Agriculture in Tuvalu explained

Agriculture in Tuvalu is based on coconut and swamp taro (Cyrtosperma merkusii), (known in Tuvalu as Pulaka),[1] [2] [3] which is similar to taro (Colocasia esculenta) but "with bigger leaves and larger, coarser roots"; taro is also cultivated in Tuvalu.[4] [5]

The soils of the islands of Tuvalu are usually shallow, porous, alkaline, coarse-textured, with carbonate mineralogy and high pH values of up to 8.2 to 8.9.[6] The soils are usually deficient in most of the important nutrients needed for plant growth(e.g., nitrogen, potassium and micronutrients such as iron, manganese, copper and zinc), so garden beds need to be enhanced with mulch and fertiliser to increase their fertility.[6]

Crops

The staple food of Tuvalu is coconut, pulaka and taro. Bananas, papaya and breadfruit are supplemental crops.[7] The dried flesh of the coconut (copra) is the main agricultural export of Tuvalu, with other agricultural products consumed locally. Because of the young geological age of the reef islands and atolls and high level of soil salination the soil is relatively poor. Wealth and status in traditional Tuvaluan culture was determined by possession of pulaka and taro pits (pela)[8] and coconut trees.

Traditional use of broadleaf forest

Charles Hedley (1896) identified the uses of plants and trees that were harvested from the native broadleaf forest as including:[9]

While some use is made of traditional flora, modern Tuvalu imports building materials and other products to replace the things traditionally harvested from the native broadleaf forest.

Coconut

The cuisine of Tuvalu, is based on the staple of coconut which is used in different forms with coconut water, coconut milk and the flesh of the coconut being used to flavour dishes. Various desserts made on the islands include coconut and coconut milk, instead of the animal milk.[10] Apart from its food value coconut palm leaves and wood have traditional uses as building materials.[7]

From the mid 19th century traders in Tuvalu were active in the acquisition of copra and coconut oil, which were mainly used to manufactured into other products.[11] [12] In 1892 Captain Davis of, reported on trading activities and traders on each of the islands visited:[13]

IslandProductionAnnual export of copra
NukulaelaeCopra, taro, popoi, a few bananas, a little sugar cane About 10 tons copra
FunafutiCopra, taro, pulaka (swamp taro), Bananas, sugar cane, bread fruitAbout 25 to 30 tons of copra
Copra, taro, pulaka, pandanus, a little sugar cane, a few bananasAbout twenty tons copra
Copra, taro, pulaka, pandanus, a few bananas, a very little sugar cane and bread fruit.About 100 tons of copra - in a good year
Copra, taro, pulaka, pandanusAbout 50 tons copra - in a good year
NanumagaCopra, taro, pandanus15 to 20 tons copra - in a good year
Copra, pandanus, taro30 to 40 tons copra
Copra, taro, pulaka, pandanusAbout 50 tons copra
In modern times there is lower demand for copra and coconut oil as other commodities can be substituted for what were the earlier uses of these products.

Pulaka

Grown in large pits (pela)[6] of composted soil below the water table,[14] pulaka is the main source for carbohydrates. Pulaka makes up the bulk of the islanders' traditional diet; it is usually supplemented by fish.[15] Since the unprocessed corms are toxic, they must always be cooked, usually in an earth oven. The pulaka pits are at risk from increasing sea levels, which increase saltwater levels subsoil in the atolls and islands of Tuvalu. On Fongafale islet of Funafuti a survey of the pits that have previously been used to grow pulaka established that the pits were either too saline or very marginal for swamp taro production, although a more salt tolerant species of taro (Colocasia esculenta) was being grown in Fongafale.[16]

Donald Gilbert Kennedy, the resident District Officer in the administration of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony from 1932 to 1938, described the Pulaka pits as usually being shared between different families, with their total area providing an average of about 40 square yards (36.576 square metres) per head of population, although the area of pits varied from island to island depending on the extent of the freshwater lens that is located under each island.[17] Kennedy also describe the land ownership as having evolved from the pre-European contact system known as Kaitasi (lit. “eat-as-one”), in which the land held by family groups under the control of the senior male member of the clan – a system of land based on kinship-based bonds, which changed over time to become a land ownership system where the land was held by individual owners - known as Vaevae (“to divide”).[17] Under the Vaevae system, a pit may contain numerous small individual holdings with boundaries marked by small stones or with each holding divided by imaginary lines between trees on the edge of the pits. The custom of inheritance of land, and the resolution of disputes over the boundaries of holdings, land ownership and inheritance was traditionally determined by the elders of each island.[17] [18]

Agricultural pests

The agricultural pests that are a threat to the agriculture of Tuvalu are:

Invasive plants

Wedelia or trailing daisy (Sphagneticola trilobata), a plant native to the Caribbean, has become endemic in Tuvalu. It is competing with low-growing herbaceous species along beaches and roadsides, where it inhibits the growth of seedlings of medicinal plants and other native species of cultural importance.[19] [20] Thaman (2016) described about 362 species or distinct varieties of vascular plants that have been recorded at some time on Tuvalu, of which only about 59 (16%) are possibly indigenous.[21]

Changes in diet

Besides rising saltwater levels, "changing lifestyles and eating habits" also threaten the cultivation of the crop,[3] a process that began during and after World War II, when American occupying troops supplied the islands with imported foods and many pulaka pits are no longer maintained.[22] Imported foods are often high in sugar, leading also to an increase in the need for dental care. The Tuvaluans benefited from the canned food supplied by the American forces, although the change in diet continued after the war, which resulted in long term impacts on health.[23] Tuvaluans adopted a diet that includes high levels of corned beef, rice and sugar. This food is consumed even when fish and traditional vegetables are available. This diet is believed to contribute to increasing levels of diabetes, hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases among Tuvaluans.[24]

On Funafuti, the Fatoaga Fiafia Garden grows vegetables, including cucumbers, beans, pumpkins and Chinese cabbages, and tests salt-tolerant crops, such as a hybrid pawpaw.[25]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Koch, Gerd . Gerd Koch . The material culture of Tuvalu . . 1990 . 46 . 12 May 2010.
  2. FCG ANZDEC Ltd . Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project: Environmental and Social Impact Assessment - Nanumaga and Nanumea . 7 August 2020 . The Pacific Community . 64. 6 February 2021.
  3. Web site: Tuvalu could lose root crop . . 17 September 2008 . 17 November 2020.
  4. Web site: Leaflet No. 1 - Revised 1992 - Taro . . 1992 . 10 May 2010 . 28 August 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090828014127/http://www.fao.org/Wairdocs/X5425E/x5425e01.htm . dead .
  5. Web site: Randy Thaman . Feagaiga Penivao . Faoliu Teakau . Semese Alefaio . Lamese Saamu . Moe Saitala . Mataio Tekinene . Mile Fonua . Rapid Biodiversity Assessment of the Conservation Status of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (BES) In Tuvalu . Report on the 2016 Funafuti Community-Based Ridge-To-Reef (R2R) . 2017 . 25 May 2019.
  6. Web site: Tuvalu Fifth National Report to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Government of Tuvalu. 2016. 11 November 2023.
  7. Hedley . Charles . General account of the Atoll of Funafuti . 1896 . Australian Museum Memoir . 3 . 2 . 60–63.
  8. Web site: Tuvalu Fifth National Report to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Government of Tuvalu. 2016. 11 November 2023.
  9. Hedley (1896), p. 40–41.
  10. Book: Peter Bennetts and Tony Wheeler . Time & Tide: The Islands of Tuvalu . 2001 . 978-1-86450-342-5 . Lonely Planet .
  11. Web site: Tuvaluislands.com . A Brief History of Tuvalu: Christianity and European Traders . 2010 . 15 September 2013.
  12. Doug Munro, The Lives and Times of Resident Traders In Tuvalu: An Exercise in History from Below, (1987) 10(2) Pacific Studies 73
  13. Web site: Jane . Resture . Tuvalu History - 'The Davis Diaries' (H.M.S. Royalist, 1892 visit to Ellice Islands under Captain Davis) . 2010 . 20 September 2011.
  14. Koch (1990), p. 46.
  15. Koch (1990), p. 73–85
  16. Web site: Webb . Dr Arthur . Tuvalu Technical Report: Assessment of Salinity of Groundwater in Swamp Taro (Cyrtosperma Chamissonis) Pulaka Pits in Tuvalu . Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission, EU EDF8-SOPAC Project Report 75: Reducing Vulnerability of Pacific ACP States . March 2007 . 5 May 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131017022541/http://ict.sopac.org/VirLib/ER0075.pdf . 17 October 2013 . dead .
  17. Kennedy. Donald Gilbert . Land tenure in the Ellice Islands . 1953. 62. 4 . Journal of the Polynesian Society. 348–358 .
  18. Web site: XXV(5) Pacific Islands Monthly . Conflict of Old And New In Ellice Islands . 1 December 1954. 2 October 2021.
  19. FCG ANZDEC Ltd . Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project: Environmental and Social Impact Assessment - Nanumaga and Nanumea . 7 August 2020 . The Pacific Community . 76. 13 February 2021.
  20. FCG ANZDEC Ltd . Tuvalu Coastal Adaptation Project: Environmental and Social Impact Assessment - Funafuti . 7 October 2020 . The Pacific Community . 57. 6 February 2021.
  21. Thaman, Randolph. October 2016 . The Flora of Tuvalu: Lakau Mo Mouku o Tuvalu. Atoll Research Bulletin . 611 . xii-129 . 10.5479/si.0077-5630.611. 89181901 . free .
  22. Web site: Telavi . Melei . Tuvalu - A History . Institute of Pacific Studies and Extension Services, University of the South Pacific/Tuvalu Ministry of Social Services . 1983 . 10 May 2010.
  23. Web site: Resture . Setapu Asenati . Te Maama Pala: Continuity and change in coping with Tuberculosis in Tuvalu: A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Masters of Arts in History . University of Auckland . March 2010 . 16 March 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131005121343/http://www.arts.auckland.ac.nz/webdav/site/arts/shared/Departments/anthropology/documents-publications/Resture%202010.pdf . 5 October 2013 . dead.
  24. Web site: Panapa . Tufoua . Ethnographic Research on Meanings and Practices of Health in Tuvalu: A Community Report . Report to the Tuvaluan Ministries of Health and Education: Ph D Candidate Centre for Development Studies - “Transnational Pacific Health through the Lens of Tuberculosis” Research Group. Department of Anthropology, The University of Auckland, N.Z. . 2012 . 16 March 2013 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20131003154454/http://www.arts.auckland.ac.nz/webdav/site/arts/shared/Departments/anthropology/documents-publications/Tufoua%20Ethnographic%20Research%20on%20Meanings%20and%20Practices%20of%20Health%20in%20Tuvalu%20final.pdf . 3 October 2013 .
  25. Web site: Alan . Taylor . A Visit to Tuvalu, Surrounded by the Rising Pacific . The Atlantic . 15 August 2018 . 12 April 2019.

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