As many of you know, I recently returned from an archaeological field season in Hawai'i. Tonight I want to talk about issues of sustainability and reestablishing traditional forms of horticulture on Maui. The diary is based, in part, on a film called Ho'okele Wa'a (Hawaiian for Turning the Canoe) that had its premier at the Maui film festival in June. (Full disclosure--the film was written by Dr. Janet Six, one of my former students.) While the film highlights many sustainable technologies, I want to focus on the re-establishment of the taro fields or lo'i, since taro played an major role in Hawaiian subsistence before European contact.
I will begin with a little bit of history below the fold.
At the time of initial European contact in the late 18th century, the Hawaiian Island were divided into a number of land divisions known as ahupua'a. These large radial segments of land stretched from the uplands to the sea. This gave Native Hawaiians access to a range of different resources from fish and other marine life, to agricultural lands, to timber from the upland forests.
When Hawai'i was initially settled around 400 CE, Polynesian settlers brought a suite of "canoe plants" with them. The agricultural systems that were established by these Polynesian pioneers supported the islands' population for well over a thousand years. One of the most important of these canoe plants was taro (kalo in Hawaiian). Taro is a nutritious plant that is used primarily for its root or corm and secondarily for its leaves, which can be used in dishes like chicken luau. Taro was a staple of the traditional Hawaiian diet, and it is still used to make everything from poi to taro English muffins. Taro can be grown wherever there is adequate rainfall, but it does best in pondfields or lo'i. These are watered using ditches that are linked to permanent streams. Here is where the problems began in the 19th century.
Sugar cane was another one of the canoe plants, but its cultivation in large plantations did not begin until the later 19th century. An extensive system of drainage ditches was dug, beginning in 1876, to irrigate the sugar plantations. They brought the water of East Maui to the drier portions of the central plain where the sugar plantations were located. In doing so, they diverted water from the taro patches, disrupting the traditional agricultural systems.
Today, only one sugar mill remains on Maui. A group of Native Hawaiians is working to re-establish the traditional taro fields in the Iao Valley, an area that was one of the richest agricultural regions of Maui before contact with Europeans. While we were excavating in Maui, we were able to visit these reconstructed lo'i.
Here you can see a recently planted taro field:
And here is a field of mature taro:
Here you can see the taro being harvested:
The project has been spearheaded by our Native Hawaiian colleague, Kawewehi Pundyke or "Rusty". Here he is cutting up the taro that was harvested for us:
Pundyke has been working this piece of ancient Hawaii for the past 2 years with the permission of The Hawai'i Nature Center, which occupies the parcel in the valley. The site is about a 10-minute hike from the center.
~snip~
For Pundyke, seeing the water flow into the loi and people plant taro were a 2-year dream come true. There are many more loi, some still shrouded by forest, to prepare for water and planting.
"I'm hoping we can turn this into something positive," he said. "We're learning and growing and providing some food . . . learning sustainability, taking care of the land . . . taking care of ourselves." ~source
Today most of the food on Maui is imported from abroad and arrives in large container ships. There are only about two weeks worth of food on the island at any one time. Agricultural systems of the past may provide a key to a more sustainable future without the need for expensive chemical fertilizers and complex and expensive transportation systems.
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