CNR hopes to introduce into American Samoa taro from different places to increase genetic diversity. Taro cultivation in American Samoa has proved a major challenge since the arrival of the taro leaf blight (lega) more than 10 years ago. “We traced the beginning of the blight to Aloau in July, 1993. Because of the cold, windy and wet conditions that winter, and the susceptibility of the Samoan taro plants to the blight, the disease spread like wildfire across the rest of Tutuila, and taro crops looked like they had literally melted into the ground,” recalled Horticulturalist and Acting Agriculture Extension Program Manager Larry Hirata. “Very little taro cultivation took place here for the next five years, until we obtained the Palau taro varieties with a resistance to the disease and production once again increased. With this project, we want to increase genetic diversity among taro to ensure that diseases like taro leaf blight never again have this kind of disastrous effect on our lifestyle.”
           

This most recent CNR taro field trial involved seven tissue-cultured hybrids (offspring of two different parents), two from neighboring Samoa, two from the Philippines, two from Malaysia and one from Indonesia.  The Avegalio family volunteered the use of their Pava’ia’i farm for the seven-month project, with Edward “Kuki” Avegalio acting as the farmer/cooperator with CNR. Plant Pathologist Fred Brooks explained that the taro varieties originated from the Regional Germplasm Centre in Suva, Fiji, arriving as “plantlets” tiny enough for transportation in sterilized containers the size of a pill bottle. First, Plant Tissue Culturist Emily Ilaoa maintained and multiplied the plantlets, then Brooks transferred them to the greenhouse to test for disease resistance, and finally the taro, when big enough for transplanting, went out to the farm.    

Brooks continued to monitor the taro over the next seven months, explaining that, “Hopefully, test results from the greenhouse will mirror results in the field. If they do, plant breeders and others can evaluate leaf blight resistance of new plants after two months in the greenhouse, instead of six months in the field. This project will introduce taro hybrids that differ genetically, offering some assurance that a new disease will not affect all of them to the same degree. In the long run, new, good-tasting taro may increase taro consumption in the territory, especially among the younger 'fast-food' set, and keep traditional agriculture alive. If you agree that the rapidly growing, relatively isolated population may find themselves dependent on local taro production in times of disaster, then you could consider this project a move towards food security.”

During his introductory remarks on the taste testing, Acting Director Aufa’i Apulu Ropeti Areta expressed his appreciation to all of the CNR staff who contributed to this project, and especially the Avegalio family for offering the use of their farm. Areta also thanked CNR Director Tapa’au Dr. Daniel Mageo Aga and ASCC President Dr. Adele Satele-Galea’i, both off island at the time, for their support of the project. Brooks later added that special recognition should go to the Secretariat of the Pacific Community’s Regional Germplasm Center and the countries with taro breeding programs in Southeast Asia and the Pacific for supplying the fruits of their labor, literally, in the form of these new hybrids, and to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) for funding the project.

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