Fewer Farmers Are Growing Hawaii’s ‘Miracle Food’ Taro Despite Growing Demand
Reppun says a solution to the land access issue could be more state- or city-sponsored community gardens or farms to grow kalo.
By Yoohyun Jung
Civil Beat
Mar 7, 2021
Excerpt:
Proponents of reducing Hawaii’s dependence on the mainland for food note that taro has many advantages, too.
It can be very productive with a small amount of acreage, which is one of the things that makes it an ideal crop to help achieve food sustainability, says Paul Reppun, a west Oahu farmer whose top crops include taro. “You can feed a lot of people with a little bit of land,” he said.
The pandemic has given Hawaii residents a taste of what happens when the shipping chain is disrupted, he said.
“We’re so vulnerable in this world,” he said. “There are so many things that can affect our food chain that we need to have that food security.
Taro is also considered one of the most digestible forms of starch. It’s highly nutritious — rich in calcium, potassium and iron but low in fat and protein.
“It’s like a miracle food,” Sproat-Beck says.
Much of the poi made at Waipa during Poi Day will be scooped up, bagged and loaded into a van to be sold at various locations on Kauai.
Some of the kalo is also used to make other delicacies such as cheesecake, manju and patties that are sold on Waipa premises. The most popular choice, the executive director says, is the cheesecake, which features a bright yellow lilikoi swirl.
“If it was a commodity product and subsidized, then it could be produced cheaply enough to be consumed by everybody,” Sproat-Beck said.
