Ethnoecology, Resource Use, Conservation And Development In A ...

other cassava drinks and those made from other sources appear to be considered
acceptable substitutes. Other root crops, along with pumpkin, plantain, green banana
and papaya, are commonly consumed as porridge or a supplement to stews;
sometimes if oil is available they are fried and eaten as chips. They can be used as
alternative sources of carbohydrate if cassava is for some reason not available, as
was the case during the drought of 1998, but extended periods without cassava are
regarded as a hardship, even if another source of carbohydrate such as yam is
available. Fruits form a dietary supplement and snack food - especially for children -
during season, when some of the surplus that commonly exists may be used to
prepare wines. Corn appears not to be of great importance as a source of
carbohydrate: it is eaten boiled as a vegetable when fresh, and dried mainly for use as
animal feed. Both these products, however, may at times be dried, grated and made
into porridge. As in other societies where bitter cassava is the staple food, its
processing is a lengthy job which occupies a large proportion of women's time (see
also Mentore 1983-4; Riviere 1987). This is not, as Riviere suggests, simply a burden
on the female population. Many women do their cassava work in groups based on the
farming or residential community, sometimes in the form of a manora. These provide
important opportunities for women to socialise and are one mechanism by which the
skills involved in cassava processing, and other aspects of Wapishana tradition, may
be transmitted vertically through female lineages, or horizontally to friends and
visitors interested in their documentation.
Table 4.2. Percentage of farmers in Maruranau reporting the cultivation of particular crop
species
English name Latin name Percentage of respondents
reporting cultivation
Bitter Cassava Manihot esculenta 98
Yams Dioscorea spp. 94
Potatoes Ipomoea batatas 92
Banana Musa spp. 88
Eddoes/Dasheen Colocasia esculenta 86
Peppers Capiscum frutescens 84
Pumpkins Cucurbita maxima 76
Corn Zea mays 74
Sugar cane Saccharum sp. 74
Cotton Gossypium sp. 58
Pineapple Ananas comosus 58
Watermelon Citrullus lanatus 54
Black eye Vigna unguiculata 34