HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 1127.014 2016-2018 pii
COUNTY CLERK COMM, 1127
COUNTY OF HAWAII
Oct 10, 2018 MO OCT 16 41 10: 1 1.1
Aloha County Council Members,
It is my understanding that the Council is or will consider a resolution to suggest
increasing the Noninsured Crop Disasters Assistance Program (NAP). This
testimony is in support of the proposed resolution.
It is unusual for a community of farmers to suffer through two disasters in a
relatively short period of time - and even less common to suffer through three.
But our farmers in Puna have suffered through three disasters since 2014:
• Tropical Storm Issel - This storm hit Puna with very strong winds and
heavy rain. The resulting damage to crops was overwhelming, toppling
trees and drowning in-ground plants. Papayas were particularly hard hit.
With relatively weak trunks, young trees laden with heavy fruit were
easily blown down. The effort that farmers had gone through to bring
these plants to maturity was extensive. Lands had to be cleared at a
cost of $1,000/acre or more. The seeds for the most sought-after plants
are quite expensive; farmers are able to keep about 1/3 of the trees thus
started. It takes a year of planting and maintaining the trees before they
bear their first fruits. Trees lost in the first one to two years of their
growth cycle (often half of a farmer's inventory) have not paid back the
cost to raise them to that stage - they are virtually all cost. Thousands of
such plants were lost. To make up for their loss and to recover, many
farmers needed to take out long-term loans through programs then
available.
• Leilani Estates/Kapoho Eruption - In May, June, July, and August of
2018, an eruption in lower Puna destroyed over 700 homes. This
eruption also covered over thousands of acres of farm and ranch lands.
Crops were destroyed, farm implements and infrastructure were covered
or destroyed. Again farmers found themselves in difficult economic
waters with bills to pay, equipment and crops to replace, employees to
pay and no land to restart their farms. Restarting meant moving and
clearing new lands, buying equipment and seeds. In many cases, these
were the same farmers who had lost tens of thousands of dollars from
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Issel. They now have old loans to pay off, new farms to start and no
product to sell.
• Tropical Storm Lane - on the heals of the eruption, Tropical Storm Lane
came to town. If a farmer had any crops still standing, he/she had to
face the fury of Tropical Storm Lane. Much the same situation existed
for these farmers as they had faced after Issel and/or the eruption.
Again, many of the farmers had existing loans to pay off- and no crops
to sell to pay existing loans much less to generate new loans.
As a community, we need these farmers to be productive. They provide food for
our table, bring in money from outside of our community and employ hundreds of
our residents. Without all the help that the government can possibly provide,
many will simply go out of business - in many cases leaving unpaid loans unpaid
and employees out of work.
Limits on the current NAP program are not sufficient for many farmers to restart
their businesses. Asking the Federal Government, in this unique and
unprecedented case, to raise the payout limits provides hope for our farmers and
an opportunity to return this community to an economic condition it was in before
these natural disasters hit.
For these reasons, I commend the resolution asking for such assistance to the
Hawaii County Council.
Bill Walter
President
W.H. Shipman, Limited