Dalo

Valuable Food Crop

IN that exceedingly valuable compilation, “The Agricultural Journal of Fiji”, November issue, there is an interesting article by Mr. B. E. V. Parham on the production of dalo as a food crop in Fiji.

Dalo, says Mr. Parham, has for long been an important domestic root crop throughout the tropics, and in Fiji in re cent years it has become a valuable cash crop, having a ready local sale in the market of the main centres of population.

It is an ideal crop for the small holder in Fiji, where the climate is most favour able for heavy yields, and where pests and diseases do little or no damage. The crop is one of the easiest to cultivate and market.

Dalo tubers have now become the staple diet of a large section of the popu lation of Fiji. They may be eaten after being boiled, baked or roasted. Dalo leaves are an excellent substitute for spinach, and are usually boiled with coconut milk. In the Rewa district, the leaves are used to wrap up shrimps for steaming, and the cooked shrimps are eaten together with the leaves.

Dalo, says Mr. Parham, is an excellent and highly nutritious carbo-hydrate food of fair fat content, and contains good quality proteins.

This is a crop that should be worth investigation by other Pacific Islands Administrations.

Mr. J. Merriman, of the Rabaul Print ing Works Ltd., arrived in Sydney from New Guinea in December.