By NANCY COOK LAUER
By NANCY COOK LAUER
Stephens Media
On the heels of a $275,000 donation to the Food Basket, the Hawaii County Council on Wednesday is scheduled to discuss a new project that would bring fresh produce and beef to the Food Basket and its 87 affiliates.
The council meets next week at the West Hawaii Civic Center, with videoconferencing available from Hilo council chambers and the Waimea and Pahoa council offices. Committees meet Tuesday.
The nonbinding resolution urges Mayor Billy Kenoi to issue a request for proposals for a nonprofit to create a community fruit and vegetable farm that would also teach residents how to farm. The produce farm would be located on five acres the county fenced in Paauilo in anticipation of future use as a county baseyard.
In addition, resolution sponsor Dominic Yagong, the council chairman who represents Hamakua, seeks to fence the contiguous 15-acre parcel so ranchers could donate their cull cows to pasture there.
The county, Yagong said, can work out a deal with the Department of Water Supply, as there is a water hookup close by, and also with the slaughterhouse across the highway. He said fresh hamburger and stew meat would supplement the Food Basket’s usual fare of canned goods and produce.
Nani Lee, executive director of the Food Basket, told Stephens Media on Thursday that the Food Basket can handle all the fresh produce and meat that come its way.
“It sounds like a wonderful opportunity for a pilot project,” Lee said. “It helps for sustainability, with people coming together to build the capacity of the community.”
The council last week passed its first-ever emergency appropriation, paving the way for $200,000 to go to the Food Basket from the Disaster & Emergency Fund. The other $75,000 comes from the county auditor’s office, part of the legislative branch.
Yagong also wants to get hunters involved, as several have come forward at County Council meetings praising the value of hunting to keep food affordable.
The resolution asks the administration to evaluate the possibility of putting smokehouses on the land so that hunters can contribute fresh game. Yagong said that some other jurisdictions do have smoking facilities in conjunction with food banks.
“Food security is a big, big problem on this island,” Yagong said Thursday. “This is a way to help our community and maybe be a role model for the state, because hunger is not going to go away.”
The 140 acres of Paauilo land is part of several thousand acres the county received in 1994 in lieu of back taxes from the bankrupt Hamakua Sugar Co. The land has lay fallow and attempts to sell it have failed.
Yagong also wants to lease some of the land to local farmers, who were disappointed when a bid opening earlier this month saw an out-of-state company looking for feedstock for an ethanol plant win the right to lease all 16 Hamakua parcels that were put to bid. He said a new round of proposal requests would specify that the land could be used only for farming and ranching.
Kenoi has proceeded with his own efforts for a 1,700-acre agricultural park project at Kalapena, involving local farmers and ranchers in an effort to clear acreage first with cattle, so that farmers can ultimately create farms and orchards.
“We’re all in support of agriculture in Hamakua, and we look forward to making these lands productive and getting the farmers and ranchers back on their land,” Kenoi had said.
He could not be reached Thursday evening for further comment.
Email Nancy Cook Lauer at ncook-lauer@westhawaiitoday.com.