Taro Links

 

Here is a  list of taro sites... an example of what's out there....

If you find anything else of interest, send the link to admin@tga.cjb.net

 

Australian  Taro Sites

Taro Pest Website   Indescribable.... for value and presentation, information and use of IT skills. Many governments IT's could learn from this one... all that's missing is AQIS/BA and the mentality of, ilk like  Mr Howards government  ...on the virus page...

DPI&F: Taro-Production The information on Taro production in this note is based on field observations, local growers experience and literature from elsewhere as little research has been conducted in Queensland. Needed article for the aspiring local growers..

 

DPI&F: Taro-The Plant Taro belong to the family Araceae and comprise a number of species that produce edible tubers or corms. Another very helpful summary

 

RIRDC Taro Fertiliser Trials The recent report from Mark Traynor NT (PDF file)  Must have growers  resource in assessing fertiliser requirements. We've got a rave on this in our Taro Topics Issue 8

RIRDC Select  Markets for Taro, Sweet Potato and Yam 2003  Priceless publication from RIRDC, covers extensive and in depth summary of taro cultivation, production, trade and potentials in the Asian-Pacific region, including Australia, USA, Hawaii and China. Well researched and worth the read,  including the global overview.

 

FAO-Taro cultivation in Asia and the Pacific    while not Australian, but in conjunction with the previous RIRDC link, the FAO gives an informative and detailed overview of Asian-Pacific and brief global taro production. Interesting is Africa's the worlds largest taro producer (4,452,000tonnes), followed by China (1,387,000t), PNG has (160,000t)  Fiji  around (21,000t)..compared to us (Australia) at around 1,500t. This is a multi-page document. (arrows  at the top, load the next Chapter) covers a lot of material/aspects on taro

                                                                                      

 RIRDC-Submission to 3rd Taro Symposium    Just dug this one up... from Puff the magic dragon....and complete with the  celebrity name  ....Giving predictions for the future of the Australian taro industry, ...????  ....more mystical taro magical  mushroom stuff...            delivered by ...the Wisp of the Smoke....???

 

Planthoppers in Australia  and origins of taro P.J. Matthews. This ones a gem, about a guy in the early days, who set upon the wild frontiers of Far North Queensland/PNG searching  and finding the secrets of  Planthoppers and wild taro, against the odds of scientific belief and tropical man eaters. A  Classic...      this is academic observation at its best...                           Long live ....P.J Matthews...

 

ABC TV Gardening program  Does a short splurt on taro in the home garden with Jerry Coleby-Williams.

 

Taro School Project     One for our budding young growers !!! ....and that AQIS and Biosecurity Australia should have looked at....                to-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o.........  late !!!

 

Biosecurity Australia hands slapped over citrus canker  Sorry folks... couldn't help this one... Media release on how BA was going to pull it's socks up... and never did !!! You'll note it's at the bottom of our Australian links pile... and I hope BA notes it too.... How is it remotely possible, for  the .....weight of airheads   ...to sink so low!!
 

 

 

 

Hawaiian Taro Sites

Hawaiian Biological Survey Large lists of Hawaiian taro varieties. If you don't have Java VM check out the Names Database for the Index. 600 listed cultivars from a pool of 2000 and that's just Hawaii..   Taro has many footprints..

 

Hawaiian Research University of Hawaii Lots of good material here..... A goldmine  ...Grab it before some goon  ....slaps this mine with a patent and property rights!!!!

 

Hanalei Taro Farms A brief overview of Hawaiian farm and  Links                                         Probably these won't werk..... to find out why ... try this one

 

National Tropical Botanical Garden Botany of taro

 

Wetlands Taro Cultivation and planting and maintenance and harvesting and processing  Probably these won't werk either..... to find out why ... try this one

 

Taro Culture in Hawaii Background of the origins of taro... the culture and legends. Very nice

 

Hawaii Taro Page General listing & info... though some links don't work..

 

Taro Dream A  food product site that relays the nutritional merits in a kind of colourful taro mushroom wonderland.  Medicinal style..                    with testimonials...       this is Awesome...

 

Canoe Plants of Ancient Hawaii  Good site  of old taro stories/culture 

 

Crop Production Guidelines  University of Hawaii cultivation and production notes

Ethnobotanical Leaflet  of Taro, taxonomy etc ..from Southern Illinois University of Carbondale, USA

 

Farmers Bookshelf: Taro growing notes     more from University of Hawaii

 

Homepage of Juan Wilson   Nice  homepage of taro patch and pictures

 

What is Taro  Covers the species of Colocasia with pictures from the Hawaii Bishop Museum.

Calories of Taro  Gives small table breaking down 85gm taro into   90 calories, fat free and with added vitamins. Site covers nutritional values of other fruits & veges

 

 

 

 

 

Pacific and Other Taro Sites

3rd Taro Symposium Background and purpose of the Fiji pre-Symposium

3rd Taro Symposium Held in Nadi, Fiji 2003

 

Taro Beetles

http://www.spc.int/pps/regional_taro_beetle_management_project.htm

http://www.spc.int/pps/old%2Dindex.htm

 

CABI Data Sheet on Taro Leaf Blight

http://www.phytid.org/CPC/Data/P.%20colocasiae.htm

 

 

Morphological and isoenzyme variability of taro (Colocasia esculenta L. Schott) germplasm in Cuba...  Rocket science ....suitable for propellerheads

http://www.ipgri.cgiar.org/pgrnewsletter/article.asp?lang=es&id_article=6&ID_ISSUE=126 

 

Brief short description of taro with pictures

http://waynesword.palomar.edu/vege1.htm 

 

 

Lengthy document about waste and toxins managements, rising sea levels etc   in the Pacific 2003, ....if you're so inclined. The Islands have fragile ecosystems ... especially since colonialists arrived. Was OK for thousands of years before that.... Anyways, somewhere in here is  taro... here it is, Page 20

"Of particular concern is the widespread use of DDT in Irian Jaya, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands in malaria control programmes. In Papua New Guinea, Western Samoa and Fiji, Gramoxone (the deadly herbicide paraquat), which is commonly dispensed in beer or soda bottles and indiscriminately used on coffee plantations, home gardens and taro plots, is the most common suicide "potion", as well as being responsible for many accidental deaths throughout the islands (Keith-Reid, 1981)".

and here Page 26:

"The increasingly widespread indiscriminate use of herbicides such as the very toxic paraquat (Gramoxone) can only serve to destroy valuable organic matter. Its use is particularly widespread in taro plantations in Fiji and Rarotonga. "

http://www.sidsnet.org/docshare/other/20031105164530_WASTED_ISLANDS_-_Draft_Thaman_et_al._for_CD_28.10.03.doc

 

 

An ACIAR article on Taro Beetle affecting Banana root crops in Fiji. One we bombed and bashed AQIS/BA with.

http://www.aciar.gov.au/web.nsf/att/ACIA-6RC955/$file/Taro%20protection%20Partners%20Aut%2006%20PDF%20files-2.pdf

 

 

Quite a nifty site from the Solomon Islands. It did have taro in here somewhere, but here's some on Taro Snail. The Kastom Gaden Association has a leading role in keeping traditions alive along with the help of voluntary and foreign aid workers. Not often does subsistence areas have a direct website presence, and interesting to see of their lifestyle...

http://www.terracircle.org.au/index.html

 

 
 
 
 

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