Camacho, the Saipan and Northern Islands Municipal Council chairman, said once a farmer become a member of the Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands, hotels can get reliable information regarding market supply and availability of fresh produce.
He asked Nick Nishikawa, HANMI president, to consider allowing one member of the Saipan Sabalu Farmers Association to join the hotel group.
“Through this partnership, the Saipan hotels will have a stake in the local farm industry and ensure the success of the industry while affording hotel tenants and customers’ fresh and organic local produce and agricultural by-product,” Camacho told Nishikawa in a letter.
Camacho said local farmers have “afforded the people of the CNMI a unique opportunity to enjoy fresh bananas, organic cucumbers, eggplants, pechay, tomatoes, cantaloupes and pineapples year round.”
He said the Saipan municipal council has openly discussed the farmer’s marketing dilemma with the mayors of Guam this year.
The marketing of local agricultural product generated high interests among the Association of Mariana Islands Mayors, Vice Mayors and Elected Municipal Council Members during its annual assembly on Saipan, he added.
Camacho said they explored ways to establish a viable market for local farmers throughout the region.
The council also mentioned the subject in a brief meeting with military officials during the Association of Pacific Island Local Governments summit last year on Guam, he added.
During the summit, Camacho said the council members expressed interests in providing local farmers an opportunity to conduct site visits of the thriving organic farm industry in the region.
“It is our considered view that now is perhaps the time to revisit the recommendations proposed by a group of economic developers on how agriculture should be packaged and promoted as a tourism support industry,” Camacho told Nishikawa.
Increasing farm yield should not just be aimed at reducing dependency on imported food items but it should be tied in to the tourism industry, Camacho said.
He said farmers should be encouraged to engage in specialty products that are in demand with tourists and to market these products in resort hotels and restaurants.
He also wants the farmers to have a “strong presence” in events such as the Marianas Visitors Authority’s Taste of the Marianas, the Flame Tree Arts Festival, the Agriculture Fair, the Thursday Night Street Market, the Japanese Golden Week event on Saipan and others.
