Saipan’s agri sector recovers from Chaba

There will be plenty of locally produced vegetables and fruits during the Christmas holidays, as Saipan’s agricultural sector continues to recover after the devastation of Supertyphoon Chaba.

An agricultural expert estimated that Saipan’s agricultural sector has recovered about 60 percent of its production level, 10 weeks after Chaba tore through agricultural crops and totally wiped out Saipan’s vegetable crops.

The Northern Marianas College’s Cooperative Research Extension & Education Service’s agricultural consultant, Isidoro T. Cabrera, disclosed that local production of certain crops is back to normal.

These crops include beans, bitter gourd, eggplant, Chinese cabbage, green onion, and cucumber, among others.

“Hopefully by December, if no typhoon hits us, we’ll have plenty of fruits and vegetables,” Cabrera said. By that time, he said, local production of vegetable crops would have returned to pre-typhoon level. Fruits that Cabrera anticipates to be available in the market by December include cantaloupe and watermelon.

It would take more time, however, for some fruit crops to grow, such as banana and papaya. Cabrera expressed optimism, though, that locally produced banana and papaya would be available in the market within four to six months.

MELON FLIES NEARLY WIPED OUT

Cabrera said one good thing that Chaba’s destruction brought to the islands was the near-annihilation of the melon fly population.

Melon flies have large black spot on the wing tip and black cross streak on the wing. The U.S. Agricultural Service considers melon fly a major economic pest, which attacks various agricultural crops such as squash, cucumber, melon, tomato, pumpkin, guava, papaya, cowpea, string bean, bitter melon, among others.

Cabrera said the flies also attack bitter gourd, cantaloupe, watermelon and mango. The pests dig inside the young fruit and lay their eggs inside.

Early this year, Cabrera raised the alarm over the growing melon fly population, saying the pest already numbers in the millions. During that time, Cabrera said some 40 traps on Saipan caught an average of 8,000 melon flies weekly.

After the onslaught of Chaba, the weekly catch only averaged 10-20 melon flies, Cabrera said, describing the pest’s current population as “moderately low.”