“This will lower the cost and provide us greater opportunities for competition,” he said.
Pellegrino said his cargo airline project will address the high shipping cost that has hampered the growth of the local agriculture industry.
The mayor at the same time echoed the call of specialty crop producers president Frank Atalig who urged local farmers to “act and stop talking.”
“We have to act in order to realize and to meet our goals,” Mendiola said.
Local farmers should maximize their production, he added.
Mendiola said the open communication between the business sector and the farmers’ group is a good sign.
In the recent Association of Marinas Islands Mayors, Vice Mayors & Elected Municipal Council Members meeting, quarantine regulations were also discussed.
Mendiola said Marianas farmers are having a hard time with quarantine regulations.
He said despite the proximity between Guam and the CNMI, the quarantine regulations make shipping local livestock difficult.
Mendiola, the current president of the AMIM, said he pushed for changes in current rules.
AMIM adopted a resolution that aims to reexamine and reform quarantine rules and regulations regarding the inter-island exchange of livestock used for gaming.
“Despite the potential revenue to be generated from such events, quarantine regulations inhibits and deters the possible participation of game fowl breeders, owners and trainers,” the AMIM resolution stated.
AMIM also adopted a resolution requesting the Department of Agriculture in Guam to revise and reform the policies for the shipment of livestock, vegetables, fruits and produce for the purpose of consumption without sale and for personal use only.
Mendiola said AMIM wants to achieve the wider objective of creating additional employment throughout Guam and CNMI through the exportation and trade of livestock, good, fruits and vegetables.
