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Chaba KO’s agriculture sector
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Posted on Aug 25 2004
For about two to three months, no local produce will be available in the market, after Supertyphoon Chaba heavily devastated Saipan’s agricultural crops.
Isidoro Cabrera, agricultural consultant to the Northern Marianas College’s Cooperative Research, Education and Extension Service, said Chaba’s strong winds totally wiped out the island’s vegetable crops.
“Farmers were suffering from Typhoon Tingting damage. Now, [the agriculture sector] got [battered by] this Chaba,” Cabrera said. “It would take two to three months to see fresh local produce in the market.”
Damaged crops include cucumber, eggplant, okra, string beans, bitter gourd, Chinese cabbage, radish, onion, pumpkin, squash, bell pepper, and tomato, according to Cabrera.
He said Chaba finally wiped out what was left after Typhoon Tingting hit the agriculture sector in late June, as well as crops that were planted after the onslaught of Tingting.
Cabrera earlier reported that Tingting damaged 90 percent of Saipan’s banana trees. Chaba totally wiped out what remained, he said. The supertyphoon also destroyed the island’s papaya trees.
Chaba’s devastation came nearly two months after the onslaught of Tingting, with some 88 commercial farmers on Saipan still waiting for government assistance.
The farmers want the CNMI government to assist them through the provision of vouchers, which could be tendered in stores to buy seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and other agricultural supplies. Cabrera said many farmers did not avail of loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration.
The Department of Lands and Natural Resources and the CREES had asked the Saipan Legislative Delegation to appropriate monies to fund the vouchers for the farmers, with initial damage caused by Tingting estimated at over $518,000.
The DLNR and the CREES began conducting surveys to assess agricultural damage caused by Chaba.
Among the villages covered in yesterday’s survey were As Lito, Finasisu, and San Vicente, all of which lost their entire vegetable crops.
Cabrera said the supertyphoon also knocked down fruit trees like mango, avocado and orange.
