170 allowed to be hatched since the interest is in meat birds. From time to time, new birds will be brought into the
villages to introduce “new blood.” New stock can be purchased from other villages or from agricultural stations on the island.
Another source of poultry meat is the frozen chicken available at coastal tradestores and some village stores where electricity is available for freezer units. At a recent feast, one-hundred frozen chickens were
bought to feed the guests. The method of keeping pigs has already been described in detail. Once again, there is an awareness of the
need to improve the breeding line. New stock is brought in from other areas. In some villages, one can find ducks kept for meat. There are wild ducks in the hills behind the Rotokas
villages. They nest in the reeds around lakes and small ponds in the area. The domesticated ducks are larger and are kept in the village area. Food scraps or the scrapings from coconut shells are the usual sources of feed.
There was interest, at one time, in raising fish in a pond near Ruruvu. I never saw the setup, but was told repeatedly about it by a friend. It could be that the project was a success; I hope so. The Department of
Agriculture has tried to promote fish farming in the country to overcome the deficiency of protein in most diets. Advice and stock would be fairly readily available. I believe the fish to be stocked in the Ruruvu ponds
were Tilapia andor carp.
13.3 The Need for Gardening—The Famine Story
A talk exhorting the young people to work hard in the gardens was given by David A. The following is a summary of what was said:
If your father tells you to help in the garden, then you must obey him. Why? Because food is man, food is woman, and food is a child. You are not something of and by yourself.
Food alone is the main thing that makes a person. If we were without food, then we would be like a worthless object. It alone gives us our strength as we eat and digest it.
Because of this, we need to be thinking about gardening. Our thoughts can’t be lazy thoughts. Thoughts alone won’t cause anything to come to fruition. The one thing that will is
hard work. This is what will give you a good life and everything else will follow in its place. Why is this important? Because we never know what the future holds for us. None of us
knows when there may be a lean period. And we do not know when famine will bring much sorrow. There was a period of time in the past when it was very hot. There was no coolness
and the ground became parched and cracked. After the hot period came the rains. The ground soaked up the water and became unstable. Earthquakes shook the ground and the ground
split, demolishing villages and gardens. Only a few people and a few gardens were left after this time.
Today we don’t think of this great famine which came long ago. We have it very easy. This is the reason that I am giving this talk to you. We never know when another period like
this might come. We should be careful to maintain our gardens so as to have a good existence. I tell you to pay attention to your own fathers and leaders who tell you to work in
the gardens. If you listen in vain, you may end up with great sorrow.
That is my story about the time of the great famine.
13.4 Planting a Garden
The following observations about planting a vegetable garden in the Rotokas area were made by my wife. A family had taken it upon themselves to instruct her in the proper ways of gardening. This was done in 1981.
The first step is to prepare the garden area by clearing away puepuepasa the thick, tall overgrowth with bush knives. Two types of vines that have proliferated in this area are the rovarisi and the kapua sisi. These are
said to have been brought by the Japanese during the war to spoil the indigenous gardens. The cut rubbish is spread around the garden site to dry and then burned. This would normally take about
two weeks. On the planting day, four women and my wife formed the soil into large mounds in which to plant sweet
potato. A hoe vaereto was used throughout the process. Sweet potato upirikou was considered the most important crop to plant and the second was peanuts kukuara. Peanuts bring in cash at local markets. After
171 these two crops, they suggested onions ariari, corn kukara, tomatoes tomato, and, a must, sugar cane
sipoi.
Typical Rotokas sweet potato garden
One of the women gathered sweet potato vines to plant from the neighboring garden area. Any part of the vine appeared to be suitable. The cut sections were an average of fifty centimeters in length. The women then
made an impression in the mound about eight centimeters deep and in it laid three sections of the vine. The cuttings were then covered with loosely placed earth without any tamping. Instructions specifically prohibited
tamping the soil into place. Within about two weeks, the cuttings had “struck” and leaves were standing erect.
Lengths of sugar cane stalk about one meter long and five centimeters in diameter were also cut from a nearby garden. These were planted by digging a hole about twelve centimeters deep and inserting three lengths
of the cane. The hole was filled and the soil around the cuttings was tamped into place. The sugar cane was planted between the sweet potato mounds which had been formed in a random pattern. The sugar cane
appeared to be an important crop, since it provided a liquid refreshment later on for the gardeners.
Peanuts were planted either in flat rows or in mounds. The raw, shelled nut was placed in the soil about five centimeters deep and covered over without tamping. The nuts were planted one per hole and spaced
between twenty and twenty-five centimeters apart. Tomato seedlings were planted at random in the loosened soil. About half of the plants died. Later, the
instructor’s husband told my wife that the women didn’t know too much about planting tomatoes. The plants should have been placed in very small holes without any hoeing around them and the soil should have been
firmly tamped into place. My wife chose to plant the following crops: banana roveraga, papaya vavioko, soursop not indigenous
to this area, potatoes pateto, and green beans viri. In addition, she planted one taro opo, ori or priori, two cooking bananas ava-kapava, one cooking banana called kaaisi, and greens or ruve tai. The latter are called
aibika in Tok Pisin. The green beans grown in the Rotokas area are usually about thirty-five centimeters long. The bean seeds
were taken from the pods and planted about three to five centimeters deep. The banana plants were well-developed suckers from the base of an already harvested banana tree. They
were about one to two meters in height. The sucker was cut off at the ground and no roots were attached. This was planted in a hole about twenty-five centimeters deep. Soil was placed around the banana plant and tamped
into place. The taro included a tuber with a stalk and leaf already sprouted. It was planted in a rather shallow hole
which was filled and tamped. To plant the ruve tai, a small plant was obtained from a neighboring garden and stuck into the ground. It
struck well. My wife also planted some cuttings from the base of a ruve plant. These were very slow to sprout. The potatoes were placed loosely in soil and just barely covered. This was to allow them to sprout before
planting them in proper mounds. They were very slow to sprout, requiring six weeks.
172 At midday, the women took time off and rested under a shade tree. Some of them cut down large leaves
from a nearby Hong Kong taro plant, karuvera. These were used as mats to lie on. Others made a fire using dried leaves and a match to start it. When the leaves would not catch fire, a woman gathered some dry sticks
from a hanging vine and bound them closely together with vine. She then positioned them near a tiny flame and they ignited. These were used in turn to start the firewood. One woman had gathered corn which was put
in the fire and roasted with husks in place. Another went to the ravine and carried back water in a folded leaf for washing hands and drinking. The women emphasized the need for my wife to wash her hands and clean her
fingernails before eating. Another woman provided sugar cane. She peeled a twelve centimeter-long section with her bush knife, without cutting it from the stalk. This was then split lengthwise into four sections. My
wife was told to break them off from the stalk to eat. “They were deliciously juicy.”
An elderly woman came by and stopped to rest with the women. She was offered some corn and cane, which she gladly received. After about an hour of resting and eating, the women returned to work in the
garden.
13.5 The Staple Food—Sweet Potato
