Commercialization

Taros are sold whole and unprocessed in the Pacific. In Fiji, where the petioles are left attached to the corm, Colocasia taros are sold by the bundle of three or four tied together. In Tonga and Western Samoa, Colocasia taros are sold by the corm alone, but again in groups of four or more for a given price. The stems of. Alocasia taros are sold by the piece, while the cormlets of Xanthosoma taro are sold by the basket, as are sweet potatoes and other root crops.

More of the crop is sold through middlemen in Fiji and Samoa, although producers themselves use family members as agents.7 Cyrtosperma taro is seldom sold in these larger markets, except in Tarawa, Kiribati, and Kolonia, Yap.

None of these root crops is very durable, so those marketing taro aim for quick sales. Damaged taros will deteriorate rapidly, hence great care is taken in both the harvesting process for market and in removing the tops in Tonga and Samoa to inflict as little damage to the corm as possible.

As early as 1880, Papeete in the Society Islands became a center for the redistribution of local produce (Pollock 1988). From such small waterside markets have grown the large market centers found around the tropical world today (some covering several acres). In each Pacific Island (and Caribbean Island) there is at least one such market in the urban center, and in larger islands, such as Fiji and Papua New Guinea, there are several markets in the various urban centers. These markets have grown in size and diversity over the last 20 years, as urban populations have increased. Only small amounts of taro are sold through supermarkets (Pollock 1988).

Out-migration of populations from the Pacific Islands (and the Caribbean) to metropolitan centers, such as Auckland, Wellington, Sydney, Honolulu, and Los. Angeles, has also stimulated the overseas sale of taros, mainly Colocasia. The Tongan, Samoan, and Cook Islands populations are becoming sizable in those centers where demand for taro, mainly for celebratory occasions, has increased. Taro is available in urban markets, such as Otara in Auckland, and in vegetable shops, especially those where Polynesian communities are located. Prices are high, but families will make sacrifices to present some taro when needed to maintain family honor.

Before these outlets provided a steady supply, the various communities made private arrangements to import boxes of taro from their home islands. As a wider supply has become available and the communities have grown, each community has focused its demand on taro from its own island of origin, claiming that it tastes better. Samoans will track down stores that sell Samoan taro, whereas Tongans and

Rarotongans go in search of taros from their home islands. Island people themselves are acting more and more as the agents and middlemen, with the whole process promoting the production of taro varieties that will endure sea transport.

Taros are also imported in cooked form to New Zealand by returning residents. In Samoa or Niue, puddings are packed either in a chest freezer or a cardboard box and carried as part of the passenger’s personal luggage. In New Zealand and Australia the families of the passenger then share in this produce “from home.” Such is their social value that several hundred dollars may be spent in overweight luggage in order to transport local foods in this manner.

Another form of commercialization promoted by food and nutrition committees in various Pacific Islands is the use of taro (mainly Colocasia, both corm and leaves) along with other local foods, by hotels, to give tourists a new taste experience. Hawaii has long provided luau feasts for its visitors, which included a small portion of poi and pork, salmon, and coconut pudding. Now Fiji runs competitions in which chefs from leading hotels create recipes that make use of local foods, including taro. This practice, in turn, is leading to increased cooperation with the agriculture authorities to assist producers in regularizing production to supply the hotels.

In Hawaii, where processed taro has been marketed as poi for some 75 years, sales to Hawaiians and to the tourist hotels are supplemented by demand for poi in the mainland United States to help individuals suffering from allergies and digestive problems. As a consequence of this activity, Hawaii is the one place in the Pacific where taro plantations have become heavily commercialized and are run by companies rather than by family units.

Taro chips are now being manufactured in various centers around the Pacific. Local companies are selling their product, promoted by food and nutrition committees, in Fiji and Samoa with reasonable success. In Hawaii, entrepreneurial companies, such as Granny Goose Foods, are marketing taro chips alongside the traditional potato chips, thereby drawing taro into the lucrative snack industry.

In other parts of the tropical world, Colocasia taro may be processed into flour or flakes for commercial purposes. A product Arvi has been developed by the Central Food Technological Research Institute in Mysore, India, that consists of flour made from Colocasia taro. The corms are washed, peeled, and cut into slices, which are kept immersed in water overnight, then washed again and immersed for another three hours. The slices are blanched in boiling water for five minutes, then sun-dried before being ground into flour. A similar process has been used to make taro flour in Nigeria. The flour can be mixed with wheat flour for baking.

A process for making instant taro flakes has been tried in Taiwan and in Nigeria whereby smoke-dried slices are stored away for later eating. Freezing taro has not been very successful, though a local variety was processed for freezing in Shanghai (Moy and Nip 1983).Taro leaves mixed with coconut cream, known in Samoa as palusami, have been canned with reasonable success, but the corm does not can well.

Nutritional Value

The nutritional value of taro has changed over the many years since it was first domesticated. Its users have selected plants that were less toxic, produced larger, less fibrous corms, and better suited their tastes. Such a selection process was facilitated by vegetative propagation, and many different cultivars were developed over time. However, a large proportion of these cultivars have been lost due to lack of interest in root crops by cereal-based colonial powers. Today the FAO and the South Pacific Commission are trying to preserve as many different cultivars in the Pacific as possible so as to increase the diversity of available food crops. Colocasia taro has many more different cultivars than the other three types of taro, indicating its preferred status and its longtime use as a food. The cultivars have different nutritional attributes.

The taro corms of the four different types vary slightly in their composition (see Table II. B.6.1 for details of composition of the four types of taro). All the corms consist mainly of starch and moisture and are high in fiber. They yield between 70 and 133 calories (or 255 and 560 kilojoules) per 100-gram portion, with. Alocasia having the lowest range and Xantho-soma taro the highest. The amount of protein varies considerably from 1.12 percent to 2.7 percent depending on the type of taro, its geographical source, and the variety. The corms are also a good source of minerals, particularly calcium, for which Cyrtosperma taro is particularly notable (Standal 1982; Bradbury and Holloway 1988).

Taro leaves consist mainly of moisture and fiber. They are high in protein with a generally higher overall mineral content than the corms. It is only the young leaves of Colocasia taro that are eaten as a rule, although no difference in chemical composition has been found between leaves viewed as edible and those viewed as inedible (Bradbury and Holloway 1988).The use of the leaves as a wrapping in preparations, such as Samoan palusami, adds value to the diet on those special occasions when such a dish is served. Food and nutrition committees are trying to encourage the greater use of leaves, but they are not part of the traditional diet.

The fermented form of taro paste developed long ago by Hawaiians has been found to be a highly digestible product suitable for babies, adults with digestive problems, and those with allergies to cere-als. The starch granules are small enough to pass readily into the digestive system. This attribute has led to the commercialization of poi (Standal 1983).

Table II. B.6.1. Nutritional value of the four types of taros

Clearly, taro has considerable merits as a food. It is readily cooked in an earth oven with minimal equipment, or it can be boiled or baked on a stove. It provides a high-bulk foodstuff rich in fiber, with acceptable amounts of vegetable protein and calcium. There is enough variety of cultivars to yield different tasting corms (if taste is an important consideration). But these merits have not been recognized widely enough, an issue the FAO Root Crops Program in the South Pacific is attempting to rectify through agricultural development (Sivan 1984; Jackson and Breen 1985). Simultaneously, food and nutrition committees, through their promotion of local foods, are endeavoring to counter the colonial legacy that bread is best.