4 May 2011: The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) has announced that the European Union (EU) has contributed EUR3 million over five years to the newly formed International Network for Edible Aroids (INEA), a consortium of scientists and growers from all over the world.

The aim of the Network, of which SPC and Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD) are the implementing agencies, is to implement a project titled “Adapting Clonally Propagated Crops to Climatic and Commercial Change.” According to SPC, clonally propagated crops are important to the world’s poor, and include several Pacific staples such as taro, tannia, swamp taro, giant taro and elephant foot yam. These crops rarely flower or set seed, and they are slow to respond to changing environments.

INEA’s inaugural meeting convened in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from 13-14 April 2011. The meeting heard from participants on their achievements to date in the area of edible aroids and discussed the aim of the network: to freely exchange plants and seeds, information and technologies to improve aroid crops.

The participating countries in INEA are: Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, Cuba, Germany, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Portugal, Samoa, Slovenia, South Africa, and Vanuatu. The two participating regional organisations are SPC and the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI), Trinidad. [SPC Press Release]