gov. Ige issued a proclamation declaring the County of Hawaii as a disaster area due to the eruption at Kilauea and lava flows occurring in the East Rift Zone. Earlier this month, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture issued a disaster declaration for the County of Kauai which allows for assistance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), including low-interest disaster loans. The FSA office on Kauai may be contacted at: (808) 245- 9014 Ext. 2. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) also has a disaster loan program for nonfarm businesses which are dependent on farmers and ranchers that have suffered agricultural production losses on Kauai. For loan assistance and more information on HDOA’s Agricultural Loan Program, go to: http://hdoa.hawaii.gov/agl/ # # # Media Contact: Janelle Saneishi, Public Information Officer Hawai`i Department of Agriculture 808-973-9560 hdoa.info@hawaii.gov http://hdoa.hawaii.gov/