PGR News from the Pacific

Posted 2:12 PM by Luigi

Rare Pohnpei Bananas Collected and Shared

By Dr Lois Englberger, Island Food Community of Pohnpei

Due to a growing demand all over the island, an inter-agency project based at Pohnpei Agriculture has now been initiated to provide rare banana planting materials to Pohnpei farmers and others. The purpose of the project is to increase production and consumption of these nutrient-rich local varieties.

The project was announced through radio spots, and farmers who have these rare bananas and wish to provide planting materials were registered. A meeting was then held on 21 February 2005 at the Pohnpei Agriculture office with these farmers and staff of Pohnpei Agriculture, College of Micronesia-FSM Land Grant Office and the Island Food Community of Pohnpei.

Farmers were asked which varieties might be most important to collect, and agreed upon the following: Karat, Utin Iap, Akadahn Weitahta, Mangat, Ihpali, Karat en Iap, Kudud and Utiak. All of these are rich in provitamin A carotenoids and have special health benefits.

It was carefully explained that good quality planting materials were needed, and for each good quality sucker the farmer would be paid $1. Suckers of lesser quality would be $0.25 per piece.

All suckers received were also dipped in a chlorox and water mixture to reduce the spread of any disease or pests that a sucker might have.

At the same time, the COM-FSM Land Grant extension agents started identifying those farmers who would be interested in receiving planting material and increasing their production of these bananas, possibly also for supplying local markets.

By 9 March 2005, Eddie Roland of Pohnpei Agriculture had received 656 banana suckers, 610 of which were Karat. Two growers, Markary Amor and Luwis Manuel, provided most of these (450 suckers).

The planting material distribution has now started. To receive a sucker, a person must contact either Pohnpei Agriculture (tel. 320-2400) or COM-FSM Land Grant (tel. 320-5731) and agree to the conditions set out in the Farmers Agreement Form. These conditions include agreeing to plant and maintain the planting materials provided and to cooperate with project staff to supply needed information, access to the farmer’s land, and later to provide an equal amount of quality planting material to be distributed to other Pohnpei farmers. In this way it is hoped that markets may soon be selling a greater diversity of banana varieties and home consumption of these bananas also increases.

This project is supported by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain, and the SPC Pacific German Regional Forestry Project.

* Comments:

I am a Filipino who is very interested on your banana cultivars specifically karat, Utin iap and Utimwas. Do you have programs to distibute planting materials outside of Pohnpei or Micronesia? I want to order for delivery to Quezon province Philippines. Please advice how can I and how much and the minimum quantity of sucker or planting materials.

Thank you and best regards.

Abdulhaqq

# posted by

Anonymous : 3:40 AM

You need to contact Adelino Lorens at Agriculture Pohnpei on pniagriculture@mail.fm.

# posted by

Luigi : 2:47 PM



	A blog maintained by Tevita Kete, PGR Officer Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Suva, Fiji Islands
This weblog documents the activities of Pacific Agricultural Genetic Resources Network (PAPGREN), along with other information on plant genetic resources (PGR) in the Pacific. The myriad varieties found within cultivated plants are fundamental to the present and future productivity of agriculture. PAPGREN, which is coordinated by the Land Resources Division of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), helps Pacific countries and territories to conserve their crop genetic diversity sustainably, with technical assistance from the Bioversity International (BI) and support from NZAID and ACIAR. SPC also hosts the Centre of Pacific Crops and Trees (CEPaCT). The CEPaCT maintains regional in vitro collections of crops important to the Pacific and carries out research on tissue culture technology. The CEPaCT Adviser is Dr Mary Taylor (MaryT@spc.int), the CEPaCT Curator is Ms Valerie Tuia (ValerieT@spc.int). 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DIVA-GIS	Sunday, March 20, 2005 Posted 2:12 PM by Luigi Rare Pohnpei Bananas Collected and Shared By Dr Lois Englberger, Island Food Community of Pohnpei Due to a growing demand all over the island, an inter-agency project based at Pohnpei Agriculture has now been initiated to provide rare banana planting materials to Pohnpei farmers and others. The purpose of the project is to increase production and consumption of these nutrient-rich local varieties. The project was announced through radio spots, and farmers who have these rare bananas and wish to provide planting materials were registered. A meeting was then held on 21 February 2005 at the Pohnpei Agriculture office with these farmers and staff of Pohnpei Agriculture, College of Micronesia-FSM Land Grant Office and the Island Food Community of Pohnpei. Farmers were asked which varieties might be most important to collect, and agreed upon the following: Karat, Utin Iap, Akadahn Weitahta, Mangat, Ihpali, Karat en Iap, Kudud and Utiak. All of these are rich in provitamin A carotenoids and have special health benefits. It was carefully explained that good quality planting materials were needed, and for each good quality sucker the farmer would be paid $1. Suckers of lesser quality would be $0.25 per piece. All suckers received were also dipped in a chlorox and water mixture to reduce the spread of any disease or pests that a sucker might have. At the same time, the COM-FSM Land Grant extension agents started identifying those farmers who would be interested in receiving planting material and increasing their production of these bananas, possibly also for supplying local markets. By 9 March 2005, Eddie Roland of Pohnpei Agriculture had received 656 banana suckers, 610 of which were Karat. Two growers, Markary Amor and Luwis Manuel, provided most of these (450 suckers). The planting material distribution has now started. To receive a sucker, a person must contact either Pohnpei Agriculture (tel. 320-2400) or COM-FSM Land Grant (tel. 320-5731) and agree to the conditions set out in the Farmers Agreement Form. These conditions include agreeing to plant and maintain the planting materials provided and to cooperate with project staff to supply needed information, access to the farmer’s land, and later to provide an equal amount of quality planting material to be distributed to other Pohnpei farmers. In this way it is hoped that markets may soon be selling a greater diversity of banana varieties and home consumption of these bananas also increases. This project is supported by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain, and the SPC Pacific German Regional Forestry Project. * Comments: I am a Filipino who is very interested on your banana cultivars specifically karat, Utin iap and Utimwas. Do you have programs to distibute planting materials outside of Pohnpei or Micronesia? I want to order for delivery to Quezon province Philippines. Please advice how can I and how much and the minimum quantity of sucker or planting materials. Thank you and best regards. Abdulhaqq # posted by Anonymous : 3:40 AM You need to contact Adelino Lorens at Agriculture Pohnpei on pniagriculture@mail.fm. # posted by Luigi : 2:47 PM Post a Comment	Archive October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 January 2004 February 2004 March 2004 April 2004 May 2004 June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July 2009 August 2009 September 2009 October 2009 November 2009 January 2010 RSS Feed Alternative feed Contact Tevita Something new: Agrobiodiversity Weblog: For discussions of conservation and sustainable use of the genetic resources of crops, livestock and their wild relatives. 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