THE message from our farmers, as detailed in the Variety’s special report last Monday, was loud and clear – they need all the support they can get from both the public and private sectors.

Indeed, despite all the talk about “Buy Local,” we as consumers cannot buy local produce if there are no local fruits and vegetables produced due to the lack of incentives for our farmers.

We have all heard horror stories of farmers giving away their produce, or worse, just throwing them away, due to the lack of demand.

The government and the private sector must support local farmers because relying on imported produce alone will not do.

As Dr. L. Robert Barber, farm management and marketing specialist at the University of Guam, pointed out, it is necessary to reduce the importation of vegetables and fruits to keep the dollars within the economy.

“It is important to know that when you buy from a local farmer, every dollar stays on this island; and when you buy an imported product, 50 percent of the price you pay probably goes off-island,” Barber stressed.

Isn’t it ironic that, as a tropical island with a climate suitable for farming, we have to import many of the fruits and vegetables we consume?

Being a tropical island, we should be should be able to grow 100 percent of
our tropical fruit and vegetable requirements. Supporting the local industry would motivate farmers to produce a variety of farm produce that would be readily available to island consumers. This would also ensure that our island would not be too dependent on off-island shipping for our vital food items.

So how can our local farmers get a boost?

Improved data gathering would be one. As our special report pointed out, data on specific vegetable imports are currently lacking on the island, resulting in the lack of information on what items have high demand. This is vital to the sustainability of our local agriculture industry because more detailed information would help our local farmers analyze the market and have a better idea of what specific fruits or vegetables to produce.

Another area is marketing and production. Government and the private sector must ensure that our local farmers are supported in every part of the chain – from the production of the fruits and vegetables to the marketing of their products, and their eventual distribution to the individual customers.

Perhaps our educational institutions on-island can lend a hand and help local farmers improve production by teaching them the latest farming technology and production methods.

Farmers should also be taught modern marketing techniques to stress the advantages of buying local produce in terms of freshness and other benefits. They should likewise be trained on where best to sell their products and who to market their products to. Perhaps the farmers can also band together and form strong cooperatives to maximize their marketing positions.

Finally, there is the issue of demand. The best way to support our local farmers is simply to buy from them. The good news is that there are now more bulk buyers of local produce like the Guam Department of Education and some of our hotels. But there should be more buyers because if there is not enough demand, local farming cannot be sustainable.

Our local wholesalers should do their part, too, by strengthening partnerships with local farmers. They should buy local as much as possible and only import items as a last resort.