Kagoshima University Research Center for the Pacific Islands Occasional Papers No.39, 51-54, 2003
Section 2, Report 3. The Progress Report of the 2000 and 2001 Survey of the Research Project“Social Homeostasis of Small Islands in an Island-zone”

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AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SUPPLY ON ULITHI ATOLLONJO Michio 1), NAKANO Kazutaka2), TOMINAGA Shigeto1), TSUDA Katsuo1),
ICHITANI Katsuyuki1), and PARK Byoung-Jae1)
Abstract
To clarify the present status of crop production and related contents of diets on four inhabited islets, Ulithi Atoll, we interviewed inhabitants and surveyed some fields. Many foods such as fish andbananas are supplied within the islets, but many other foods, such as rice and canned goods, are imported. On the other hand, people in Mogmog Islet try to cultivate new fields in uninhabited islets. The
idea of developing fields on unutilized islets is very promising.
Keywords: agriculture, diet, rice, Ulithi Atoll

Introduction
Ulithi Atoll is located 171 km northeast of Yap Proper and has 49 islets in a lagoon witha large area, ranked fourth in the world, of 541 square-km. The total land area is 4.6 square-km,
which contains four currently inhabited islets (Mogmog, Falalop, Asor, and Fassarai) with a total
population of less than 1,000.
The temperature is almost constant throughout the year; the mean maximum temperature is
29.4 °C, and the mean minimum temperature is 26.7 °C. The maximum and minimum temperature means vary little between individual months. Rainfall data obtained did not include the portions for May and June, but the total amount of rainfall during the remaining 10 months was2485.1 mm (Australia Climate Data 2002). From the location of Ulithi Atoll and the rainfall andrelative humidity data of Yap Proper, the nearest island, there must have been some rainfall during May and June. We therefore estimate that the total rainfall during the year must exceed 2500
mm. Like Yap Proper, Ulithi Atoll is also located in a typical tropical rain region.
This survey was implemented to clarify the present status of crop production and related
contents of diets on Ulithi Atoll. We thus investigated the cultivation of various crops mainly inthese four islets from Jan. 19 to 26, 2001. We then attempted to analyze the state of their dietwithin a short period by recording the contents of meals served at the home where we stayed on
mainly Mogmog Islet and by interviewing islet inhabitants.
We express our hearty thanks to the scientific research team sent to Ulithi Atoll in 2002
from the Kagoshima University Research Center for the Pacific Islands for their cooperation inthe diet survey.

Food Crop Production on Ulithi AtollAs on Yap Proper, taro patches are constructed on Mogmog and Falalop islets of Ulithi
1)
2)

Faculty of Agriculture, Kagoshima University. Kagoshima 890-0065, Japan.
Present address: 2–703, 1–3 Otsukadai-nishi 2-chome, Miyazaki 880-2105, Japan.

52O NJO Michio, N AKANO Kazutaka, TOMINAGA Shigeto, TSUDA Katsuo, ICHITANI Katsuyuki, and PARK Byoung-JaeAtoll, and the giant swamp taro is cultivated. Furthermore, in the three islets excluding Falalop
Islet, concrete frames with a depth of 60 cm were constructed, and several strains of taro werecultivated together in them. In these low islets with a thin soil layer, it is physically difficult tosecure agricultural water and construct a taro patch like a paddy field. This idea of constructing
concrete taro patch is therefore considered very promising. Details of taro cultivation are discussed separately in this paper for reference (N AKANO et al. 2003).
In Yap Proper, the giant swamp taro is the staple food, and there are taro patches everywhere on the island. On Ulithi Atoll, however, the giant swamp taro is used more often for traditional ceremonies, and the breadfruit is used as the common staple food in its place (M ERLIN
et al. 1996). Unlike taro, fructification of the breadfruit is seasonal, with fructification on UlithiAtoll being from April to August. The harvesting window is rather wide because species withvarious maturing dates are cultivated. Breadfruit is eaten almost every day during the harvest
season.
On these islets, breadfruit is stored in a unique method consisting of peeling the skin of thebreadfruit; cutting or slicing the fruit into appropriate sizes; wrapping them with several folds ofleaves of coconut palm, banana, or bread fruit; and burying them under ground. This produces
a kind of fermented food and enables underground storage for several months to more than twoyears by replacing the wrapping leaves once a month. Recently, vinyl has sometimes been used
for wrapping materials or a plastic box is used for storage instead of burying under ground. Thismethod enables inhabitants to eat the breadfruit harvested within a limited time throughout theyear without utilizing a special storage facility. The inhabitants can thus use breadfruit as an
emergency food for famines. This is a very good method for maximizing utilization of the foodsupply within the limited area of a small island.
The main crops cultivated in the four islets are shown in Table 1. Many trees were blown
down by Typhoon Ophelia in 1960. Since then, most coconut palm and breadfruit plants wereintroduced from Yap Proper and other islands. Varieties with favorable characteristics such as
high yield and rapid growth seem to have been selected and introduced. In contrast, few vegetaTable 1. Main crops cultivated in Ulithi Atoll
Family nameScientific nameEnglish name

AraceaAlocasia spp.
Colocasia esculenta
Cyrtosperma chamissonis
Xantosoma spp.

Giant taro
Taro
Giant swamp taro

CapparidaceaeCrataeva speciosa

Dioscoreaceae

Dioscorea alata
Dioscorea esculenta

Water yamLesser yam

Euphorbiaceae

Manihot esculenta

Cassava

Moracea

Artocarpus altilis

Bread fruit tree

MusaceaeMusa spp.

BanamaPalmaeCocos nucifera

Coconut palm

Rubiaceae

Morinda citrifolia

Indian mulberry

AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SUPPLY ON ULITHI ATOLL

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bles were cultivated and though Ipomoea aquatica can be seen, it is seldom utilized.

Survey of Meal Menus
We investigated meal menus primarily during our stay at our host’s home on Mogmog
Islet. The survey period was from Oct. 20 to 26, 2001. There were 36 meals; Fig. 1 shows thefrequency of each menu item. Because of the limited season and period of stay and considering
the possibility of serving a more varied menu than usual for guests, it seems difficult to draw any
general conclusions. However, from the viewpoint of the crops being cultivated, it is unlikelythat the diet varies much throughout the year. This survey will thus enable us to analyze diettrends on Ulithi Atoll if we consider the above-mentioned issues.

Fig. 1. The kind of food eaten in Ulithi Atoll＊: Data was collected from 20 to 26 Oct. 2001

The result shows that rice is the most frequently eaten food followed by fish and bananas.
The interviews also showed that the main staple is rice, except during the breadfruit harvest
season. This demonstrated a high degree of dependence on rice, the entire volume of which isimported.
For beverages, instant coffee was taken in a considerable volume comparable to that ofcoconut juice.
Though not an agricultural matter, the largest source of protein in these low islands is naturally fish. Besides fish, turtles are also collected in May to June and used for food.
This survey clarified that, while many foods such as fish and bananas are supplied within
the island, many other foods, such as rice and canned goods, must be imported.

Example of New Efforts
On Mogmog Islet, there is an organization called the “Mogmog Women’s Association,” inwhich all women on the islet participate. They developed new fields on two uninhabited
islets outside the main islet and are cultivating bananas, sweet potatoes, papaya, pumpkins,

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O NJO Michio, N AKANO Kazutaka, TOMINAGA Shigeto, TSUDA Katsuo, ICHITANI Katsuyuki, and PARK Byoung-Jaecassava, etc., under the guidance of the head of the Ulithi Agricultural Bureau, State of Yap. Thefields are managed jointly at a pace of one field per week. Cultivation on other islets wasundertaken because there is little land available on the main islet and highly fertile land can still
be found on remote islands. Varieties that were highly valued on Yap Proper and otherislets were selected and cultivated. Furthermore, chemical fertilizers were initially used but wereexpensive, so inhabitants have recently learned how to produce and utilize compost.
In areas where land is highly limited, such as atolls, the idea of developing fields on
unutilized and uninhabited islets is very promising and is considered a very useful reference for
examining the feasibility of increasing food production in the future.

Conclusion
On Ulithi Atoll, it is very difficult to acquire new farmland due to the limited land area
available. Nonetheless, because of the new efforts mentioned above, we conjecture that there isstill some room for agricultural development. The authors observed many unused spaces adjacent to human habitations on every islet. There is thus potential for vegetable cultivation in private gardens of various sizes. Pigs and chickens are also raised, and their excreta could be
utilized as compost in those private gardens. This would provide an example of sustainable agriculture on small islands.
On Mogmog Islet, electric power is available 24 hours a day owing to a recently installed
power generating facility. Refrigerators have subsequently been installed in some homes to enable longtime frozen storage of fish and meat. This will undoubtedly affect the future diets of inhabitants.
In any case, agricultural activities that destroy the very fragile balance in the atoll environments must be avoided at all costs; the attitude of initiating new efforts while maintaining thisbalance is important.

References
Australia Climate Data. 2002. “Ulithi” [on line]<http//www.woolpit.com/aus/city.php?city=ulithi>
M ERLIN, M., A. K UFAS, T. KEENE, and J. JUVIK. 1996. Plants, People and Ecology in Yap.
5+131 pp. Honolulu: East-West Center.
N AKANO, K. and ONJO M. 2003. An Overview of Aroid Cultivation on Atolls in the PacificOcean. Kagoshima University Research Center for the Pacific Islands Occasional Papers
39: 87–91.