In 1921, the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act intended to return native Hawaiians to the land while encouraging them to become self-sufficient farmers, ranchers, and homesteaders on leased parcels of reserved land. This Act set aside lands for Native Hawaiians.
Here in Hilo on Hawaiʻi Island, the homestead of Keaukaha Hawaiian Homestead was the first residential homestead developed on Hawaiʻi Island in [date] to place socially disadvantaged native Hawaiians onto reserve lands. In 1976, Keaukaha-Panaʻewa Homestead was the second homestead on Hawaiʻi Island to be mapped out and made available as agricultural farming opportunities for native Hawaiians. The first awards of these agriculture lots were granted to (50) Keaukaha Hawaiian Homestead residents that were forced to relocate in order to build the new Hilo International Airport.
Today, Keaukaha-Panaʻewa Farmers Association (renamed from Keaukaha-Panaʻewa Hawaiian Homestead) is home to 1,140 Native Hawaiians, 285 agriculture lots, situated on 1,615 acres of designated agricultural lots. Keaukaha-Panaʻewa Farmers Association (KPFA) maintains a Board of Directors and Officers that convenes monthly, bi-anually with our community, and assembles committees as needs to work community-benefiting initiatives.
Central to these agricultural lots is our Panaʻewa Hub, hosting several spaces for our community. For our farmers, these spaces allowed a cultural setting to assemble, share traditional farming practices and customary methods of food preparation.
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Panaʻewa Farmerʻs Market - a market place for our farmerʻs to sell produce from their farms.
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Panaʻewa Community Resiliency Hub - quickly assembled to service our community during this COVID pandemic
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Panaʻewa Agriculture Training Center - providing agriculture presentations and hands-on workshops; a farming site hosting Hawaiian ancestral crops, hydroponics, and greenhouse nursery
The Panaʻewa Hub allows space for our community to assemble for various committee and board meetings, and larger community outreach and engagement events.
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KPFA Board of Directors - Monthly and Special Meetings
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KPCA Board of Directors - Monthly and Special Meetings
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KPFA Neighborhood Watch - Quarterly meetings with HPD Community Officer and Neighboring Stakeholders
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KPFA Agriculture Committee - Monthly Meetings
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KPCA Community Meeting - Bi-annual Community-Wide Engagement.
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KPFA Opposition to Proposed Spaceport in our Neighboring Community (2019) [ read ]
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KPFA Opposition to Proposed Location of a New Hawaiʻi County Composting Center (in Panaʻewa) (2017) [ read ]
In 2012, a small number of Keaukaha-Panaʻewa Farmers Association (KPFA) members incorporated Keaukaha-Panaʻewa Community Alliance (KPCA) as a non-profit 501(c)(3) entity. KPCAʻs focus is to seek funding opportunities to support KPFAsʻ objectives and projects, such as the Market, Hub, and Training Center which fosters community outreach and engagement within the cultural setting of our Panaʻewa community.