USDA wants lawmakers to hold off action on farm insurance bill

Officials of the U.S. Department of Agriculture yesterday asked lawmakers to withhold action on a bill seeking to establish a local insurance program for farm crops following introduction of a similar federal program aimed at assisting CNMI farmers.

Representatives from the department’s Farm Service Agency are scheduled to hold talks with local officials, farmers and ranchers on the three main islands of Saipan, Rota and Tinian to orient them on the program.

Called the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program or NAP, it will provide financial assistance to producers of crops and commodities affected by natural disaster such as drought and typhoon.

CNMI farmers will have to submit report of the acreage and production documentation to be eligible in receiving the disaster aid from the federal government, according to Steve D. Peterson, a program specialist of the USDA’s Farm Service Agency for Hawaii and the Pacific Basin.

Mr. Peterson and another program specialist William A. Burns arrived on Saipan over the weekend to begin a series of meetings and orientation in the Commonwealth.

They met yesterday with Rep. William S. Torres, sponsor of HB 12-151 which will create a local program aimed at providing protection and assistance to farmers on the islands in the event of a natural disaster that will damage their crops.

He said the Legislature has to defer passage of the measure in order not to forfeit the federal program here, noting that both have similar intentions.

USDA should be allowed to recommend a course action to the CNMI government before coming up with the local program, added Mr. Torres.

But he called on local farmers to report their acreage and crop production to the department in order to gain access to the financial assistance which will be important when their farms sustain damage during the typhoon season or even drought.

Based on latest government statistics, the CNMI has a total of 103 farms occupying 3,413 acres of land, down from 119 farms on 14,421 acres of lands about 10 years ago. But agriculture production has steadily increased with over $2.8 million in gross sales in 1998.

Aside from farm crops, livestock such as poultry and cattle will be included in the NAP, according to Mr. Peterson who also indicated that betel nut, a cash crop for some of the farmers, may not be covered by the program.

“We are encouraging all our farmers to obtain the NAP. There is no local alternative for this,” Mr. Torres told reporters in an interview. “We need to give our farmers some sense of security so that they won’t get discouraged when disaster hits.”