WHEREAS, our natural resources not only reflect the rich and unique culture and tradition in Hawaii, but also provide the foundation for local agriculture, which is one of our most important industries; and

WHEREAS, coffee is one of Hawaii's most valuable and profitable agricultural commodities, generating over $19,000,000 in farm revenue per year; and

WHEREAS, coffee plants are vulnerable to a wide variety of invasive pest species such as green scale, Kona coffee root-knot nematode, coffee leaf rust, coffee berry disease, and weeds, and insect species such as ants, black twig borers, fuller rose beetles, and medflys; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Agriculture (DOA) maintains the plant quarantine program as well as the plant pest control program to prevent the introduction of harmful pests and diseases into the State and to control and eradicate pests already in the State; and

WHEREAS, in spite of the prevention and control programs conducted by DOA, the potential for devastating invasive species attacks on domestic coffee crops still exists; and

WHEREAS, the ongoing phase-out of methyl bromide, a highly toxic yet highly effective soil disinfectant used to fumigate agricultural crops including coffee, may further undermine the effectiveness of measures to prevent importation of coffee pests; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2003, that the Department of Agriculture is urged to consider modifying its administrative rules to restrict, or if deemed necessary, ban the importation of green coffee beans into Hawaii; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Governor and the Director of Agriculture.

Report Title:

Urging DOA to restrict or ban green coffee bean importation via administrative rules.