Kauai Sunrise Papaya - Grown by newly trained papaya farmers
Kauai Sunrise Papaya - Ready to go to market
Funds were awarded to Kauai Economic Opportunity (KEO) which is responsible for administering a Papaya Program. KEO has a State grant to assist in re-opening the Kauai disinfestation plant and has been working toward re-opening the papaya disinfestation facility in order to revive the papaya export business in Kauai.
The KADP funds were awarded to KEO for a project that complements their efforts by getting new papaya farmers trained and having papaya available for the growing market. This project is lead by Dr. Terry Sekkioka of the University of Hawaii. The goal of the program is to train individuals whose goal is to become self-reliant and self-sufficient growing and marketing papaya.
The Papaya Program has approximately 9-acres that are split into 1.5-acre plats for six new farmers to learn the cultivation and marketing skills required to run a papaya farm operation. The new farmers are able to keep 100% of the profit made from the crops grown through the training program and in some cases are even able to employ others to sell the product at local farmers markets.
For more information about the Papaya Farmer Training Program please contact:
Garden Island Resource Conservation & Development, Inc.
3083 Akahi Street, Suite 204, Lihu‘e, HI 96766
Phone: 808.246.0091 :: Fax: 808.246.1719 contact us by email
