Funds for livestock feed fills RDC’s agenda

Posted by Hannah John | Mar 14, 2022 | News |

GALLUP

Resources and Development Committee discussed and heard an update on the Agriculture Infrastructure fund during a work session on Tuesday.

The AIF was put into place to help Navajo livestock producers on the Nation with livestock feed. A total of $4 million was approved to be distributed to the chapters.

So far 74 chapters have received funding and 31 are pending. These pending chapters are working closely with staff to complete necessary documents.

Rudy Shebala, director of the Division of Natural Resources, said there is currently no hay available at Navajo Agricultural Products Industry for the chapters. He recommended that the chapters contact vendors.

“All the hay that we rely on is from NAPI or southern Arizona,” he said.

He suggested to RDC to keep the AFI funding allocated to chapters throughout the summer so the chapters can provide hay to people in the fall.

Leo Watchman, Department of Agriculture director, agreed with Shebala and said funds should be reallocated for the same purpose of providing hay.

“We all know that we are going to be experiencing a drought once again, if not already,” Watchman said.

Delegate Wilson Stewart voiced concern over some permits having two names on them. He also said the legislation itself was part of the reason he wanted the meeting. He wanted to compare the current legislation to Councils’ before.

“The thing I’ve always stated that I’ve had a problem with is (the funding) not being distributed back to the ranchers and the farmers, it’s staying within the Navajo Nation government,” he said.

“To me, personally, I don’t agree with that because, as I stated before,” he said, “there was a time the farmers and ranchers could go to USDA in Gallup and file there, get the funds back from there, to do what they want to do with that as far as their livestock goes and just report back to USDA.”

He said the farmers and ranchers do not see any of the funding and this is the first time that an attempt is being made to give money to local chapters.

“That was the intent of this, to see what would be done at the chapter level,” Stewart said. “To get, not only the ones that are in compliance (with the legislation), but the ones that have failed to be in compliance to get them in compliance of what needs to be done.”

Stewart questioned RDC about what it is doing in order to help grazing officials take care of the land and to have it regenerate itself.

“What kind of funds are we going to use?” he asked RDC. “What kind of local action do these farmers and ranchers want to take with the grazing officials and the chapters to say, ‘This is our funds, this is how we’re going to use it, this is what we want to implement.’”

He would like to see these funds being used by the people who need it and with them making the decisions that they believe are best for them. However, he knows that the current legislation is the first step in that direction.

Pearl Yellowman, director of the Division of Community Development, answered concerns of the funding coming to an end and said there is a technical deadline to use this funding.

She said the Nation has a fiscal year end where the AIF funds may be reverted and she recommended that a deadline be put in place to help her department close it out and in case RDC or the sponsor wants to extend the program.

Right now, RDC is trying to figure out how they will get the rest of this funding out to the chapters.