Artificial Food Storage Cavern for Improving the Storability of Taro and Sweet Potato Produced in the Northern Mariana Islands

Non-Technical Summary: Taro (Colocasia esculenta) and sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) in the NMI are representative specialty crops that are cultivated only during the rainy harvesting season. During the post-harvest period, fresh produce keeps losing its quality and a large portion of these produce is either fed to livestock or given away, while these crops are hardly found during the non-harvesting season. In order to supply these specialty crops into the local market during the non-harvesting season, it is essential to find and apply pertinent and sustainable post-harvesting practices and practical storage technologies in the NMI. One of energy saving, environmentally friendly food storage technologies is the application of an artificial food storage cavern. In the proposed project, availability and sustainability of the food storage cavern in the NMI will be investigated and verified through international collaboration, underground space technology seminars, and public hearings with local farmers. Based on this collaboration and networking, the Standard Research and Extension Project will be planned and prepared to study the profitability and sustainability of food storage cavern to extend the shelf-life of various crops in the NMI. The objectives of this project are 1) to organize expert group to discuss with selection of an artificial food storage cavern suitable for the NMI, 2) to provide valuable information about food storage cavern utilization to the specialty crop stakeholders and farmers in the CNMI, and 3) to develop a future quality project to contribute to a long-term profitability and sustainability of specialty crop preservation and distribution system. <P> Approach: Justification for the meeting: Due to high average ambient temperature in the NMI, the storage temperature must be lowered to prevent biological and chemical deterioration and extend shelf-life of taro and sweet potato. However, it is impractical to apply the low temperature storage operated by electric power since the heightened cost of running electricity on these tropical islands are hardly predictable and affordable due to the instability of international crude oil price. It is very important to find efficient post-harvest practices and preservation methods and apply these methods to extend shelf-life of specialty crops in the NMI. Up to date, any kind of food storage cavern has not been introduced to the NMI and neighboring islands in the western Pacific region even if this food preservation method is not one of the latest and high preservation technologies. In the proposed project, a group of experts including food scientist, botanist, food storage cavern experts as well as farmers and stakeholders will have meetings together and identify research and extension needs in order to apply the future quality research and extension project. Their activities are following as: 1) Dr. Jang Ho Kim, Project Director-Food Scientist, NMC-CREES - The director of the proposed project will play roles to coordinate meetings, teleconferences, and visitations of collaborating institutions and food storage cavern sites. The project director will manage the entire project, organize an expert group on post-harvest practice and food storage cavern, and coordinate meetings and seminars on specialty crop storage caverns. 2) Dr. Dilip Nandwani, Botanist, NMC-CREES - The botanist and plant pathologist will provide technical assistance for preventing germination of taro and sweet potato and maintaining the quality of these specialty crops. 3) Dr. Gyu-Sang Lee, Senior Researcher, Korea Rural Community Corporation - Dr. Lee is the expert of the underground food storage cavern and has a great deal of research experiences in this area. The expert group organized in the NMI will join to collaborate with this food storage cavern expert in Korea and visit to several food storage caverns with him. 4) Mr. Felix Cavo, Agricultural Consultant, NMC-CREES Rota Instructional Site - The key project personnel will assist to obtain public opinion on the food storage cavern in Rota. 5) Mr. Isidoro Cabrera, Agricultural Consultant, NMC-CREES - Mr. Cabrera is one of the founders of Saipan Sabalu Market Farmers Group and will assist to obtain public opinion on the food storage cavern in Saipan. 6) Mr. Manny Pangelinan, Agricultural Special Assistant, NMI DLNR - The agricultural special assistant for the governor will play an important role to communicate the expert group with the local government agency, DLNR. 7) Mrs. Connie Torres, Treasurer, Saipan Sabalu Market Farmers Group - Mrs. Torres will help the expert group to communicate with the local farmers co-ops, Saipan Sabalu Market Association.