People and Culture in Oceania, 34: 55-78, 2018 Diversity of Banana Cultivars and their Usages in the Papua New Guinea Lowlands: A Case Study Focusing on the Kalapua Subgroup Shingo Odani,* Kaori Komatsu,** Kagari Shikata-Yasuoka,*** Yasuaki Sato,**** and Koichi Kitanishi***** The purpose of this study was to assess the diversity of banana cultivars and their usage in 3 lowland areas of Papua New Guinea, where bananas are a staple food. We focus on the kalapua subgroup, which is of genome group ABB. We found 3 subgroups of banana at the 3 research sites: the kalapua subgroup, a subgroup of cooking bananas other than kalapua, and a subgroup used as dessert bananas. We observed that kalapua subgroup cultivars and other subgroup cultivars are planted in separate gardens, likely because the growth rate and tolerance to climate differ between kalapua and other subgroup cultivars. A nutritional status assessment revealed that in the kalapua subgroup, nutrient levels, except for carbohydrates, are comparatively low. Thus, farmers classify and produce kalapua and other cultivars separately. Kalapua, which are known for their tolerance for both dry conditions and flooding, are cultivated as a sustainable energy supply. Other banana cultivars may be grown because of their nutritional composition, as a matter of preference, or as a means of cash income. Keywords: banana, Papua New Guinea, kalapua, taxonomy, farming system, nutrition 1. Introduction Plants of the genus Musa whose fruits are edible are generally called banana.1 Almost all bananas currently present originated from 2 wild species, Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. * Faculty of Letters, Chiba University, Japan. [e-mail: [email protected]] ** Faculty of Humanities, Hokkai-Gakuen University, Japan. [email: [email protected]] *** The Center for African Area Studies, Kyoto University, Japan. [email: [email protected]] **** Faculty of Design Technology, Osaka Sangyo University, Japan. [email: [email protected]] ***** Faculty of Global and Science Studies, Yamaguchi University, Japan. [email: [email protected]] 1 There are various other species of the genus Musa, from which the leaves or male buds are used for fibers, food, or ornaments. 56 S. Odani, K. Komatsu, K. Shikata-Yasuoka, Y. Sato, and K. Kitanishi These 2 wild species are diploid, and are conventionally described as AA (M. acuminata) and BB (M. balbisiana) banana plants. Cultivated bananas have different genome groups, such as diploid groups AA and AB; triploid groups AAA, AAB, and ABB; and tetraploid groups AAAA and ABBB. Wild M. acuminata naturally grows from New Guinea to Malaysia, and wild M. balbisiana naturally grows from northeastern India to the Philippines (Perrier et al., 2011). Edible bananas hybridized from wild Musa species, and acquired parthenocarpy. Humans spread banana plants to humid tropical areas in the world several thousand years ago. Westward, bananas reached Africa via the Arabian Peninsula 2,000 years ago at the latest, and eastward, they were spread along with taro, yam, and breadfruit trees in the earliest periods of migration to the Pacific Islands more than 3,000 years ago. After the 16th century, it is assumed that bananas reached the Americas and Caribbean Islands through Europe. The cultivation of banana and its different cultivars spread through these various movements. Denham et al. (2003), in an archaeological study of a site of early agriculture in the Kuk swamp, argued that the domestication of bananas goes back to about 7,000 years ago in New Guinea. Many recent studies integrating the fields of anthropology and archaeology have revealed plural origins of cultivation. Some of these studies indicated that the domestication of bananas in New Guinea was one of the earliest cases of domestication of the major crops in the world (Price and Bar-Yosef, 2011). Banana cultivation in New Guinea is an important area of research for the exploration of the origins of agriculture in human history and the distribution patterns of banana cultivars in the contemporary world. However, studies on bananas in New Guinea have been less numerous than those on sweet potatoes, upon which many people depend in New Guinea, or sago palms, which are a unique resource in Melanesia. A series of nutritional studies focused on the carotenoid content of these bananas (Englberger et al., 2006), and a few studies have focused on banana cultivars and farming systems in the Highlands fringe region of New Guinea (Dwyer and Minnegal, 1992; Odani, 2002; Kuchikura and Suda, 2011, 2012). There have been more ethnological studies on subsistence systems in Papua New Guinea (PNG) than in West New Guinea (the Papua and West Papua provinces of Indonesia). A team from the Australian National University (ANU) spent more than a decade on a study conducted to describe the food production and consumption systems throughout PNG and to generate national- level data on the volume of subsistence food crop production (Bourke and Harwood, 2009). The publications of the ANU team are the main data source that may be used to understand the historical and geographical distribution of traditional agriculture in PNG. Figure 1 shows the distribution of staple foods2 in PNG, based on data from “Food and Agriculture in Papua New Banana Cultivars in PNG 57 Figure 1. Distribution of Staple Foods in Papua New Guinea (Based on Bourke and Harwood, 2009: 198) Guinea.” The areas in which banana is a staple food can be divided into 4 parts: the northern part of Western Province, which is situated on the fringe of the central Highlands; the Markham River basin of Morobe Province and adjacent locations in Morobe Province, which contain the majority of our research sites; the coastal area of Central Province, which contains one of our research sites; and the northeast lowlands of the Gazelle Peninsula in East New Britain Province. Despite the availability of national-level data, there is limited detailed information regarding banana usage and the distribution of each cultivar in PNG. The purpose of this study was to clarify the diversity of banana cultivars and their usages in the areas where banana is a staple food. We chose 2 areas, the Markham River basin of Morobe Province and the coastal area of Central Province, from the 4 areas mentioned above.3 We focus on the kalapua4 subgroup, which is generally regarded as a distinct subgroup by the local people; its usage is different from that of the other subgroups. Kalapua is the name of this subgroup in both Melanesian Pidgin and some local languages in PNG. The genome group of the kalapua subgroup is ABB, and the shape of its fingers is unique: short and angled, with a thick peel. Local people regard the kalapua subgroup as having tolerance to both dry conditions and flooding; however, scientific analyses on this subgroup have never been conducted. Categorizations of this subgroup 2 This figure indicates only 3 major crops in PNG: sweet potato, sago, and banana. The blank zone in this Figure indicates the zone in which other crops, such as yam, are mainly produced, or where the variety of crops is high. More detail is presented in the ANU team’s publication. 3 Detailed descriptions of village agriculture for Morobe and Central provinces are given by Bourke et al. (2002) and Allen et al. (2002), respectively. 4 Vernacular words are italicized in this paper. 58 S. Odani, K. Komatsu, K. Shikata-Yasuoka, Y. Sato, and K. Kitanishi were not conducted in previous studies on the Highlands fringe region; therefore, it is thought that they are regarded by local people in the lowland regions, where banana is the staple food, as indispensable for their subsistence. The final goal of the study was the re-evaluation of the kalapua subgroup as an indigenous genetic resource by quantitatively analyzing their usage and providing local people with basic information to consider their subsistence activities and their rights to this indigenous genetic resource by themselves. In addition, by qualitatively describing the farming system, consumption, and market sales of not only the kalapua subgroup, but also other cultivars, we show the current situation and future prospects of banana usage at a local level in PNG. Clarification of the diversity of banana production and consumption in New Guinea, one of the supposed areas of banana origin, may provide indispensable data for the reconsideration of the existing archaeological analyses on banana domestication and the dissemination of bananas and global migration of humans. This research follows studies of bananas in Africa and Asia that a number of authors have conducted since the 1990s. These studies use a common format to describe cultivars and collect data on farming systems, usage, nutrition, and distribution, as well as characteristic topics in each area (Kitanishi et al., 2000; Kitanishi, 2003; Maruo, 2002; Hanawa et al., 2005; Komatsu et al., 2006; Komatsu, 2009). 2. Study Area and Methods 2.1 Study Area The main research area used for this study is Markham District, in Morobe Province. We generated supplementary data for 2 locations in Huon District, Morobe Province, and Kairuku-Hiri District, Central Province (Figure 2). We conducted field research in Morobe Province from 8-11 August 2017, and in Central Province from 15-17 August 2017. Morobe Province, located in the northeastern part of PNG, contains the Province capital, Lae, which is the second largest city in PNG and the center of politics and economy in the northern coastal area. Morobe Province consists of 9 districts, one of which is Markham District, located in the middle basin of the Markham River. The climate there is slightly drier than in much of the Province, and it has clear wet and dry seasons (Figure 3). The vegetation in the Markham Valley is a mosaic of grassland and bushland.