Acting Agriculture director Manny Pangelinan is urging all farmers and local produce buyers to get listed in the 2011 CNMI Crop Producer and Buyer Directory.<\/p>\n
The 2011 CNMI Crop Producer and Buyer Directory will provide information on local farmers and their contact information, farm plot physical location, producer status (whether a commercial or a subsistence farmer), the type of agricultural products grown and its availability.<\/p>\n
The directory will also include other information such as location of farmers\u2019 markets, operation hours, if they accept food assistance programs, and the various local vendors that distribute fresh local produce, specialty crops, and other agricultural products. <\/p>\n
Pangelinan said in an interview that updating the directory is among the projects included in the $120,000 grant they received from the Agricultural Marketing Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.<\/p>\n
Other projects that are part of the grant are mainly \u201cmarketing and promotional materials\u201d which include the \u201cBuy Fresh, Buy Local\u201d signage on Saipan, Tinian and Rota; posters to be conspicuously placed in government and private buildings; and bumper stickers that would promote agricultural production in the CNMI.<\/p>\n
This particular project, Pangelinan said, is \u201cto create a crop directory that would provide information and resources to both the buyers, the sellers, and the general public consumer.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Pangelinan, many people do not know who the farmers and local produce buyers are on island.<\/p>\n
Pangelinan said the crop directory is one form of networking among farmers and buyers that will help promote local products and increase agricultural production.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we don\u2019t start enhancing the productivity of our local produce, eventually we are not helping ourselves in food security. What happens if there is a catastrophe somewhere else that the ship cannot come here? We\u2019re so dependent on import,\u201d he told Saipan Tribune.<\/p>\n
Pangelinan noted, however, that they do not aim to take over the import of all products \u201cbut to substitute some of the importation with those we can grow here locally.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also noted that many of today\u2019s youth do not know about farming and do not see it as a potential career.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we at least continue to promote and market [farming], they can see that this can be at least a lucrative business,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Pangelinan disclosed that the CNMI is also a recipient of a $160,000 grant which he said will be used for multimedia marketing of the local agricultural industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we\u2019re finished with this directory, we\u2019ll be doing talk shows, interviews with people, we\u2019ll be doing maybe cooking show using local produce, we\u2019ll be doing a website,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Deadline for submission of updated information as well as new entries to the 2011 CNMI Crop Producer and Buyer Directory is on July 28 at 12nn.<\/p>\n
Pangelinan encouraged all farmers, local retail and wholesale market consumers to be listed in the directory since it is free of charge. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe best that will come out of it is that their name is there and people can call them,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
For more information, contact Pangelinan at 322-9830 or email mmpangelinan@gmail.com, attention 2011 CNMI Farmers Directory; Saipan Municipal Council at 664-2700 or email spnmunco@yahoo.com; Saipan Sabalu Farmers Market Association; or NMC CREES director Ross Manglona at rossm@nmcnet.edu. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Acting Agriculture director Manny Pangelinan is urging all farmers and local produce buyers to get listed in the 2011 CNMI Crop Producer and Buyer Directory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-153114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153114\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}