It is the first major farming venture by the Kakaako-based produce company, said Bill Balfour, president and general manager of Aloha Farms Inc., a subsidiary of Aloha Produce Co.

Banana plants are being put on Mokuleia land, part of 300 acres of former Waialua Sugar Co. lands directly mauka of the Dillingham airfield. The acres are being leased by Aloha Farms Inc.

"We've put in about 2,300 plants on three and a third acres," said Balfour. "We'll probably do 8,000 plants on 12 acres between now and mid-September. Then starting in October we'll do about 20,000 plants a month for 10 months."

Balfour said that two-thirds of the drip irrigation system for the 300 acres is already in place.

Balfour, who was manager of Oahu Sugar Co. and worked 36 years for Amfac, said the banana farm has employed five former sugar company workers. When the farm and packing plant are completed next May or June, there will be about 80 employees - all from either Oahu Sugar Co. or Waialua Sugar Co., he said.

The farm's 300 acres represents a big increase in banana production acreage for the state, but Dave Holzman, owner of Aloha Produce, said his goal is to use those bananas to replace imports. "I think it's going to happen (eventually)," Holzman said.

He knows it will be a long, difficult road because big buyers of bananas need to have a guaranteed supply week after week.

For that reason, Holzman said he is very careful on the amount of land being planted - in increments that won't disrupt the operations of local banana farmers.

"It takes 10 or 11 months to get a harvest," Holzman said. "We want a nice steady harvest week-after-week so we can level off production and avoid peaks and valleys."

The bulk of the bananas will be the Williams variety, the same kind that come to Hawaii from Central and South America.

A small percentage will be the apple bananas and other Pacific varieties that can be used for cooking, he said.

Holzman wants to replace the imports to major local stores and also will be talking to the military, which also purchases imported bananas. He also has applied to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for permission to export green bananas. Guam is one of the possible destinations.