Fiscal Years 1994-1999
Rural Economic Transition Assistance-Hawaii
Senator Inouye's efforts have provided over $25 million in grant funds to help local entrepreneurs commercialize agriculturally-based products that satisfy military and civilian markets. The primary objective of the Rural Economic Transition Assistance-Hawaii (RETA-H) Program, relative to Hawaii, is to put displaced sugar workers back into agriculture on former sugar lands. Initial efforts have been directed at Hamakua and Kau, but have subsequently been expanded to include Oahu, and Kauai -- all hard hit by plantation closures.
Projects funded and proposed include, among others, papaya, bananas, taro, beef, pork, hay, ginger, asparagus, coffee, herbal tea, a saw mill, agriculture pharmaceuticals, rangeland gorse control on the Big Island, and a statewide composting project. To date, 52 RETA-H funded projects are in-the-ground, with 10 more recently approved for funding by the RETA-H Oversight Committee. Over 8,000 acres of former plantation land have been put back into production as a result of this program, and RETA-H has directly assisted in establishing or maintaining 1,100 agricultural jobs.
From the federal government's perspective, RETA-H's goal is to accelerate commercialization of agriculturally-based products of interest to both the military and civilian populations. These could include but are not limited to food products, pharmaceuticals, industrial products, and personal care items. Many of the products needed and used by the military population have comparable applications in the civilian population. Additionally, low-impact, low-density uses like agriculture are often ideally suited for areas surrounding military installations.
Of the $25 million, $1.4 million was set aside to support sewage effluent services through large-scale bioremediation at the Waialua sugar plantation. In this project, diversified agricultural crops were irrigated with sewage effluent from Schofield Barracks and the Wahiawa community. They included: forage grasses for biomass production, as well as coffee. Other RETA-H projects funded at Waialua include kava, truck crops and papaya. Projects for the former Oahu Sugar lands include grass hay, melons, lettuce, and bulb onions. Other diversified agricultural projects for Kunia, Ewa and the Waipio Peninsula, including a feed corn project, have been approved and are underway.