Yap Agricultural Experiment Station

Our scientists work on projects that directly impact the people of Yap. ....

PCC Land Grant staff train and install a soil probe in Yap

February 14, 2024

During their attendance at the Plan of Work meeting in Yap from February 10-17, 2024, PCC Land Grant Vice President Dr. Christopher Kitalong, along with Director Lyndon Masami, Senior Extension Agent Elchung Hideyos, and Field Assistant McKnight McArthur, was involved in a climate change demonstration project. Elchung and McKnight demonstrated and trained CRE staff from FSM and RMI on using this all-in-one soil probe device. This soil probe measures weather, soil, hydro’s, salinity, etc. data. This data from the probe will help improve agriculture management practices and contribute to the long-term productivity and sustainability of taro cultivation systems, especially in the face of climate change. McKnight did a demonstration training on how to build the probe for the other islands. Elchung gave a presentation explaining the different parts of the soil probe, and she was also able to train the other extension agents on how to use the app to collect data and access the cloud. PCC-CRE already has 10 probes installed all around Palau from Kayangel, Ngeremlengui, Melekeok, Airai, Ngermid, Ngerbeched, Peleliu, Angaur, and even Hatohobei. This trip to Yap added the number 11th probe. Expanding this tool to the other CREs in FSM and RMI will give us a better understanding and comparison of taro cultivations in the Micronesian region to support our community in the face of climate change.

(PCC staff pictured from left to right: Director Lyndon Masami, Field Assistant McKnight McArthur, Senior Extension Agent Elchung Hideyos, and Vice President Dr. Christopher Kitalong)

(Field Assistant McKnight McArthur (center), demonstrating how to set up the soil probe to Senior Extension Agent Lajkit Rufus (middle) and CMI Food Technology Researcher Tebio Tamton )

(Field Assistant McKnight McArthur (left), demonstrating how to set up the probe to COM -FSM Pohnpei CRE Coordinator Trisden Elias (right))

(Installed Soil probe in a Taro patch in Yap)

Focus on Food Helps Solve Climate Change

February 19, 2020

Steven Young-Uhk
Director, Cooperative Research and Extension, College of Micronesia-FSM

A paper co-authored by Dr. Murukesan Krishnapillai (Research Scientist at Cooperative Research and Extension, College of Micronesia-FSM, Yap Campus) released today by the journal Nature Food presents a new global food system approach to climate change research that brings together agricultural production, supply chains, and consumption. When these activities are considered together, they represent 21 to 37 percent of total human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, the paper notes. It says that this new approach also enables a fuller assessment of the vulnerability of the global food system to increasing droughts, intensifying heatwaves, heavier downpours, and exacerbated coastal flooding. Food system responses thus play a major role in both adapting to and mitigating climate change, the authors assert.

The authors of the paper worked together on the Food Security chapter of the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Climate Change and Land. They represent a wide range of food systems from around the world, from major commodity and livestock producers to smallholder farming systems.

“The global food system approach represents a significant advance in helping producers and consumers plan effective and well-integrated climate change responses,” said Cynthia Rosenzweig, the lead author and head of the Climate Impacts Group at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

Concurrent with the paper, FAO is releasing today new emission statistics for the period 1990-2017 that provide the shares of agriculture and related land use in total emissions from all economic sectors, for all countries (http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/EM).

“To address sustainable development and climate challenges, the food system approach helps countries implement a range of context-specific responses on adaptation and mitigation,” said Cheikh Mbow, one of the co-authors and director of Future Africa.

“The food system is under pressure not only from climate change but also from non-climate stressors such as population growth and demand for animal-sourced products. These climate and non-climate stressors are impacting the four pillars of food security. Diversification of fo

**Food system components, linkages, and outcomes**

od system by establishing integrated production systems, broad-based genetic resources and balanced diets incorporating plant-based foods can reduce risks from climate change,” said Dr. Muru.

To respond to climate change via their food systems, countries can now move beyond supply-side mitigation in crop and livestock production, which has been the traditional approach, to encompass demand side strategies, mainly dietary changes.

Food system components, linkages, and outcomes
One answer to the climate crisis is on our plates. Plant-based diets reduce the amount of methane emissions, a powerful greenhouse gas released by ruminants. They also require less land, thus sparing areas that can be used to plant trees and store more carbon. When both these effects are combined, the maximum amount of greenhouse gas reduction achievable through dietary change is up to 8 billion tons of CO₂e per year, say the authors (total anthropogenic emissions are currently about 52 billion tons per year).

Healthy and low-emission diets that are primarily plant-based can also reduce the burden of key non-communicable diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes, say the authors.

Access the paper, here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-020-0031-z

Yap CRE promoted local food production methods during World Food Day 2018

October 23, 2018

Dr. Murukesan Krishnapillai, Researcher/Extension Specialist, Cooperative Research and Extension. YAP, FSM.

Yap observed World Food Day 2018 on Friday, October 19^th. This event was organized by Yap Interagency Nutrition Education Council along with local partners. Yap CRE participated in the event showcasing a variety of locally produced fresh vegetables adopting small farm models.

World Food Day is a day of action dedicated to tackling global hunger. Held annually on 16th October, people from around the world come together to declare their commitment to eradicate worldwide hunger from our lifetime. The theme of this year’s event was “Our Actions Are Our Future: A #ZeroHunger World By 2030 is Possible.”

The new report, State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2018 confirms that the number of people suffering from hunger has been growing over the past three years, returning to levels from almost a decade ago. Multiple forms of malnutrition are evident in many countries, including Micronesia, adult obesity is growing even as forms of undernutrition persist. Climate variability and extremes are key drivers behind this rise, together with conflict and economic downturns. The report reveals new challenges on the road to #ZeroHunger, while setting out urgent actions needed to achieve the goal by 2030. The report suggests the need to strengthen local and global food systems to help more children and families access nutritious, affordable and sustainable diets.

Since 2017, Yap CRE is partnering with Catholic Relief Services in ACT on Yap Project to support island communities and smallholders to enhance their agriculture strategies with outreach, technical assistance and extension trainings in climate adaptive techniques to make local food production more resilient to extreme weather events. The ACT on Yap Project participants joined World Food Day 2018 event by displaying and selling their garden produce. This event was also a forum to recruit interested participants to this project. We encourage everyone to engage in community gardening activities to enhance local food production and cater the needs of the island population. This would not only help to attain self-sufficiency but also reduce carbon footprints in the long run.

Whether you are a business, farmer, public servant, or simply someone who is willing to make a change, you can take action for #ZeroHunger!

What can you do to help achieve #ZeroHunger?

Do not waste food
Produce more with less
Adopt a more healthy, sustainable diet
Advocate for #zerohunger

Fresh garden produce from ACT on Yap project participants on sale during the event.

Cocopith – An ecofriendly growing choice

October 8, 2018

Yap, FSM. Dr. Murukesan Krishnapillai, Researcher/Extension Specialist, Cooperative Research and Extension. YAP, FSM.

As with any garden, soil preparation is what really counts when it comes to growing successfully in containers. It’s the foundation. It’s the staff of life. In other words, selecting a right potting mix for your plants is key to success. Skimp on the soil, you will get weak, non-productive crops that require more work to maintain and are susceptible to all kinds of pest problems.

For years, Yap CRE has been promoting container gardening among communities for growing vegetables owing to some obvious challenges with native soils for field cultivation. The two predominant types of soils – upland soils underlain by volcanic material and upland soils underlain by schist – have different properties and therefore, behave differently and they need different management strategies. In our pursuit of finding a local alternative to soil, we found that coconut husk as an ideal medium for growing plants in containers. Coconut husk is made up of natural fibers called coir along with parenchymatous, spongy material coirpith that binds the fiber in the husk. Being made up of sclerified tissue, coconut fiber as such doesn’t retain much water at all. However, it does two things in the media: it creates aeration through voids it leaves in the coir, and it also gives the media optimal structure to further prevent compaction, which is important to having a healthy root zone. The pith acts like micro sponges where the moisture is stored. The fiber and the pith together make a great media with an excellent air to water ratio.

Over the years, we standardized a method to make a suitable potting mix from discarded coconut husks (click to see fact sheet). See the link for a video of preparing potting mix from coconut husk. We thank Dr. J.B. Friday of CTAHR, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa for assistance with the flyer and for producing the video.

Yap CRE Outreach Programs – Cultivating Healthy Communities Through Vegetable Gardening

March 10, 2018

YAP, FSM. Dr. Murukesan Krishnapillai, Researcher/Extension Specialist, Cooperative Research and Extension. YAP, FSM.

Yap CRE outreach programs continue to enthuse island communities and off-island visitors alike with rich array of climate-smart, nutritious vegetable production systems as demonstrated through participation in the annual cultural celebrations.

Yap celebrated 50^th edition of Yap Day from February 28 to March 2, 2018. It is that time of the year when island communities get together to celebrate Yap Island’s most colorful days with traditional dances, crafts, competitions and demonstrations on local development programs.

With continued efforts to reach out to the communities through research, extension and education activities, Yap CRE’s veggie stall showcased various climate smart food production systems and low-cost urban garden models of nutritious vegetables. These climate smart food production systems were developed and tested earlier under a Hatch Project from USDA. Further, these were field tested and scaled up among community settlements across Yap under Climate Adaptive Agriculture and Resilience (CAAR) Project funded by USAID-Pacific American Climate Fund. These vegetable production systems explicitly address climate resilient development through adaptation efforts at the community level that reduces vulnerability by securing nutrition under a changing climate. A variety of nutritious vegetables from Yap CRE demonstration gardens and CAAR Project beneficiaries’ kitchen gardens were on display and sale.

Visiting diplomats, dignitaries, national and state government officials, traditional leaders and other community members commended on Yap CRE’s outreach efforts promoting nutritious vegetables to enhance food and nutrition security of island communities. A great teamwork of CRE staff, ag interns, work-study students and CAAR Project beneficiaries brought success to our participation in Yap Day 2018 celebrations.