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DOB ARCHIVES
17
The agricultural practices of the resettled islanders
will probably be the same as in the past.
intensive type of agriculture.
Coconuts,
That is, a nonarrowroot,
pandanus,
and wnatever breadfruit that can be grown will be grown,
The resettlement program will,
of course,
give tne
Marshall Islands District Agriculture Department an excellent
opportunity to plan for the most efficient use of the land in
the atoll.
Improved varieties of food-producing plants can
be introduced and planted in the most efficient manner.
coconut groves,
production.
training
especially,
The
can be planted to insure maximum
This will be a valuabie project in terms of
the local people and scientific experimentation in
atoll] agriculture.
I believe that the Bikini people have become more oriented
toward a cash economy since tneir removal from tne atoll.
This
is especially true of tnose wio have had to cope witn the casn
economy prevalent at Majuro and Ebeye.
This means that tney
will probably be very much interested in copra production and
will want to maximize the yicla throughout the atoll.
While this
will aid in the rehabilitation program and the eventual economic
Btability of Bikini,
neglected.
Mr.
subsistence agriculture should not be
Hiyane is,
of course,
well aware of this aspect
of the problem of agricultural rehabilitation.
As I have indicated previously,
the Bikini people can be
expected to make the maximum use of the local marine resources.
Birds and turtles,
and their eggs,
fish and snellfisn, and ail