Ethnobotany of Pohnpei: Plants, People, and Island Culture

Chapter Two. Yams and Their Traditional Cultivation on Pohnpei

chapter two Yams and Their Traditional Cultivation on Pohnpei Of all the subsistence root crops on Pohnpei Island, the yam is by far the most important, although its importance to the prestige economy as a major component of feasts and competitions far outweighs its value as a food crop (Fig. 2.1). For several months of the year, the bulk of agricultural labor on Pohnpei is devoted to cultivation of the yam crop. Cultivation of large yams, sakau (Piper methysticum G. Forst.), and pigs is necessary to attain and hold status as a Pohnpeian man. Knowledge of yam cultivation is highly regarded in Pohnpei society and is surrounded by great secrecy. At least two ethnobotanists previously working on Pohnpei have complained of the difficulty of investigating traditional yam culture (Barrau 1961; Bascom 1965). Through our continued residence on Pohnpei and daily participation in traditional lifestyle and values, involvement with islandwide agricultural research, and indeed through cultivating our own agricultural plots, we have learnedagreatdealabouttraditionalyamculture,asoutlinedin this chapter and in the research report that preceded it. During 1988, a project was carried out in collaboration with the Pohnpei State Division of Agriculture to investigate indigenous agriculture practices. The project was initiated with the dual goals of collecting traditional agricultural knowledge and developing accurate statistics on the current state of agriculture onPohnpei.Researchmethodsincludedgroundsurveysonfiftyfourfarms ,amarketandcropseasonalitysurvey,andinterviews with hundreds of local farmers. The findings of this research in regard to traditional yam production are reported in this chapter , along with an update on the status of and recent important developmentsinyamcultivationontheislandduringthenearly two decades since the original research was undertaken. Bill Raynor Adelino Lorens Jackson Phillip yams and their traditional cultivation 41 Species and Cultivars Because of the nature of this survey—cultural restrictions under which the researchers had to work (e.g., limited access to farms, the secretive nature of yam cultivation) and inherent characteristics of yam physiology (monoecious, single vine/tuber) that make botanical collection very destructive—botanical specimenswerenotcollected .Rather,yamsweretentativelyidentifiedinthefieldusing a reliable field guide (Wilson 1988). The Pohnpei State Division of Agricultural Development has periodically collected locally recognized Pohnpei cultivars of Dioscorea species identified in the survey and currently maintains a collection of about twenty cultivars at the Chinese Agricultural Demonstration Farm in Pohnlangas,Madolenihmw.Inaddition,inresponsetoseriousdiseaseproblems beginning in 2001, the division sent out twenty-three cultivars of yam in 2004 for safekeeping at the Secretariat of the Pacific Community’s Regional Tissue Culture Laboratory located in Suva, Fiji. These cultivars will be maintained ex situ in tissue culture for eventual reintroduction to Pohnpei at some later date. Seven species of the genus Dioscorea have been reported previously on Pohnpei : D. alata L. (Barrau 1961; Fosberg et al. 1987; Glassman 1952; Sasuke 1953), D. esculenta (Lour.) Burk. (Barrau 1961; Fosberg et al. 1987; Glassman 1952; Sasuke 1953), D. nummularia Lam. (Barrau 1961; Fosberg et al. 1987); D. bulbifera L. (Barrau 1961; Fosberg et al. 1987; Glassman 1952; Sasuke 1953), D. hispida Dennst. (Barrau 1961; Fosberg et al. 1987), D. pentaphylla L. (Fosberg et al. 1987), and D. flabellifolia Prain and Burk. (Sasuke 1953). Of these species, the first five were tentatively identified in the course of this project, while D. flabellifolia and D. pentaphylla were not found to be on Pohnpei at present. However, based on Sasuke’s (1953) description and reported local name, the authors believethereportofD .flabellifoliaisprobablyreferringtoD.nummularia.Dioscorea alatawasfoundtobebyfarthemostimportantcultivatedspecies,followedbyD. nummulariaandD.esculenta.Onecultivar,KehpenDolenPohnpei,believedtobe of the species D. alata, was the most widely grown, comprising 18 percent of all yamsencounteredinour1988farmsurvey.Thiscultivarisextremelysusceptible toyamdiebackoranthracnose,andsince2001itscultivationhasdeclinedtothe point where it is now only rarely encountered on farms and in the local market. Another group previously identified as D. nummularia (Fosberg et al. 1987), collectively known as kehpeneir (southern yams), grows semiwild, free of cultural restrictionsontimeofharvestandconsumption,andisregularlyeatenoutsideof themainyamseason.Onecultivarof D.hispidaisknown,andD. bulbifera,while reported to be an emergency food in precontact times, is now a secondary weed on many farms and is used in traditional medicine (see chapter 8). Two major categories of yams are recognized by Pohnpeians: kehp pwetepwet (white yams) and kehp toantoal (black yams). The black and white yam types do not seem to correlate with species or physical characteristics but rather with Figure 2.1. Large yam displayed at a feast. [MB] yams and their traditional cultivation 43 length of time to maturity. The “white yams” mature from September to February , after approximately five to eight months. They are generally trellised on small trees killed by ring-barking or...