Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 13, Number 11, 1 November 1996 — U.H. study explores ways to turn taro pest into gourmet food [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

U.H. study explores ways to turn taro pest into gourmet food

By Barbra An Pleadwell -- C » ki'i&i āi^5iiiii,i|i'4;'jt .* ■* *:* 'i.'*:a'>*

Finding apple snails in your kalo (tard) ean mean disaster for your lo'i. In an hour's time, apple snails ean digest the lau (leaf) and leave only the hā (stem). Seekmg a double win, the University ōf Hawai'i Sea Grant program financed a study to help taro farmers not only protect their lo'i , but raise the snails for profit. "When we started working in Keanae (Maui), we discovered that the applesnail was more destructive than we had imagined," Dr. Harry Ako said. "It kills young taro plants, destroys any keikis that attempt to grow from older plants, and damages taro corms that may be exposed." Ako, professor with the University of Hawai'i College of Tropical Agriculture, conducted the apple snail study called "Feedlot for the Hawaiian

Escargot." Many farmers give up, Ako said. The taro industry generates between $2 and

$3 million a year statewide, and has growth potential since taro is in short supply. Several methods have been used for controlling the apple snail. • Ducks eat snails, but they need to be eollected and caged at night

or other animals will attack Lhpm

• Copper sulfate kills

snails, but complete eradication is not usually achieved. • Draining the lo'i keeps the snails away from the taro because they stay buried in the mud where it is moist. But draining is very laborious and the product is affected. • Trapping the snails with bait may be the most effective. In the study, three hundred snails were trapped for eaeh bait left in the lo'i for two hours. "The priority of this study is to find a way to protect the crop from the snail," Ako said. But the Sea Grant funding also assessed the apple snail as a food product. It costs 40 cents to raise a pound of snails. Some farmers are selling the

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apple snail for $6 a pound. It is estimated that if a single restaurant were to feature the apple snail on their

menu, they would need 9,000 snails a month (approximately 250 pounds). Because the snails are not market size when they are trapped, they need to be grown before they ean be sold. Market size is fifteen grams (the size of a kukui nut). The snails are typically 5 grams when they are trapped. The snails crrnw fivp oram« a

month and are very prolific.

In the Sea Grant study a 100-gallon aquaculture tank produced about 70 pounds of snails a month.

Restaurants have prepared the apple snails as "Hawaiian escargot." Preliminary taste tests conductec as part of the study indicate the dish is dehcious. Some taro farmers are opposed to raising the snails alongside their lo'i.

"They say Tm a taro farmer, not a snail farmer,'" Ako said. "We just want to share our information with

them. At least they ean benefit from the information about trapping. If they don't want to raise the snails, they ean kill them or turn them over to someone who would like to raise

them. "W e reason that if a farmer places the bait in the lo'i in the morning, and removes the snails in the afternoon, the snails will eventually cease to be a problem." Ako and his associates would like to work with taro farmers in Hakipu'u, Waiāhole and Kualoa Ranch to

further study the trapping methods used in Keanae. Interested farmers should eall Ako at (808) 956-2012.

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— Dr. Harry Ako University of Hawai'i

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Farmers in Keanae, Maui raise the apple snail as part of a U.H. Sea Grant Program study.

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