| Description |
The Tongan farming system is essentially an agro-forestry system of bush or grass fallow with cultivated coconut palms and other useful trees such as Bischovia javanica (used in the coloring and dying of tapa cloth), Santalum yasi (used in sandalwood perfume), Artocorpus altilis (breadfruit fruit trees) and Morinda citrifolia (used for medicinal purposes) creating a multi-story system for multiple cropping. The traditional staple crops of yams (Dioscorea spp), taro (Colocasia esculenta), sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) and cassava (Manihot esculenta) dominate agricultural production and household consumption. Tongans have evolved a highly productive complex farming system which exploits good soils and climate without fertilizer. Basically, the traditional Tongan farming system is one main cropping cycle but was highly modified by Tongan forefathers to suit individual preferences, food security, nutritional requirements, and sustainability and meet sociological obligations. |
