DHHL breaks ground on subsistence agricultural lots on Hawaii Island

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands held a groundbreaking Monday for an upcoming agricultural endeavor on Hawaii Island.

Crews began work on the new $2.5 million Panaʻewa Subsistence Agricultural Lots located along Mahiai Street.

DHHL says the capital improvement project will subdivide a 10-acre property into 16 half-acre subsistence lots that do not require a formal farm plan or two-thirds cultivation.

Homeland leaders say its the perfect area for beneficiaries to sustain themselves off of the land.

“As you can see the soil is really reach over here. There’s lots of rain. Look at how the plants respond. The productivity over here is going to be awesome,” Hawaiian Homes Commission Chair William Aila Jr. said.

The project has been years in the making. Aila says beneficiary consultations began in 2018, and went out to bid in 2020 following funding from the legislature.

“We are now on the home stretch of the Panaʻewa pilot and are nearing a similar phase for the project in Honomū,” Aila added.

The entire project is expected to take a year.