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UH-CTAHR Hawaiian Kalo, Past and Future SA-1 - Feb. 2007 In 1900, it was estimated that about 1280 acres were being used for kalo production."45) By 1907, rice had a~ become a major crop, occupying about 10,000 acres."" At that time, farmers of Chinese ethnicity were growing t' about half the kalo crop and milling 80 percent of the lirod poi. By 1937, the major kalo growers were Japanese.att With the outbreak of World War II in 1941, demand for kalo declined and production dropped to 920 acres."23HwaG' Today, less than 400 acres of kalo are planted. The l+eftt Co ' crop is dominated by just a few of the most productive cultivars: Maui Lehua (the major one) and Moi for pot 31tgd2 and the Chinese cultivar Bun Long for lu'au and chips Maui Lehua, a high-yielding cultivar, was selected in the 1960s and has largely replaced the once-dominant com- mercial cultivar, Lehua Maoli (also called Kauai Lehua). 992 Today's kalo production under flooded conditions 0~[996P r , i occurs in four major river valleys. Hanalei on Kauai accounts for approximately two-thirds of the kalo pro ICrt~bN( etedt! duced in Hawai'i annually, while the remaining third is M grown in Waipio, on the Hamakua coast of Hawaii, and in Keanae and Wailua on Maui. Flooded kalo can also be found in several smaller areas on Kauai and Maui (Waihe'e Valley). About three-fourths of the flooded kalo grown is made into poi. the first systematic study of Hawaiian kalo cultivars, As early as 1900, agricultural researchers noted that MacCaughey and Emersod", 31) suggested that about half pests and diseases were adversely affecting kalo pro- of the named cultivars were duplicates. They concluded duction in Hawaii. The second bulletin of the federally that there may have been only 150 to 175 unique culti- funded Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Station, titled vars, many of which either were not widely grown or had "The Root Rot of Taro," was published in 1902,07] with been selected for their adaptation to the upland condi- a condensed version translated into Hawaiian published tions of leeward growing areas. the following year."4e) The appearance of additional new A major effort was made between 1928 and 1935 by pests in recent decades has further reduced kalo pro- agricultural scientists at the University of Hawaians Col- ductivity and made it more difficult for growers to make lege of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (UH- a profit. The new problems include taro leaf blight CTAHR) to collect, characterize, and preserve kalo cul- (caused by Phytophthora colocasiae), pocket rot of kalo tivars grown in Hawaii before they were lost. They col- corms, apple snail, taro root aphid, and root-knot nema- lected 200 named cultivars, many of which were dupli- tode. Very little resistance to these pest problems is found cates; only 84 distinct types could be identified. These in Hawaiian kalo cultivars, included 69 derived from native Hawaiian plants, 10 from the South Pacific, 3 from Japan, and 1 from China. Preservation of Hawaiian kalo oultivars The cultivars could be separated into eight morpho- During a period of intense agricultural activity lasting logical groups based upon distinct features.(") These several hundred years, necessitated by the expanding groups represented a significant reduction from the 27 population, Hawaiians may have accumulated over 300 groups previously recognized in the 1880 Hawaiian Al- kalo cultivars"22> from selected natural mutations,"12> ad- manac and Annual, which included 'Apuwai, Haokea, ditional importations from other islands, and, possibly, Kai, Mana, Hapu'upu'u, Ipulono, Lauloa, Mahaha, Le- deliberate breeding!2L") In the early 1900s, in perhaps hua, Pualu, Poni, Knmii, Nchu, Uahiapele, Mamauea, 4