Sweet things grown for eating

 By JAMES LARAKI

MOST crops grown in Papua New Guinea originate from many parts of the globe.

They  were brought to our shores by various means. 

One such crop is sweet potato. 

Sweet potato, commonly known as ‘Kaukau’, is by far the most important staple food in Papua New Guinea, particularly in the highlands. 

It dominates agriculture production in the region and is the main staple food for humans as well as livestock, especially pigs.

Recent studies indicate that sweet potato was already an established crop when Europeans first reached the central highlands in the early 1900s. 

Sweet potato originates from tropical America. 

Two aspects are not certain – the nature of its introduction to our shores and the timing of its adoption. 

Many studies on sweet potato’s arrival have not been conclusive. Such information is necessary for us to understand how its great diversity has developed here. 

According to archaeological studies, sweet potato could have been introduced by Polynesian sailors from coastal South America to eastern Polynesia. 

Other studies assume it could have reached Hawaii, New Zealand and Easter Islands. 

It is also likely that the Portuguese explorers could have transferred West Indies cultivars to Africa, India and their colonies in the Moluccas in Eastern Indonesia. 

There are also indications that the Spanish could have spread sweet potato from Mexico to the Philippines soon after the Spanish conquest of the islands.

By whatever route sweet potato took to reach here, PNG is now considered an important centre of diversity for this important staple food. 

PNG is now ranked among the most important centres for sweet potato. 

It has up to 5000 cultivars grown here with the dense human population in the highlands region heavily dependent on it. 

This is an advantage that we must value. 

It is an important staple to about 40% of the seven million people. 

We should ensure this diversity id conserved and utilised.

This is especially so with evidence that genetic resources existing on-farm and in the wild are also depleting rapidly.

Environmental destruction through logging and mining activities, trade-related policies, and natural disasters such as floods, landslides, earthquakes, droughts, fires and cyclones are some of the causes for this depletion. 

Climate change is another potential cause of genetic erosion. It poses further threats to the survival of PNG’s genetic resources.

The challenge of producing sufficient food is a great concern for the country. 

PNG and many Pacific Island neighbours have been identified by Food and Agricultural Organisation as having poor food security status. 

This is indicated by low food production and productivity, increased volumes of imported food, a decline in purchasing power and indicators showing poor health and nutrition.

This is so despite the fact that we have a rich diversity of plant genetic resources which we could utilise to meet our needs.

Apart from sweet potato, PNG is also home to many exotic and under-utilised fruit and nut species such as ton, galip nut and traditional vegetables such as pitpit, aibika, and tulip. 

NARI has taken up the challenge of exploring the potential of this diversity through its crop improvement project. 

The project is trying  to address the issues of low yield, poor quality and declining productivity of subsistence food crops.

Improvements to a number of important crops such as sweet potato and aibika are being worked on to improve harvests, food quality and nutrition.

The crop improvement project is working to evaluate and select indigenous varieties and introduce improved genetic material through other sources.

Breeding will also been done to further develop some these material. 

Over the years, the genetic diversity of the major staple food crops (sweet potato, taro, banana, yam, cassava and aibika, fruit and nut species and traditional vegetables) has been collected from farmers’ fields.

These have been individually characterised and evaluated for their qualities and conserved in fields on research stations around the country.

Through the evaluation process, superior farmer cultivars are selected, multiplied and distributed to farmers throughout the country for production.

NARI will continue to look after the rich genetic diversity of food crop species in PNG. 

It will continue to work on improving crop production and productivity through the use superior genetic materials. 

The availability of biotechnology facilities locally will greatly assist in this process. 

We also hope our efforts to have appropriate policies in place to protect our genetic diversity will become a reality.

The conservation and safe-keeping of the genetic diversity of food crops such as sweet potato is important for food security.

The country needs to conserve this diversity or the future of our food security could be at stake. – NARI

And future generations of PNGeans may not have the opportunity see and use the rich diversity that the country currently has. – NARI