The peach palm, Bactris gasipaes wh

The peach palm, Bactris gasipaes which is currently
grown as an introduced, commercial crop in Hawaii and
other parts of the world, has been identified as a suitable
substitute for Soga palm heart as well as a crop which can
be widely grown by rural communities to supply the
tourism sector as a new crop (NFMV 2008c). To date the
biosecurity requirements for peach palm and its importation
have been completed, seeds imported from Hawaii,
germinated and planted out in a facility run by NFMV
which includes a seed orchard of 100 selected spineless
palms, and 850 palms as a prototype commercial palm
heart orchard. The intention is to maintain Fiji’s peach
palm population as a spineless one, and so only spineless
seedlings will be allowed to grow (10–15 % of the seeds
germinate with spines). These spineless seedlings will be
distributed to current Soga palm harvesters as well as other
interested farmers as a commercial crop.