The refurbishing of a shuttered fruit fly disinfestation plant on Kaua'i could give a major boost to the island's ailing papaya industry, allowing growers to resume exports after a six-year hiatus.

Construction is scheduled to begin this fall on the former Koloa Packing Co. plant near Lihu'e Airport, and take six months to complete. The facility could begin processing papayas by early next summer, according the Kaua'i Office of Economic Development.

The state Agribusiness Development Corp. provided $100,000 to renovate the plant, which closed in 2000 after its operator ran into financial trouble. The plant will receive an additional $250,000 in state funding to purchase equipment and train workers for the plant, which also will pack papayas for export.

"We have the chance to expand the variety and increase the volume of Hawai'i-grown papaya available to the global market," said Wayne Katayama, a board member of the ADC and the Kaua'i Farm Bureau Development Corp. "There is an untapped demand out there that Kaua'i can fulfill and certainly the state as a whole will benefit from this."

Kaua'i, which has seen its papaya production steadily decline to 540,000 pounds in 2004, could see its production more than quadruple once the plant is fully operational in two years, according to estimates from the Kaua'i Office of Economic Development.

Two major export markets for Hawai'i-grown papayas — the Mainland and Japan — require the fruit be treated to kill fruit flies and their larvae.

The plant, which will be managed by the Farm Bureau, will use a chemical-free, forced hot-air technique to kill the pests. The facility also could be used to treat other fruit. It would be the sixth facility in the state to treat fruit for fruit flies. The Big Island has three plants that treat fruit using vapor heat and one that uses an irradiation system, according to a spokesman for the state Department of Agriculture. Moloka'i has one plant that uses a dry heat system similar to what will be used on Kaua'i.

One of the biggest challenges for Kaua'i's papaya industry will be recruiting farmers to take up the business, said Roy Oyama, president of the Farm Bureau. Oyama encouraged anyone interested in becoming a papaya farmer to call him at 332-9426, or Kaua'i County Agricultural Specialist Bill Spitz at 214-6396.

The Farm Bureau last week received a commitment from Grove Farm to provide land for papaya production, Oyama said.

One advantage that should help Kaua'i-grown papayas stand out in export markets is the fact that they aren't genetically modified, Spitz said. That should give Kaua'i papayas an edge in places like Japan, where consumers tend to avoid genetically modified goods.

Many of the papayas grown on the Big Island and O'ahu have been genetically modified to make the plants resistant to the ring spot virus. The virus is not a problem on Kaua'i.

Reach Alan Yonan Jr. at ayonan@honoluluadvertiser.com.