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Tinian seeks new marketplace to jumpstart island economy
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Posted on Jul 08 2008
Tinian Mayor Jose San Nicolas is aiming to boost the island’s economy with a new marketplace project that could revive the local agriculture industry if it wins funding from public land officials.
In a proposal presented to the Marianas Public Land Trust during a hearing on Tinian Monday night, San Nicolas requested a $1.3 million loan to construct the new marketplace and buy equipment for it.
“Revitalizing farming and ranching is good for the local economy,” the proposal says. “We can produce rather than import. Money stays in our local economy.”
The new marketplace could give Tinian residents a place to purchase fresh, organically grown produce and prompt visitors to the island to buy locally made goods, it adds.
A key aspect of the marketplace proposal is a plan for a mobile slaughterhouse that complies with U.S. Department of Agriculture standards. The slaughterhouse would let Tinian ranchers have the meat they bring to market inspected by the USDA in order to sell it in stores. Keeping a mobile slaughter site, the proposal says, will prove cheaper than a stationary building.
To give local farmers a chance to extend the shelf life of their products—and, consequently, their profit margins—the marketplace proposal carries plans for so-called “value-added” sales.
“In times of over-production of a particular vegetable or fruits,” that means they “cannot be sold fresh, we can then process them to be sold as processed local products,” the proposal says.
For example, excess papayas or guava can be transformed into jam, bananas can be turned into banana chips, other vegetables could be pickled and fresh pork could be made into sausage.
Repayment of the loan would come from local revenue. A confidential source says the mayor’s office is eyeing government revenue generated by local casinos as a way to get that funding.
Officials with the MPLT were not immediately available for comment.
