27
南太平洋海域調査研究報告 No.54（2014年12月）
OCCASIONAL PAPERS No.54（December 2014）

Food Security in Small Islands:
Case Studies in the Federated States of Micronesia
YAMAMOTO Sota
Research Center for the Pacific Islands, Kagoshima University

Abstract
In the 1950s, people in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) still ate a “traditional” diet based on
starchy staple crops and marine resources, but this began to be replaced by imported food such as rice, flour,
sugar, fatty foods, and other processed foods after the United States Department of Agriculture started its
supplementary feeding program in the 1960s. This phenomenon accelerated after a Compact of Free
Association was signed between the FSM and the United States in 1986. Since then, the FSM has faced
serious public health problems due to this new diet and other lifestyle changes. On small islands and atolls,
imported foods and medicines may not arrive for more than a month if a typhoon or an oil crisis occurs. In
this study, a detailed study of household food consumption is shown to represent the present situation offood security on Piis-Paneu Island (Chuuk Atoll, Chuuk State) and Pingelap Island (Pohnpei State).
Keywords: banana, breadfruit, canned fish and meat, ethnobotany, MIRAB, root and tuber crops (Alocasia,Colocasia, Cyrtosperma, Xanthosoma, etc.)

Introduction
The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) consists of four states (Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei,and Kosrae, from west to east) composed of approximately 600 small islands, which amountto an area of approximately 700 km2. However, the FSM is spread over more than 2,600,000
km2 of the Pacific Ocean and spans approximately 2,500 km from east to west. In the 1950speople in the FSM still ate a “traditional” diet based on starchy staple crops (e.g., breadfruit,tuber and root crops, banana, etc.) and marine resources (e.g., fish, octopus, clams, turtles,etc.) (MURAI 1954), but this began to be replaced by a diet rich in rice, flour, sugar, fattyfoods, and other imported or processed foods after the United States Department ofAgriculture started its supplementary feeding program in the 1960s (ENGLBERGER et al. 2003).
This phenomenon accelerated after a Compact of Free Association was signed between theFSM and the United States in 1986 (HEZEL 2004). Since then, the FSM has faced serious

28YAMAMOTO Sota

public health problems due to this new diet and other lifestyle changes, and the government,
non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and researchers have attempted to promote a return
to local foods because of their higher carotenoid and vitamin contents compared to modern
foods (e.g., ENGLBERGER et al. 2009). However, the outlook for these programs is still bleak.
In the present paper, a detailed study of household food consumption is shown to represent thepresent situation of food security in Piis-Paneu Island, Chuuk Atoll, Chuuk State and Pingelap
Island, Pingelap Atoll, Pohnpei State, the FSM. This paper includes results of presented
papers at “Research and Education linkage between Pattimura University and Kagoshima
University”, at “the 113th and the 116th annual meeting of Japanese Society for TropicalAgriculture”, at “the ISISA Islands of the World XIII”, and at “the 9th International
Conference on Small Island Cultures.”

Materials and Methods
Food consumption survey was conducted to three households in Piis-Paneu Island fromSeptember 2012 to August 2013 and to two households in Pingelap Island from August 2012
to January 2014 with Questionnaire sheets (Fig. 1). These households were selected to survey
dietary patterns because of an average family size and income. Questionnaire items are as
follows: starchy staples (rice, breadfruit, Cyrtosperma merkusii, banana, others), marine
resources (fresh fish, dried fish, canned fish, others), meat (fresh, canned), others (instantnoodle, coconut, vegetable, fruit). Frequency of each item in one month is calculated using afollowing formula: Frequency (%) = (total number of appearances of each item / total numberof meals in one month) × 100.

Results and Discussions
Imported food (rice, canned fish and meat, instant noodles, etc.)
Rice consumption of households in Piis-Paneu Island is very high (PIS-A: 99.3%, PIS-B:96.3%, PIS-C: 72.1%, 12-month average) compared to that in Pingelap Island (PLP-A: 65.7%,PLP-B: 33.2%, 18-month average) (Table 1). Households in Piis-Paneu Island also used
imported food more frequently than those in Pingelap Island, e.g., canned fish (PIS-A: 78.3%,PIS-B: 34.6%, PIS-C: 23.4%, PLP-A: 2.8%, PLP-B: 1.0%), canned meat (PIS-A: 52.1%,PIS-B: 2.3%, PIS-C: 8.1%, PLP-A: 1.4%, PLP-B: 0.5%), and instant noodles (PIS-A: 87.4%,PIS-B: 51.2%, PIS-C: 43.1%, PLP-A: 22.5%, PLP-B: 9.9%). This is partly because of thelimited access to Pingelap Atoll. Villagers in Pingelap Island said that a public ship operated

29
Food Security in Small Islands: Case Studies in the Federated States of Micronesia

Pingelap Atoll1km

Federated States ofMicronesia

Deke I.
Sukoru I.
Pingelap I.

Chuuk AtollPiis-Paneu I.

Weno I.

Oceania

20km

2000kmFig. 1. Location of Piis-Paneu Island, Chuuk Atoll, Chuuk State and Pingelap Island,Pingelap Atoll, Pohnpei State, the Federated States of Micronesia.

Table 1. Frequency (%) of food consumption of households in Piis-Paneu Island,Chuuk State and Pingelap Island, Pohnpei State.

Piis-Paneu Island
Sep. 2012 to Aug. 2013(12-month average)
averag)(12-month
PIS-A
PIS-B
PIS-C
Starchy staples
Rice
Breadfruit
Cyrtosperma
BananaOthersMarine resources
Fresh fish
Dried fish
Canned fish
OthersMeatFresh
CannedOthersNoodleVegetable
Fruit

Pingelap Island
Aug. 2012 to Jan. 2014
18-month average)
average(18-monthPLP-A
PLP-B

99.3
90.2
41.5
62.4
66.7

96.3
37.6
10.1
32.6
0.0

72.1
77.3
13.5
49.1
11.2

65.7
20.4
18.7
41.2
5.2

33.2
13.7
16.7
22.5
1.5

81.1
42.9
78.3
42.1

68.5
34.1
34.6
12.2

69.2
33.4
23.4
29.0

67.4
0.2
2.8
1.2

54.9
0.1
1.0
4.7

27.5
52.1

30.5
2.3

12.5
8.1

5.4
1.4

2.7
0.5

87.4
67.9
59.7

51.2
0.5
4.5

43.1
16.5
11.9

22.5
1.227.7

9.90.1
9.7

30
YAMAMOTO Sota

by the government (approximately USD 12 per person from Pohnpei Island, the main islandof the FSM, to Pingelap Island) came to this island only two times from August 2012 toAugust 2013. There is a 300 m airstrip in Pingelap Island, and Caroline Islands Air serves alight aircraft (for eight persons) to the island, but a flight schedules is irregular and one way
costs USD 190. If people would like to send some stuff to Pingelap Island via Caroline
Islands Air, it costs USD 0.75 per pound, which is very expensive to villagers. Compared toPingelap Island, people in Piis-Paneu Island can easily access to Weno Island, the main islandof Chuuk Atoll, and buy any kind of imported food there.
Local food (breadfruit, root and tuber crops, marine resources, etc.)
All households in Piis-Paneu and Pingelap islands ate fruits of breadfruit with highfrequency in especially May to September because of the seasonality of breadfruit. Preserved
breadfruit was also used. If they cannot get breadfruit, they ate banana and/or Cyrtosperma
merkusii. The frequency of use of marine resources was not very different among months;
fresh fish (PIS-A: 81.1%, PIS-B: 68.5%, PIS-C: 69.2%, PLP-A: 67.4%, PLP-B: 54.9%), dried
fish (PIS-A: 42.9%, PIS-B: 34.1%, PIS-C: 33.4%, PLP-A: 0.2%, PLP-B: 0.1%), and othermarine resources such as clam, octopus, land crab, sea turtle etc. (PIS-A: 42.1%, PIS-B:12.2%, PIS-C: 29.0%, PLP-A: 1.2%, PLP-B: 4.7%).
Good candidates for food security crops
It is found that people in two islands still use crops and marine resources obtained fromthe island (or atoll) with high frequency. However, people in Piis-Paneu and Pingelap islands
somewhat depended on the imported rice. Moreover, the frequency of other imported foodsuch as canned fish, canned meat, and instant noodles was high in Piis-Paneu Island. On smallislands and atolls, imported foods and medicines may not arrive for more than a month if atyphoon or an oil crisis occurs. Therefore, it is very important to re-discover plants alreadynaturalized on each island, for food security. From this perspective, Alocasia macrorrhizos
and Tacca leontopetaloides are a very important starchy crop for emergency in Piis-Paneu andPingelap islands. However, a young generation has never eaten them and/or does not know
how to cook (Fig. 2). It is necessary to document how to eat these plants for the nextgeneration.
One more important candidate plant for food security is chili peppers (Capsicumfrutescens), which can serve not only as a spice (fruits) but also as a vegetable (leaves) rich incarotenoids and vitamins (RESOURCES COUNCIL OF THE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AGENCY2001). People in Piis-Paneu and Pingelap islands don’t often eat vegetables (PIS-A: 67.9%,PIS-B: 0.5%, PIS-C: 16.5%, PLP-A: 1.2%, PLP-B: 0.1%). However, it is known that leavesof chili peppers are used in the FSM as a vegetable (Table 2). YAMAMOTO (2011) reported

31
Food Security in Small Islands: Case Studies in the Federated States of Micronesia

Fig. 2. Alocasia macrorrhizos (upper left, upper right, lower left) and Tacca leontopetaloides(lower right) in Piis-Paneu Island.
Table 2. Use of leaves of chili peppers (Capsicum frutescens) in Chuuk, Pohnpei, and Kosrae states(YAMAMOTO 2011, 2012, 2013b).

Use of leaves of C. frutescens
as vegetableYes

No TotalFrequency of use of leaves of C. frutescens per
Week
Severaltimes

MonthOnetime

Several
times

Year

One
time

Severaltimes

Chuuk State
1938

0

7

5

4

3

Romanum

19 [SO:18, FR: 4]*1
15 [SO:15, FR: 0]

41901248Piis15 [SO:13, FR: 2]

4

190

4

1

7

4

Sub-total

49 [SO:46, FR: 6]277601281515Pohnpei

23 [SO: 23, FR: 2]

1740

007106Mokil

20 [SO: 20, FR: 1]020

38360Pingelap

35 [SO : 35, FR: 2]

136

5133

140Sub-total

78 [SO: 78, FR : 5]

18

96

821

1330

6Kosrae17 [SO: 12, FR:12]522

103310Total

144 [SO:136, FR:23]

50

194

933

24

48

31

Weno

Pohnpei State

Kosrae State*1

usedleaves
leavesfor
forSO:
SO:soupsoupandandFR:
FR:fried
friedvegetables.
vegetables.Results
Resultsfrom
frommultiple
multipleanswer.
answer.
[] : They
they used*2C. frutescens
frutescens..
: Qustions
questions for people who eat leaves of C.

*2

32
YAMAMOTO Sota

that, in Pohnpei State, the frequency of using the leaves is much higher in remote atolls, suchas Mokil and Pingelap, than on the main island, Pohnpei Island. This phenomenon was also
confirmed in Chuuk Atoll (YAMAMOTO 2012). It is known that the lifestyle on Pohnpei Islandis more modernized than that on Mokil and Pingelap atolls (KAWAI et al. 2010), which seems
to have affected the use of C. frutescens leaves. YAMAMOTO (2009) also reported that theindigenous people of Taiwan seem to rarely use the leaves of C. frutescens because they canbuy other vegetables at markets. These results suggest that the leaves of C. frutescens may be
used less in modern society. To improve the situation of food security and public health on
Pacific islands, there should be a renewed focus on these naturalized plants on each island.
Maluku Province in Indonesia, where Pattimura University is, has the very similar
geographical characteristic to the FSM. It is very important to compare the data of this paperwith research results/resources in Pattimura University from the viewpoint of food security insmall islands of the Asia-Pacific region. I have great hopes of a further collaboration researchwith Pattimura University in the near future.

References
ENGLBERGER, L., MARKS, G. C. and FITZGERALD, M. H. 2003. Insights on Food and Nutritionin the Federated States of Micronesia: A Review of the Literature. Public Health
Nutrition, 61: 5-17.
ENGLBERGER, L., SCHIERLE, J., HOFMANN, P., LORENS, A., ALBERT, K., LEVENDUSKY, A.,
PAUL, Y., LICKANETH, E., ELYMORE, A., MADDISON, M., DEBRUM, I., NEMRA, J., ALFRED,J., VANDER VELDE, N. and KRAEMER, K. 2009. Carotenoid and Vitamin Content ofMicronesian Atoll Foods: Pandanus (Pandanus tectorius) and Garlic Pear (Crataevaspeciosa) Fruit. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, 22: 1-8.
HEZEL, F. X. 2004. Health in Micronesia: Over the Years. Micronesian Counselor Issue 53, 15pp., Micronesian Seminar, Pohnpei, FSM.
KAWAI, K., KUWAHARA, S., ONJO, M., NODA, S., NISHIMURA, A., TOMINAGA, S. andNAGASHIMA, S. 2010. The Influence of Environmental Changes on the Micronesian
Area: A Case Study of Islands in Pohnpei State, Federated States of Micronesia. South
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MURAI, M. 1954. Nutrition Study in Micronesia. Atoll Research Bulletin, 27: 1-239.
RESOURCES COUNCIL OF THE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AGENCY (ed.) 2001. Standard Tablesof Food Composition in Japan, 464 pp., Kagawa Nutrition University Press, Tokyo,
Japan (in Japanese).
YAMAMOTO, S. 2009. Use of Capsicum frutescens by the Indigenous Peoples of Taiwan.
Studies on Indigenous Peoples of Taiwan, 13: 39-75 (in Japanese).

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Food Security in Small Islands: Case Studies in the Federated States of Micronesia

YAMAMOTO, S. 2011. Use of Capsicum frutescens on Pohnpei Island, Mokil Atoll, andPingelap Atoll, Federated States of Micronesia. People and Culture in Oceania, 27:
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Islands, Indonesia,10-13 July, 2013.
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