(BIVN) – A groundbreaking was held last week for new subsistence agricultural lots on Hawaiian Home Lands in Panaʻewa.

From the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands:

The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) held a groundbreaking on Monday, August 24, 2021 to mark the beginning of a $2.49 million capital improvement project that will subdivide an existing 10-acre agricultural lot in Panaʻewa, Hawaiʻi Island into 16 half-acre Subsistence Agricultural lots.

DHHL’s Subsistence Agricultural homestead lots differ from the Department’s traditional Agricultural homestead lots in that they do not require two-thirds cultivation or a formal farm plan. The lots are smaller in size and provide beneficiaries with an opportunity to sustain themselves off of the land.

“The road to developing DHHL’s Subsistence Agricultural program has been a long one for both beneficiaries and the Department,” said Hawaiian Homes Commission Chair William J. Ailā, Jr. “In 2018, we started beneficiary consultations for Subsistence Agricultural homesteading, with new administrative rules for the program signed by the Governor in 2019. The Panaʻewa project was designed and went out to bid in 2020 following an allocation of funds 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”

The Panaʻewa project work, conducted by Drainpipe Plumbing and Solar, LLC, will include mass grading and road construction, as well as the installation of waterline and drainage systems. Construction is expected to take roughly 12 months to complete.

“I’m pleased to see all of the work DHHL is doing here on Hawaiʻi Island,” said HHC East Hawaiʻi Commissioner Michael Kaleikini. “The Department offered residential lots on-island recently and I know there are beneficiaries who are excited about the upcoming Subsistence Agricultural homesteading opportunities.”

DHHL expects to break ground on its Honomū Subsistence Agricultural project in the coming months.

Earlier in 2021, DHHL offered Homestead lots to beneficiaries within the Discovery Harbour and Laʻi ʻŌpua subdivisions, also on Hawaiʻi Island.