Seeking EU recognition for kolokasi

CYPRUS is seeking from the EU the recognition of the humble ‘kolokasi’ as a root vegetable unique to the island.

The crop – a kind of sweet potato – does not exist on EU agricultural produce lists as it is not cultivated anywhere else in the European Union. For now it is being labelled under ‘other products’, but Cyprus wants it registered on its own terms and as a specifically Cypriot crop.

Kolokasi – or Colocasia Esculenta, dasheen, taro, coco yam, elephant’s ear or eddoes – is not actually unique to the island. It originated in India and southeastern Asia and is widely grown and consumed in the tropics. It was brought to the United States from Africa as a food crop for slaves, and in Hawaii has become associated with ritual and legend.

Kyriacos Patsalos, specialist at the Department of Agriculture, emphasised that the vegetable has been grown in Cyprus for many years. “Not many European countries know about the vegetable; that’s why it has not been included on the EU list yet. We have cultivated it for a long time so want it on the list as our own, whether on not it is originally Cypriot,” he said yesterday.

Patsalos stressed the ministry did not want to send out the message that this vegetable was going to be a new crop, with a prospective higher income, so growers would extend their cultivation of the crop.
“The problem with this crop is that it is a high water consuming plant. So it is expensive to cultivate,” he warned.

The Agriculture Ministry will know of the fate of the kolokasi after Cyprus’ accession to the EU.

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