Hamakua land
considered for
farms or trees
The county has already signed
By Rod Thompson
a nonbinding letter to lease 4,400 acres
to Japanese paper companies
Star-BulletinHILO -- Hamakua Coast land where farmers want to grow crops, but where Japanese paper companies want to plant trees is rocky, hilly "billy goat country," a former Hamakua Sugar Co. worker says. Although the land is rough, it can be used for macadamia orchards and has grown coffee better than the Kona product, Arnold Ishii told the Economic Development Committee of the Hawaii County Council yesterday.
But Ishii said he would prefer a tree plantation over farming because he believes trees will produce more jobs.
The county has already signed a nonbinding letter of intent to lease about 4,400 acres of Hamakua land to Oji Paper Co. and Marubeni Corp. The lease is still pending.
But Hamakua Councilman Dominic Yagong has been trying to convince Council members the land should be used for farming.
He says the majority of the 198 former sugar workers who now belong to the Hamakua-North Hilo Agricultural Cooperative don't have land and can't afford to lease land from private owners.
Earl Nakashima, another farmer, warned that giving land to former sugar workers won't turn them into farmers.
"Farming is a very difficult enterprise to get into. There are more failures than successes," Nakashima said.
"People in our area need jobs and need them now," he said.
The county land should be used for forestry because it would provide immediate dollars, he said.
While the county debates the use of its own land, the state also has about 5,000 acres promised to Oji and Marubeni.
Michael Wilson, director of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources told the Council there is enough land for both farming and forestry.
The state is talking with Oji about the company releasing its claim on irrigated land below the Hawaii Belt Road so it can be used for farming, he said.
Oji and Marubeni representative John Michael White said after the Council meeting that the companies proposed giving up some smaller parcels.
He was uncertain how much acreage is involved. As an "offset," the companies would lease state or private land else where, he said.
They need about 25,000 acres for an operation that could be sustained over the proposed 55-year life of the lease.
While would-be farmers have been one source of criticism of the forestry proposals, others have complained that hardwoods would be preferable to the eucalyptus which would likely be grown.
White said the companies are planning to grow hardwoods on 10 percent of the state land they lease.
Although all officials involved have said the purpose of the forest plantations is to produce wood chips for use in Japan, critics insist the project would lead to a pollution-prone pulp mill here.Wilson and White denied it. "There is no possibility that they will do a pulp mill (here)," White said.
