By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau
KEKAHA, Kaua‘i — Amfac yesterday turned over to the state thousands of acres of former sugar lands on the west side of the island.
Meanwhile, state officials authorized a coalition of farmers and aquaculture operators to begin operating the Kekaha Sugar Co.’s old irrigation system and the pumps and drainage ditches that keep the Mana plain from flooding.
Kekaha and its sister plantation, Lihu‘e Plantation Co., went out of sugar operations in November 2000, and owner Amfac/JMB stopped running its pumps, hydroelectric plants and other facilities at Kekaha yesterday.
The new operating coalition, led by Ceatech, a firm that grows marine shrimp under the Sunkiss label, includes a range of users and potential users of state lands, among them the seed corn firms Pioneer Hi-Bred and Syngenta (formerly Novartis, and before that, Northrup King), the sugar firm Gay & Robinson and diversified agriculture farmers.
Alfredo Lee, director of the state Agribusiness Development Corp., said his agency granted a letter of agreement on Tuesday to the coalition for the operation of the pump systems and irrigation networks.
The arrangement is a temporary one, while various state agencies and private groups gather the information they need to move forward on the Kekaha lands, Lee said.
"We need to take a really good look at expenses before we do anything permanent" with respect to pumping the Mana plain dry and maintaining equipment, reservoirs, ditch and tunnel systems, he said.
Meanwhile, Lee said the Agribusiness Development Corp., which has a right of entry from the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, is working with that agency and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, which owns some of the former sugar properties, to develop a long-term plan.
The Mana plain was once one of the largest wetlands in the state, with more than 1,000 acres of ponds and marshes stretching from what is now Kekaha town to Polihale Beach.
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