HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.R. NO.

170

TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

 

REQUESTING THE STATE TO PROTECT THE TRADITIONAL HAWAIIAN TARO VARIETIES AND THE FAMOUS TARO GROWING AREAS(WET AND DRY) OF THE STATE AS UNIQUE AND CHERISHED RESOURCES CONTRIBUTING TO THE SPECIAL IDENTITY AND WELL-BEING OF HAWAI’I.

 

 

 


     WHEREAS, in the Kumulipo, the Hawaiian creation chant, Häloa-naka, Häloa-lau-kapalili (the trembling stalk), the taro plant, and Häloa, the child, are born of the same parents, Wakea and Ho'ohökükalani, and Hawaiian people cherish this sacred relationship with kalo (taro); and

 

     WHEREAS, taro (Colocasia esculenta) has been a plant of central importance to the survival of the Hawaiian people since their arrival to these islands an estimated 1,200 years ago; and

 

     WHEREAS, the famed and historic kalo-growing areas and historic cropping systems, wet and dry, throughout the Hawaiian Islands represent 1,200 years of unparalleled engineering skills and continuous taro cultivation that preserves the lifestyle and beauty of these unique landscapes for residents and millions of tourists annually; and

 

     WHEREAS, the fallow and working lo'i (taro patches) in Hawai'i also serve as habitats for the state’s endemic and endangered waterbirds and other fauna; and

 

     WHEREAS, poi, kalo, and lü'au (taro leaf) in local diets are conclusively recognized by physicians as having positive effects on Hawaiian health, and growing kalo contributes to the health and well-being of the native Hawaiian community and all of us today; and 

 

WHEREAS, the availability of lo'i kalo provides a healthy, low-cost food choice to low-income families to reduce their monthly cost of food by more than fifty percent; and


WHEREAS, kalo has provided the people of Hawai'i with food and livelihood, contributed to all forms of education from pre-school through graduate school, from the arts and culture to the sciences, and provided inspiration to hundreds of artists and cultural practitioners throughout the generations; and

 

WHEREAS, taro farmers generously contribute daily and annually to all manner of family and community events, and enhance the economic abundance and vibrancy of the state; and

 

WHEREAS, kalo and lo'i kalo are a source of art, research, jobs, value-added products, product-imaging, tourism, and the tourist experience in Hawai'i, and a part of the face of Hawai'i to the world; and

 

     WHEREAS, no other region in the Pacific can surpass Hawaii in its degree of refinement in growing kalo; and

 

     WHEREAS, at one time, Hawaiians developed three hundred to four hundred varieties of kalo, many specific to particular climates, soils, and elevations, each with its own unique characteristics of color, shape, hardiness, fragrance, and flavor, but in 1934, only sixty-nine known Hawaiian varieties of kalo were documented by Bulletin 84; and

 

     WHEREAS, little is known or documented of the diverse, traditional cropping system designs, production methods, and varieties, that are the very things that define Hawaii's uniqueness in the Pacific; and

 

     WHEREAS, the original Hawaiian kalo variety collections set aside to preserve this unique heritage from the 1930’s to the present are incomplete and in need of recovery, with many of the varieties at risk of disappearing completely because their population numbers fewer than the population of most state and federally listed threatened and endangered species in the state; and

 

     WHEREAS, while this agricultural crop is the most significant cultural crop in the state, it represented barely one percent of all agricultural lands in production in Hawai'i in 2005; and

     WHEREAS, taro farms are rapidly disappearing with only an estimated five hundred acres remaining out of many thousands of acres of agricultural lands in the state, as of 2006; and

 

     WHEREAS, there are many threats to the continuation of kalo cultivation, including: crop diseases; invasive apple snail (Pomacea canaliculata), which accounted for up to twenty-five percent of crop loss and fifty percent of labor cost increases for kalo farmers in 2005; destruction of several major traditional Hawaiian kalo variety collections by feral pigs in the last few years; the rising cost of living, land values, leases, and taxes; all of which threaten to put kalo, a potentially multi-million dollar industry with a multitude of indirect benefits, out of business within the next five years and make kalo-farming become an endangered way of life; and

 

WHEREAS, if the State is to retain as much of what makes Hawai'i unique as possible before it is lost, and before additional conservation and other intervention measures are considered, the importance of the ancient Hawaiian taro varieties and the famous taro-growing areas of the islands should be recognized as unique and in need of protection; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2007, that the State of Hawai'i recognizes that taro is an important agricultural, cultural, and economic crop essential to both our heritage and our future; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the State of Hawai'i recognizes the Hawaiian taro varieties and the famous taro-growing areas of the islands, wet and dry, as unique, cherished resources in danger of extinction and in need of conservation, by supporting policy, laws, rules, and actions that provide for their protection; and


     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Governor; Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources; Chairperson of the Board of Agriculture; Director of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism; Executive Director of the Hawai'i Tourism Authority; Director of Health; and the Mayors of the respective counties.

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Protection of taro and taro-growing places