Island Food Community of Pohnpei Plans its Projects

by Dr. Lois Englberger

Eight members of the new non-profit non-governmental Island Food Community of Pohnpei met Saturday 28 August 2004, at the Seabreeze Hotel to assess its work and discuss project plans, with Adelino Lorens chairing the meeting. The other members attending included: Bill Raynor, Penny Weilbacher, Anna Santos, Ellen Ehsa, Wehns Billen, Yumiko Paul, Amy Levendusky, and Dr. Lois Englberger. Board members who were not able to attend the meeting included: Dr. Eliuel Pretrick, Dr. Rufino Mauricio, Jane Gallen, and Robert Andreas.

The group's Vision is: To live on a productive environmentally sound island where a diversity of locally grown Island Food is produced and consumed, providing food security, sustainable development, economic benefits, self-reliance, improved health, cultural preservation, and human dignity, and at the same time protecting the natural resources.

Members are concerned about the growing reliance on imported foods and the related health problems such as diabetes, certain cancers, heart disease, and vitamin A deficiency. The group thus agreed on the following Mission: To promote the production, consumption, local marketing, and if feasible export of locally grown Island Foods in order to regain the dignity of relying on home food production, attain a greater degree of food security for the state, rescue cultural values, and improve health of the people.

On April 24, 2004 a Strategy Planning Session was held and Island Food Community members agreed on four priority areas on which their initial work should be focused. These are: awareness-raising; conserving traditional crop varieties and increasing planting material; food processing, and analysis of local foods for their nutrient content.

One project carried out this year was further documenting the over 50 Pohnpei banana varieties and producing a booklet with photographs. Five thousand copies of this booklet are presently being printed and these will be made available for use in schools, health centers, and Pohnpei communities. Another project was establishing a collection of Pohnpei banana and giant swamp taro varieties at the Pilot Farm in Pohlangas, in conjunction with Pohnpei Agriculture. New recipes using Karat and Taiwang banana were developed and provided for tasting at a number of group meetings. Also a set of Pohnpei foods were collected and sent for nutrient analysis and results are expected soon.

Further activities planned include a Food Fair on October 16, World Food Day, which will also be the commemoration of the foundation meeting of the Island Food Community of Pohnpei on October 16, 2003.

Agencies providing initial funding for the Island Food Community of Pohnpei include: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)/United Nations Children's Fund, (UNICEF), Australian Embassy, Sight and Life, and the Pacific German Regional Forestry Program.