The white sandy beaches sleeping calmy under coconut tress over the setting and rising sun in those beautiful Islands is what tourists are mostly attracted to, but the province of Temotu in the Solomon Islands offers more than meets the eye. It’s its resilience in silence! This remote eastern part of the Solomon Islands is the only province in the Solomon Islands that produces its own crackers traditionally from breadfruit. With a population of over 25,000, the province covers an area of 895 square kilometers with three major Islands. Agriculture, forestry, and fishery is the lifeline of this population.
Existing issues such as transportation, illiteracy, lack of opportunities, youth unemployment and development, and other social and economic obstacles are currently being exacerbated by climate change impacts and natural disasters on these majestic islands. Interestingly, traditional agricultural practices have been the solution that sustains these vulnerable communities. These Islands have been practicing Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) without reading any books, research, or resources. CSA refers to an innovative approach to transform and reorient agricultural systems to effectively counter the interconnected challenges of sustainability, food security, climate change and Covid-19. CSA’s foundational basis lies with its three main objectives: firstly, to sustainably increase agricultural productivity and incomes; secondly, adapting and building resilience to climate change; and lastly reducing and/or removing greenhouse gas emissions, where possible (Ngoma, Angelsen et al. 2018). CSA purposely aims to tackle agriculture and climate change holistically instead of dealing with both independently. This ensures maximalization of benefits and minimizing trade-offs in agricultural food systems (Lipper, Thornton et al. 2014)
Traditional knowledge and farming methods passed down over the years is the basis for resilience and food security for Temotu province. One that stood out is the Improved Temotu Traditional Agriculture (ITTA). ITTA agroforestry is an enhancement of existing traditional practises. It is a multiple cropping farming system that is intensive and can cultivate up to 23 varieties of plants on the farm. ITTA is low cost with high output. ITTA is a tree-based, multi-storey agroforestry system with shade tolerant plants planted under taller trees and traditional root crops and vines planted at the lowest level. ITTA is self-sustaining and doesn’t require the application of fertilizers. It is permanent and fixed on the same spot every year. ITTA imitates the natural environment though in this case all the plants/fruits and crops planted are for food and economic security. ITTA maintains conducive conditions within the system and farmers decide which root crops suit at various times of the year. The use of legumes also provides natural nitrogen-rich fertilizer. ITTA encourages mulching from dead leaves and organic matter. Additionally due to the diversity within ITTA, the farm is usually resistant to insect pests and plant diseases (Live&Learn 2011)
The purposes of ITTA agroforestry include:
- increasing the amount of food
- improving the quality of food
- providing better nutrition by growing energy (carbohydrate), body
- building (protein) and protective (vitamin and mineral) foods for
a mixed diet - producing income through the sale of nuts and other foods
- restoring the ecosystem; the ITTA agroforest is like the natural
- forest and produces the same benefits
- preserving planting material by growing different varieties of
traditional crops - improving the soil
- intensifying existing tree-based cropping systems; non-food trees
can be removed and food trees planted in their place. - promotes gender equality and collaboration within the same ITTA space. For instance, while men are preparing the coconuts from the farm for sales, women are harvesting and roasting the breadfruit within the same vicinity on open fires to produce nambo (a preserved form of breadfruit) for sales and later use (Live&Learn 2011)
Temotu province is known for its innovative traditional method of preserving breadfruits, reducing post-harvest loss and wastage, and storing the finished product known as nambo or temotu crackers for times of climatic disasters. The temotu crackers have been the source of food security for generations in this remote Islands. The breadfruit trees are usually farmed using the ITTA agroforestry system.
Figure 1: Nambo, breadfruit and breadfruit tree farmed using ITTA in Temotu Province.
Breadfruit has the potential to be one of the world’s newest superfoods. Breadfruit is nutritious, gluten free and addresses climate adaptation, mitigation and food security (Yang, Zerega et al. 2019) . Lack of information and research into breadfruit uses have been an obstacle but with its recent discoveries, breadfruit can be the bread of life and hopefully can be a common item on supermarket shelves in the future. In a recent case study (Inone.S, 2021) it was revealed that ITTA has the highest level of climate smartness of 6.6 out of 10. Hence CSA intervention in terms of modern technology and innovation in the Solomon Islands and the pacific countries focusing on CSA, should prioritize breadfruit and ITTA for better agricultural systems and food security in the future.
References
Inone Sharon, ” 2021 Case study on breadfruit and ITTA”, thesis work.
Lipper, L., et al. (2014). “Climate-smart agriculture for food security.” Nature climate change 4(12): 1068-1072.
Live&Learn (2011). “Farm Technology.” 48-60.
Ngoma, H., et al. (2018). “Climate-smart agriculture.” Transforming REDD: 175.
Yang, L., et al. (2019). Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) Range Suitability and Adaptation Potential Under Divergent Climate Pathways. AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts.