The Management of Cassava Toxicity and Its Changing Sociocultural Context in the Kei Islands, Eastern Indonesia

Abstract

Over a period of 150 years the Kei Islands have undergone environmental change, from rainforest to dryland savanna woodland. This has been accompanied by a shift in starch staple from sago, tubers, and grain to cassava. We show how this has been an effective ecological adaptation with social ramifications, not least the adoption of bitter cassava as a cultural identity marker. One of the problems of bitter cassava diets where people have become dependent upon them in poor parts of the Old World tropics are the effects of toxicity. We show how through a combination of factors and strategies this has not been a major issue in the Kei Islands, and how through a government-assisted agricultural project, attempts are being made to build upon this successful transition. The viability of present trends are evaluated.

Keywords:

• cassava
• crop management
• cultural identity
• folk classification
• health
• Indonesia
• Kei Archipelago
• toxicity

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research has been funded by the ASEASUK (British Academy) South East Asia Committee. Fieldwork in Maluku was conducted under the auspices of Pattimura University within the terms of a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Kent. For their assistance with the research, the authors would like to thank, in Ambon: the provincial health office, Thomas Namsa, Daud Jalmaf, and Nico Far-Far; in Canterbury: Simon Platten and Rory McBurney; on Kei: staff at the kabupaten health office in Langgur and the Puskesmas in Debut and Elat; in Debut: Karel Ohoiwutun (Bapa Sekretaris, Debut) and his wife Lina, Tante Agu, Agus Namsa and his wife (Tin), Alfons (“Menyala”) Yamlean, Mama Biba Jamlean, John Letsoin, and Mama Lis; and Howard Bradbury and Gerard O'Brien for technical advice on the measurement of toxicity. The authors are also grateful for the constructive comments of three anonymous reviewers.

Notes

¹ More generally, see http://biology.anu.edu.au/hosted_sites/CCDN, the Web site of the Cassava Cyanide Diseases and Neurolathyrism Network (n.d.).

² All Kei terms are standardized using the orthography provided by Travis (1987).

³ For a description and pictures of a similar device in the Banda Islands see Ellen (1992, 123–124, figure 2; 129, figure 3a). For an account of cassava processing in Java at the beginning of the twentieth century see Heyne (1913, 107–108).