Island Food Community of Pohnpei

KOLONIA, Mikronesia

An Overview Of Our Solution

IFCP has provided 12 manual milling machines to communities on Pohnpei. Converting local crops of taro and breadfruit into flour with a milling machine: (1) encourages use of local foods by creating flour more quickly than grating by hand and (2) makes local food available longer in case of crop failure from drought or typhoon. Returning eating habits to more nutritional local crops instead of imported foods will alleviate the health issues of diabetes and vitamin A deficiency and also help the environment by reducing non-biodegradable waste and by creating less pollution from import transportation.

Who is this solution impacting?

Community Type

Suburban

Organization type

Nirlaba

Ecosystem (select all that apply)

Forests

Freshwater

Oceans/Coasts

Population impacted

38,000 Pohnpeians

Size of agricultural area

100 square miles of agroforestry

Production quantity

Family home consumption in subsistence economy, quantity not measured

People employed

Shared production and use as seasonal crop availability permits

Describe your solution

Taro and breadfruit are seasonal local crops that can be turned into flour that stays fresh longer and can be used in additional recipes. Converting taro and breadfruit into flour with a milling machine: (1) encourages use of local foods by creating flour more quickly than grating by hand and (2) makes local food available longer in case of crop failure from drought or typhoon. Recent research with milling multiple cultivars of year-round banana crops has been successful, and has greatly advocated for changing eating habits from imported foods, while also helping the environment by reducing non-biodegradable waste and by creating less pollution from import transportation. Food security is increased by converting seasonal taro and breadfruit crops into flour for longer useful life without spoilage. Manual milling machines make flour production easier and faster than hand grating without expensive electricity, often unavailable. Increased use of local crops grown by sustainable traditional agroforestry methods encourages biodiversity. Local crops have more nutritional value at lower cost than imported foods. IFCP also maintains local crop plantings and makes these available free to residents.

Describe your implementation

The process of milling local food crops using the milling machine are as follows: (1) Peeling or skinning the food crop (2) Chopping or slicing into thinner pieces for sun-drying (3) Spread pieces on cloths or mats for drying under the sun, taking care to circulate at regular intervals, until crisp dry (4) Scoop pieces into mill and hand crank to mill into flour The use of manual labor to power these mills is necessary, and preferred, for the communities that live on the outlying atolls that have no source of electricity. The milling process requiring only hand-power cranks and solar energy ensured the accessibility and ease of use that is essential in these social environments, creating a more sustainable avenue for shelf-stable foods using a mill that is durable and has great potential for longevity. Further education and awareness is needed to introduce the process to the communities, and to encourage the public to rediversify their food crops to include more cultivars to fully appreciate the variety of food products that may become available with these flours. The project has been met with great enthusiasm within the communities and with the government officials. . Milling of these food crops have also lengthened the preservation and shelf-stability of these foods that would normally have to be consumed within days to prevent spoilage or waste. One obstacle was availability of the manual milling machines which are made in the United States and were out of stock when ordered. Local people designed and made the seats to hold the machines for use. Other obstacles included transportation of these mills to the outlying atolls, with inconsistent flights and limited sea transportation.

External connections

Grant funding from the United States Department of Interior, Department of Insular Affairs, purchased manual milling machines. These manual machines should not require repair, expensive maintenance, or ongoing costs. GEF funded purchase of the first machine.

What is the environmental or ecological challenge you are targeting with your solution?

Climate change and sea level rise is a growing global concern, and it is most felt on the low-laying islands and atolls of Pohnpei (a Pacific island in the Federated States of Micronesia-FS). Traditional crops are suffering due to the rise of sea levels, making taro patch swamps – a traditional agricultural area – salty and incapable of effectively producing crops. The agricultural environment of Pohnpei is still using traditional, sustainable methods of farming that require no use of chemicals or pesticides. However, local food production and consumption in Pohnpei decreased due to neglect of traditional food crops and a drastic shift to consumption of refined processed imported foods (Englberger, 2003; Lee et al, 2001; Raynor, 1991). Serious problems of diabetes and non-communicable diseases have emerged, along with vitamin A deficiency disorders and multiple micronutrient deficiencies.

Describe the context in which you are operating

About 30,000 of the 36,000 population of Pohnpei live outside the only town, Kolonia. Extended families live together, sharing agroforestry crops grown by traditional sustainable methods. Electricity is expensive and intermittent. Manual milling machines increase food security by extending the shelf life of seasonal crops and improve family economics through less spending on imported foods such as rice and processed meat. Women have more time for other activities with faster food preparation.
Milling machines in geographically dispersed and physically isolated areas help those who have the fewest resources readily available and therefore have the most need.

IFCP has provided 12 manual milling machines to communities on Pohnpei and surrounding islands. Requests for additional manual milling machines continue from local residents and from visitors from other Pacific islands who recognize the value of this method of expanding utilization of local foods with high nutritional content.

How did you impact natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions?

Small-scale farming of local crops has greatly decreased since the introduction of imported foods into the island. Multiple species and cultivars of taro and banana are no longer farmed, with only a few species growing outside residential areas, which in turn are only consumed periodically. IFCP has made flour samples of multiple banana, taro, and breadfruit crops. Several bread and flour-based recipes are showcased to the public during community education workshops to introduce and familiarize the community with a more expansive selection of the variety of edible banana, taro, and breadfruit flour samples. The communities are encouraged to increase the diversity of their household gardens and extended family farms to include more cultivars of these local crops as they have been exposed to the greater parameters of their uses outside of the traditional delicacies that require more labor.

Language(s)

Which language(s) are spoken in the area where your solution is implemented?

Water

Local food crops are farmed and harvested using local, sustainable methods, without the use of pesticides or other harmful chemicals that would run-off into the surrounding environs. Fresh water and coastal waters remain free of additional chemical pollution associated with industrial-scale agriculture.

Food Security/Nutrition

Food security is increased by converting seasonal taro and breadfruit crops into flour for longer useful life without spoilage. Taro, breadfruit, and banana are more nutrient dense than their imported starchy counterparts (rice), and provide a nutritional alternative for a population with increased rates of non-communicable diseases.

Economic/Sustainable Development

These manual machines should not require repair, expensive maintenance, or ongoing costs.

Climate

Reduced pollution from less transportation of imported foods will mitigate climate change in an area vulnerable to rising oceans. Local crop residue is biodegradable, not the garbage created by import packaging.

Sustainability

Grant funding from the United States Department of Interior, Department of Insular Affairs, purchased manual milling machines. These machines should not require repair or expensive maintenance.

Return on investment

DOI-TAB grant totaled USD$26,000.00. Pohnpei government officials have deemed the pilot a success and are willing to shoulder additional costs to increase the number of mills to be made available to the communities of Pohnpei and to contract IFCP to conduct additional milling workshops.

How could we successfully replicate this solution elsewhere?

This project could be easily replicated in other low-laying in other Pacific islands with similar weather, environment, and agroforestry. However, there is no knowledge of another project being similar to this one.

Overview