Keeping Hawaiian kalo healthy

Ania Wieczorek has an op-ed piece in the Star-Bulletin about the role of the University of Hawaii scientists in helping against the invasive pests and diseases that attack kalo. She talks about "traditional plant breeding to develop resistant varieties" as well as genetic engineering or "introduction of disease-resistant genes" into kalo.

Very important to differentiate between these two.

Hawaiians developed hundreds of varieties through selective cross-breeding, and my personal opinion from talking and working with kalo farmers is that in principle it is okay for scientists to work with kalo farmers to help develop new varieties that serve the farmers' needs. (And breeding kalo must be done manually, so there's no chance that varieties will somehow escape and contaminate the traditional varieties.) But Wieczorek doesn't even mention the patenting issue, which is key. UH or its scientists should be working in service to the kalo farmers, not patenting new varieties (bred from varieties obtained from farmers in the first place) and then restricting how farmers can use them or charging fees or royalties.

The headline of the piece is "Engineering helps keep Hawaiian taro healthy."

But I would like to emphasize again:

A plentiful flow of fresh, cold water keeps Hawaiian kalo healthy!

And healthy, living, organic soil keeps kalo healthy!

Wai anu a me lepo momona!

The one disease Wieczorek mentions is pocket rot, which is a big problem some places, but at our Kapahu Living Farm in Kipahulu we hardly have any problem with pocket rot. I think two factors contribute to this.

First, we have plenty of fresh, cold water. Traditionally the lo'i there, which are ancient restored lo'i, were just fed by spring water. But the forest watershed mauka of the farm has changed from native forest with a complex understory that served as a giant sponge to hold and release water slowly, to mostly invasive bamboo mono-canopy that prevents anything from growing underneath so the water just runs off. So while we do still have some (very cold) spring water flowing into the farm, it isn't enough to sustain the farm by itself. So now we have to pipe in water from nearby 'Ohe'o stream. But we have plenty of it (most of the year anyway) as 'Ohe'o isn't diverted, and it is nice and cool. (John Lind also has a technique of channeling water around the edges of the lo'i to keep it flowing and prevent congestion, which he says is crucial to keeping the lo'i cool and keeping the plants strong, and I'm not sure whether other farmers use this same technique or not.)

The second factor is that we farm organically, and are one of the few farms that do. We do fertilize, but only with things like kukui rubbish, seaweed and sand, plus some organic fertilizers like gypsum and rock phosphate. The key to any strong plant is strong soil, healthy living soil.

The farmers in Ke'anae, on the other hand, do have a problem with pocket rot, and I think it is attributable to these two factors. Their stream flow is severely limited by the water taken out in ditches by EMI, so they have insufficient flow of fresh cold water. They have been in an extended lawsuit with EMI to try to get stream flow restored. And chemical fertilizers have been used there for a long time, which I believe destroys the soil and the weakens the plants over the long run so they become more vulnerable to disease.

So while science may have a role in keeping Hawaiian kalo healthy through developing new varieties, we need to first place greater emphasis on ensuring sufficient stream flow, and returning to traditional organic production. And genetic engineering? Never.

I am a novice at farming kalo and I don't know the situations on a lot of other farms throughout the islands, so anyone who knows more is free to tell me that I don't know what I'm talking about, but from my limited experience and my conversations with farmers, that's my take on the situation.

Posted: Sun - January 22, 2006 at 09:12 AM

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Keeping Hawaiian kalo healthy

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