Yam market waiting for the right taste [1]
Tuesday, December 30, 2003 - 12:00. Updated on Thursday, February 18, 2016 - 18:11.
From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 18, no. 3, December 2003.
By George Cocker.
Don’t fumigate our treasured ‘ufi! plead Tongan agricultural exporters.
Tonga’s export market for its treasured yams would increase if Tonga and its main trading partners New Zealand and Australia could agree on ways to eliminate fumigation for this product, say exporters in Nuku‘alofa.
Some, like Ma‘ake Faka‘osifolau, believe that they can develop a method of preparing yams so quarantine inspectors will not need to fumigate shipments, and then the market for yams will increase to a very satisfactory level.
Ma‘ake’s last three shipments of yams to New Zealand and Australia were fumigated, but it caused the yams to rot very quickly and as a result he suffered, “a tremendous loss of more than $40,000 pa‘anga”.
He says the problem is that even though exporters follow the Tongan quarantine procedure of preparing yams, which are passed by the Tongan quarantine authority, the overseas ports fumigate the shipments.
He explains that when yams are fumigated they rot within two weeks. Therefore he must export small amounts in fear that they might be fumigated and not all would be sold and would be a waste.
“Also yam tastes awful when fumigated and even though people buy it, but it’s not that demanding.”
But Ma‘ake knows that Tongans love their yams with a passion, and he has no doubts that if there were an agreement on a way yams should be prepared to avoid fumigation then there would be an increase in export sales.
Ma‘ake said, “buyers complain the yams taste bad and that is the cause of price reduction. They are using problems associated with fumigation as an excuse to have prices reduced.”
Prices fell from NZ$50 to around NZ$30 for 25 kg of yam forcing him to reduce his export quantity from more than 30 tonnes last year to just 24 tonnes this year.
He adds this is a big market overseas and is the only way to boost it is to have a stabilized export system put in force, then there could be a pricing agreement. This would be beneficial for them as the competition here in Tonga is suffocating growers.
Skin
According to quarantine Senior Agriculture Officer, Halafihi Tuifua, the problem with yam is that is is exported with skin, unlike taro and manioc, which has the skin peeled.
New Zealand and Australia quarantine uses a method of randomly picking out 600 units and inspecting it for rot, insects or soil.
Halafihi said that the most likely problem was with the soil, as sometimes the soil was still stuck to the yam and this may trigger fumigation. The only way that yams could be exported and not fumigated was by peeling the skin, he said.
Although Ma‘ake sees some problems with yams peeled as it would need to be frozen and the outer layer will turn red he thought it might be a solution, “if the governments agree that if yams are peeled there would be no fumigation, that would be fine because that way exporters could increase their prices to the standard level and supply the market.”.
Since yam is a treasured meal for Tongans it will be a success, he said.