Taro Call To Action
What is Taro?
Taro is the staple of the Native Hawaiian diet and at the core of the Hawaiian culture. Hawaiians believe the taro plant to be sacred. Taro, called "kalo" in Hawaiian, is central to the Native Hawaiian creation story.
Taro is a plant with a broad, beautiful, nutritious strong leaf shaped
like a huge heart. Imagine a completely hypoallergenic, versatile,
mineralized, satiating vibrant tuber with unique and starchy richness
and the ability to be made into everything from pie, to “burgers” and
chips, to a smooth, purple-ish, creamy staple dish called “poi.” Even
those who do not have the creation story of the taro in their heritage know that taro, in these islands that we love, is sacred. It is
one of the single most well-know, important, and reliable plants in all
of Polynesia, and the locals take a deep pride in its profound
history. Various names for parts of the taro plant indicate its
interwoven history with the Hawaiian people: the place where the stem
meets the leaf is called the piko, or navel. The stem is the ha, the
breath, and the cluster of shoots (or keiki, meaning children) that
surround the mother plant are called an ohana, or family.
Here in Hawaii, the growing and cultivation of the kalo plant is a tradition that stretches back for more than a thousand years. The Hawaiians loved, honored, and cared for kalo and were in turn, as the creation story implies, fed and supported by it for generations and generations. By tending carefully the kalo, the Hawaiians eventually cultivated more than 300 varieties by selecting the plants for certain conditions, climates, and soils and by hand-pollinating over years and years.
Why A Moratorium on GMO Taro?
GMO taro:
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Undermines the genetic integrity of taro, sacred to the Hawaiian people;
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Threatens the taro market and livelihood of taro farmers. Taro production yields over 6 million pounds annually valued at $3.3 million.
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Threatens the biodiversity of the taro plant;
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Could cause new, unexpected problems in taro cultivation;
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Could contaminate traditional varieties of taro and take away taro farmers’ ability to choose what they grow in their lo’i; and
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Overlooks the wealth of traditional knowledge about growing taro that has been passed down through generations and generations.
Native Hawaiians, along with Hawaii SEED are fighting back.
You can too. Take action now!
“It is no small matter when an indigenous people share the importance of their traditional knowledge and genealogy, and the dominant culture refuses to listen. This is the time when we are making it perfectly clear that there is a kapu [ban] placed on all genetic modifications and patenting of our genealogical brother the taro. There should be limits to academic research when it conflicts with indigenous culture. No one can own our traditional knowledge, intellectual property rights or our biodiversity.”
-Walter Ritte, Native Hawaiian of Molokai