disasters and agriculture in the pacific islands - Pacific Disaster Net

of drought; and as a short-term crop it enables arapid recovery of food supplies. Cassava wasintroduced around the middle of the nineteenthcentury. Where it became a supplementarycrop, it contributed positively to food security.It can be planted any time of the year and somevarieties can be stored in the ground for up totwo years, providing total insurance againstnatural disasters. As cassava had no value incustom, it was less likely to be depleted intraditional feasting 105 . The traditional fallowperiod after two years of yam and taro wasseven to ten years, with kava and bananasremaining in the garden another five years orso. In Vanuatu, as elsewhere in the SouthPacific, the introduction of cassava has tendedto reduce fallow periods, but this has beengenerally less pronounced in Vanuatu than inFiji.On some islands, such as Pentecost andAmbae, the cropping of steep slopes wasnecessary, which required terracing and othersoil conservation methods, as described onPentecost in Cook's Journal:The shores of Whitsuntide Island are bold, withoutInlets ... the Land high and Mountainous; butexhibits the most beautiful prospect I have everseen, being cultivated up to the very summit, anddivided into rectangular Fields by Fences whichappear like Hedges from ye Ship ... 106Such terracing is less evident today butWeightman concluded, "There is little evidence,except on Aneityum, that man's activities havecontributed to soil erosion and degradation,despite the significant areas of steep landcultivated 107 . This is because of the generallydiscontinuous nature of cultivation, the smallpopulation relative to arable land, the small sizeof gardens, and the minimum tillage practicesadopted.Supplementing the food security of the multicropfood garden were strategic plantingtimetables for crops that minimised the risk ofdisasters. Except for yams, there is no specificplanting season in Vanuatu, other than that allcrops require adequate rainfall at the time ofplanting. For yams, a variety of early and lattermaturing cultivars are usually planted to reducerisk by prolonging the harvesting period. BatonBisewei, Disaster Co-ordinator of the umbrellaNGO organisation (VANGO), held a series orworkshops on traditional disaster mitigation in105 Weightman, 1989:42.106Reported in Weightman 1989: 49.107Weigthman, 1989:52.which village participants presented plantingtables from their localities. An example fromthe island of Epi is shown in Table 24 below.There is much to learn from these traditionaltimetables in determining strategic schedulesfor cash crops. For example, papaya grown forexport markets should be planted in October toNovember, just before the cyclone season.Then, if the crop is hit by a cyclone the treeswill be small, enabling most to survive even asevere cyclone unless they are washed awayand this too can be avoided by good siteselection. Some cash crops are, however,intentionally planted at times when the risk ofdisaster is greatest in order to maximise marketreturn, such as off-season vegetables sequentialharvesting techniques also enhance foodsecurity, such as the partial harvesting of yamsand kumala, where mature tubers are harvestedfirst and immature ones later 108 . Some crops arealso suited to storing in the field until they arerequired.Traditional food preservation and storageFood reservation was central to traditionaldisaster mitigation in Vanuatu. In some areas itstill is relatively important, much more so thanin Fiji or109 Moengangongo reports that the method of partialharvesting of sweet potatoes known as mutumutu iscommon practice in Papua New Guinea.Table 24: Epi planting timetable to maximisefood security.Crop Planting time Harvest timeCassava anytime 6 monthsKumala March June-JulyYam June-July March-April-MayBanana full moon 1 yearTaro end dry NovPeanut anytime 3 monthsWatermelon June-July Nov-DecPumpkin anytime 1 yearPineapple December 1 yearCorn anytime 3 monthsIsland cabbage Oct-Nov 3 to 4 monthsChinese cabbage Oct-March 3 monthsBreadfruit March-Oct 3-4 yearsKava wet season 3-5 yearsSource: Pers. comm.: Baton Bisewei