State lawmakers are considering a slew of incentives to help preserve Hawai'i's quickly disappearing agricultural land and to keep the farm industry viable.

The package includes tax credits, a loan guarantee and a provision allowing on-site housing for farm employees.

"Our hope is this package will be enough to ensure land can stay in agriculture and farmers will be able to sustain their businesses," said Sen. Jill Tokuda, chairwoman of the Committee on Agriculture and Hawaiian Affairs.

The benefits would go to properties designated "important agricultural lands." The designation, which landowners can apply for, prevents residential development on the land. It also makes redesignating the land for nonagricultural use extremely difficult.

Tokuda, D-24th (Kane'ohe, Kailua), said Thursday the provision allowing on-site housing for employees will help farms attract workers who might not be able to afford housing in the community.

Lawmakers also are considering a proposal that would allow landowners whose properties have been designated important agricultural lands to meet affordable-housing requirements in rural rather than urban areas, where costs would be higher. They also are deciding whether to purchase and preserve hundreds of acres of agricultural land on O'ahu owned by the George Galbraith Estate.

A separate proposal would pay local dairy farmers the highest rate for their milk and create a strategic plan for the industry.

It comes in the wake of declining milk production in the Islands. As recently as 1988, Hawai'i produced all the milk it needed for local consumption. Today, the Islands' two remaining dairies meet only 30 percent of consumer demand.

"Those kinds of statistics and facts really cause alarm," said Sen. Russell Kokubun, chairman of the Hawaii 2050 Sustainability Task Force.

Kokubun, D-2nd (S. Hilo, Puna, Ka'u), said Hawai'i needs to do a better job of reducing its dependence on imported food.

Overall, Hawai'i has lost roughly 50,000 acres of farmland since 1978, when a state constitutional amendment required the identification of prime agricultural lands for protection.

The state currently has about 1.3 million acres of farmland that generate about $550 million each year.