Farm Accountants

Taro is usually grown in pondfields known as loʻi in Hawaiian. The picture below shows several small loʻi in Maunawili Valley on Oahu. The ditch on the left in the picture is called an ʻauwai and supplies diverted stream water to the loʻi. Cool, flowing water yields the best crop.

Typical dryland or upland varieties (varieties grown in watered but not flooded fields) in Hawaii are lehua maoli and bun long, the latter widely known as Chinese taro. Bun long is used for making taro chips. Dasheen (also called “eddo”) is another “dryland” variety of C. esculenta grown for its edible corms or sometimes just as an ornamental plant.

The Hawaii Agricultural Statistics Service puts the 10-year median production of taro in the Hawaiian Islands at about 6.1 million pounds (2,800 t; Viotti, 2004). However, 2003 taro production in Hawaii was only 5 million pounds (2,300 t), an all-time low (record keeping started in 1946). The previous low, reached in 1997, was 5.5 million pounds (2,500 t). Yet, despite generally growing demand, production was even lower in 2005: only 4 million pounds, with kalo for processing into poi accounting for 97.5%. Urbanization has driven down harvests from a high of 14.1 million pounds (6,400 t) in 1948. But more recently the decline has resulted from pests and diseases. A non-native apple snail (Pomacea canaliculata) is a major culprit in the current crop declines. Also, a plant rot disease, traced to a newly identified species of the fungal genus, Phytophthora, now plagues crops throughout the state. Although pesticides could control both pests to some extent, pesticide use in the pondfields is barred because of the clear opportunity for chemicals to quickly migrate into streams and then into the ocean.

In early April 2008, the Hawaiian House Agriculture Committee voted 9-3 to send a bill to the full house that would put a 5 year moratorium on genetic modification of taro in Hawaii. This moratorium would only apply to Hawaiian varieties of taro, thereby allowing genetic alteration of non-native species. This would include possible alteration to Chinese varieties, which are currently being grown in Hawaii, giving rise to an opportunity for cross-pollination.

For more videos like this, visit http://www.hawaiiangrowntv.com

Duration : 0:7:14

Technorati Tags: cafe, Catering, clifford, Cuisine, farm, food, Grant, Grown, Hawaii, hawaii's, Hawaiian, Ikaika, Kawasaki, Kimura, Kitchen, laulau, leaf, leaves, luau, OC16, people's, plantation, squid, taro, Television, Thomas, TV, Ventura, village, won, wont's