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Farmers’ losses add up
as drought carries on

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By Gary T. Kubota
Star-Bulletin

Oahu farmer Leattrice Watanabe has seen her watercress production reduced by half because of the water shortage.

Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. Vice President Stephen Holaday says sugar cane losses on Maui are into the millions from the lack of rain.

Angie von Holt says her Big Island family has had to move 1,000 cows off their Ponoholo Ranch in north Kohala because there is no grass for grazing.

Across the state, except on Kauai, drought conditions are prevailing following less-than-normal rainfall through most of the winter and causing millions of dollars in losses in crops and livestock.

"Statewide, it's a lot of money," said Jason Shitanishi, the county executive director for the United States Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency.

A drought declaration remained in effect for Upcountry areas of Maui and all of the Big Island, except Hilo, Puna and Hamakua.

The National Weather Service said the only bright spot in the past four months was a torrential rain during a few days in mid-November and there doesn't seem to be much of a chance of significant rain through the remaining winter.

"We missed it," said Roy Matsuda, the Weather Service's lead forecaster. "This has been a relatively dry winter."

Matsuda said the Hawaiian Islands usually have inclement weather from one or two very deep low-pressure systems, but have experienced none this winter, since early November.

He said the islands have had two to three cold fronts, compared to the usual half dozen to dozen.

In February, 21 out of 24 rain gauges on Oahu reported below normal rainfall.

The Leeward area experienced the least rain on Oahu, with most sites receiving in the range of 30 to 60 percent of normal precipitation.

Mililani received 2.59 inches, compared to the normal 4.90 inches, and Waialua had .78 inches compared to 3.90 inches.

On Maui, the rainfall in Kula was 2.86 inches compared to the normal of 3.70, and in Kihei, 0.11 inches compared to 2.20 inches.

Rainfall at Kaunakakai, Molokai, was 0.08 inches, compared to the normal of 2.60.

At Lanai City on Lanai, 0.22 inches of rain fell, compared to the normal 4.10 inches.

On the Big Island, rainfall drenched some eastern sections such as Pahala, but stayed away from the western areas.

At Waiaha, mauka of Kailua-Kona, 0.39 inches of rain fell compared to the normal 3.70 inches.

Hawaii Civil Defense administrator William Davis said in the first five days of March, hardly any rain has fallen on the western and southern parts of the Big Island. Pahala had no rain.

At the Ulupalakua Ranch in Upcountry Maui, rainfall has been at about 50 percent of normal for the last 42 months, said ranch official Sumner Erdman.

Erdman said his 23,000-acre ranch has already reduced its herd.

"If it gets any worse, we'll have to reduce more, which is not a good deal," Erdman said. "It's been a tough couple of years."

In Central Oahu, the Watanabe family has been operating its watercress farm for four generations and more than 100 years.

Leattrice Watanabe said because of the drought and lack of artesian water flow, production has been reduced by 50 percent at their farms in Waipahu and Pearl City.

"It's affecting every watercress farmer. We're trying to hang on as long as we can, but the way it's going, I don't know," Watanabe said.

Holaday, whose company grows sugarcane on 37,000 acres on Maui, said the drought will affect the size of the crop this year and next year and that every month the company is short of water costs $1 million to $2 million in crop losses.

"We're concerned," he said.