THE USE AND POTENTIAL OF THE PITA PLANT,
AECHMEA MAGDALENAE (ANDRÉ) ANDRÉ EX. BAKER, IN A NGÖBE
VILLAGE: A CASE STUDY OF CHALITE, BOCAS DEL TORO, PANAMA.
by
KATHRYN M. LINCOLN
submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
MASTER OF SCIENCE IN FORESTRY
MICHIGAN TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
2004
The thesis “The Use and Potential of the pita plant, Aechmea magdalenae
(André) André ex. Baker, in a Ngöbe Village: A Case Study of Chalite, Bocas del
Toro, Panama.” is hereby approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for
the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE IN FORESTRY.
School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science
Signatures:
Advisor: __________________________________________
Blair D. Orr
Dean: ____________________________________________
Margaret R. Gale
Date: ____________________________________________
ii
PREFACE
This study was conducted between May 2002 and August 2004, during
my service as a Peace Corps volunteer in Chalite, Ño-Kribo, Ngöbe-Buglé
Comarca, Panama. Prior to my Peace Corps service I worked in a variety of
natural resource positions including work with the National Park Service at Isle
Royale National Park and owning my own landscape design company in
Wichita, Kansas.
My interest in people’s role in natural resources began with my
undergraduate study at the University of Nebraska, where I completed a major
in Horticulture with a focus in Landscape Design. Learning how people interact
and shape the land and environment around them sparked in me an interest to
travel and learn about human interaction in different environments.
Through my service as a Peace Corps volunteer, I had the opportunity to
see how the tropical moist forest shapes the lives of the Ngöbe people. I worked
side by side with the women of Chalite, farming, gathering plants and learning
about their views of the forest. This thesis is the result of many months of
learning what it means to be a Ngöbe woman.
“Go with the People.
Live with them.
Learn from them.
Love them.
Start with what they know.
Build with what they have.
But of the best leaders,
when the job is done,
the task accomplished,
The people will all say,
'We have done this ourselves'."
-Lao Tsu
China, 700 BC
iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
As with any work, although only one name graces the cover of this thesis
it would not have been possible but for the efforts of many. I cannot thank
everyone who has touched my life these last four years, but all of you have
contributed to the completion of this work.
Specifically, I thank Bob Dainton for his friendship and unending
interest and suggestions throughout our shared Peace Corps service. I also
thank Jason Cochran, my APCD, for encouraging words. I also wish to thank
the people of Proyecto Ngöbe-Buglé for freely providing me with their research
and for their interest in my project.
I thank my graduate committee, Andrew Storer, Marty Jurgensen, and
Tom VanDam for their comments and suggestions. I thank Holly Martin and
Greer Gurganus for their endless encouragement and helpful edits. I cannot
express the amount of thanks I have for Blair Orr; advisor, mentor, friend, who
has never given up on me and pushed me to always do better.
Thanks go also to my parents and siblings, who don’t always understand
me but always love me without question. I wish to thank the women of Mesi
Chali; sisters, teachers, friends whom I will always cherish and keep in my
heart. Their laughter and secrets whisper in my dreams. Finally, I thank
Russell Slatton, my partner in the fullest sense of the word, husband, teacher,
pupil, cherished friend whose support never fails and love never ends.
Ma da brade kuin, Chodi!
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE………………………………………………………………………………….
iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………………….
iv
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES…………………………………………………….
vi
ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………………..
viii
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………….
CHAPTER II
BACKGROUND OF PANAMA
Geography…………………………………………………………………………
History……………………………………………………………………………..
People and Economy………………………………………………………......
Agriculture and Natural Resources……………………………….............
CHAPTER III
1
5
10
14
15
STUDY AREA
Bocas del Toro Province………………………………………………............ 19
The Comarca Ngöbe-Buglé……………………………………………........... 25
The Village of Chalite…………………………………………………............. 29
CHAPTER IV
ETHNOBOTANICAL REVIEW OF AECHMEA MAGDALENAE
Ethnobotany……………………………………………………………............. 42
Non timber forest products…………………………………….................... 43
The Pita Plant, Aechmea Magdalenae…………………………................. 45
CHAPTER V
METHODOLOGY
Participant observation……………………………………………….............
Interviews……………………………………………………………………........
Verification.......................................................................................
Obstacles…………………………………………………………………….........
Analysis………………………………………………………………………........
CHAPTER VI
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Demographics…………………………………………………………...............
The Processing of Fiber.......................……………………………….........
The Change in Use of Pita Plant Over Time……………………………..…
Discussion………………………………………………………………………....
CHAPTER VII
55
57
63
65
66
70
73
82
99
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Conclusions……………………………………………………………………… 102
Recommendations……………………………………………………………….. 103
LITERATURE CITED…………………………………………………………………...... 111
APPENDIX………………………………………………………………………………….. 118
v
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
FIGURES
FIGURE 1. Panama’s location in the Caribbean…………………………………
6
FIGURE 2. Panama map with Provincial delineations…………………………
8
FIGURE 3. The Canal entrance from the Bridge of the Americas......………
13
FIGURE 4. Bocas del Toro……………………………………………………………
18
FIGURE 5. Rainfall Patterns in Bocas del Toro as compared to those
on Pacific slope (David) . ……………………………………………....
20
FIGURE 6. Map of Bocas del Toro …………………………………………………
21
FIGURE 7. Shoreline of Bocas del Toro mainland……………………………..
22
FIGURE 8. Overlooking the Bocas Del Toro Landscape……………………….
23
FIGURE 9. Political map of the Comarca Ngöbe-Buglé ………………………..
28
FIGURE 10. Map of Guarivara River Region …………………………………….
30
FIGURE 11. Map of Chalite ………………………………………………………….
31
FIGURE 12. Town of Chalite, school (blue buildings) …………………………
32
FIGURE 13. A typical Ngöbe house and a missionary-built house………….
34
FIGURE 14. Dugout canoe for family……………………………………………...
36
FIGURE 15. Larger canoe on the Guariviara…………………………………….
37
FIGURE 16. Rainforest trails…………………………………………………………
37
FIGURE 17. Typical farm in Chalite………………………………………………..
40
FIGURE 18. Pita plant and flower…………………………………………………..
46
FIGURE 19. Aechmea magdalenae growth habit………………………………..
47
FIGURE 20. Aechmea magdalenae fibers………………………………………..
50
FIGURE 21. Products made from A. magdalenae fiber………………………...
50
FIGURE 22. Dense colony of Aechmea magdalenae…………………………….
51
FIGURE 23. Participant observation……………………………………………….
56
FIGURE 24. Members of the women’s group Mesi Chali ……………………...
62
FIGURE 25. Typical Ngöbe woman and child outside their home...............
70
FIGURE 26. Percentage of time spent on activities (weekly).......................
72
vi
FIGURE 27. Harvesting pita leaves............................................................
73
FIGURE 28. Removing spines from pita leaf..............................................
74
FIGURE 29. Extraction of fiber from leaf...................................................
75
FIGURE 30. Cleaning newly extracted pita...............................................
75
FIGURE 31. Dye plants su, kuro, and kare................................................
78
FIGURE 32. Extraction of dye from plant..................................................
79
FIGURE 33. Newly dyed kiga.....................................................................
79
FIGURE 34. Making string from kiga.........................................................
80
FIGURE 35. Fashioning kra ......................................................................
81
FIGURE 36. Plastic sacks..........................................................................
90
FIGURE 37. Signs of a modern house: kra made from nylon
string, a modern propane powered oven and stove,
and plastic bleach bottles.......................................................
91
FIGURE 38. Ceremonial kra vs. work kra..................................................
93
TABLES
TABLE 1. Topics and questions used to generate unstructured
interviews…..............................................................................
58
TABLE 2. Standard Measurements and prices of kiga…………………………
77
TABLE 3. Dye plants used by Ngöbe women of Chalite..............................
78
TABLE 4. Significant variables correlated with “Age at which first
learned to make kra”, at a 0.10 level of statistical significance...
94
TABLE 5. Pearson correlation coefficients related to the emerging
market of buyers and sellers in Chalite ………………………………
97
TABLE 6. Comparison of changes in pita use over time.............................
99
vii
ABSTRACT
The pita plant, Aechmea magdalenae, is a non-timber forest product
used among the Ngöbe women of Chalite, Bocas del Toro, Panama. Ngöbe
women harvest fiber from this plant, dye this fiber and make hammocks,
fishing nets, ropes and bags called kra. This study uses the methods of
participant observation and unstructured, informal interviews to define the use
of the plant in this village and to determine a change in the use of the pita
plant in recent years. Results indicate that some women have lost the
knowledge of extraction, dying and fashioning of bags while others have
improved upon these techniques. Improved techniques have emerged because
women hope to sell bags as artisan works to tourists. However, constraints in
transportation, competition, and few market outlets make selling to tourists
difficult. The separation in the village of women who fashion kra and those who
do not has created a local market for pita fiber and the bags used in daily work
activities.
viii
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
The women of any Ngöbe village in Bocas del Toro, Panama know the
significance of the name Mesi. She is, of course, the ancestress who invented
the kra. One night, as Mesi was sitting fanning the fire of her cook stove with a
palm frond, old mother Spider crept out of the shadows. “Mesi,” said Spider, “I
will teach you a craft that will help to ease your heavy workload.” And so Spider
took a great bunch of her web and began to fashion a large bag from it. The bag
was strong, and could stretch to hold almost everything Mesi needed to carry;
wood, bananas, taro root, plants gathered from the forest, even her children.
Mesi was overjoyed, and said to the Spider, “Oh great Spider, this is wonderful!
But I do not have a web - I cannot make this great tool!” And Spider replied,
“Why, there is a plant in the forest that has a strong fiber like my webbing. I
will show you how to get it.” So the next night Mesi and Spider collected the kra
plant and Mesi was happy again. Spider and Mesi became great friends and
night after night Spider would come and show Mesi how to make all kinds of
designs in the bags- snake, butterfly, painted rabbit, caterpillar, sea serpent,
fruit and boa to name only a few. Then one night Spider said to Mesi, “You are
a great woman now. You will teach the others to make the kra, and they will
always remember the name Mesi.” And so she did.
This tale of Ngöbe culture, told to me by the women of Chalite, Panama
demonstrates the importance of the kra, hand woven bags, in the lives of Ngöbe
women. Using fiber extracted from an understory forest species, Aechmea
1
magdalenae, these bags have been crafted for many decades for use in the
home, trade and ceremonial purposes. Now, as Ngöbe become exposed to
different cultures, the purpose of these bags is changing. With greater access to
materials such as nylon rope and plastic sacks, fewer women extract the fiber
from the pita plant in favor of the other materials. Conversely, women who
knew very little about the extraction practice or had never learned it are
beginning to learn again. The women are motivated in part by the promise of a
small tourist market for ceremonial bags made of pita fiber. The hope of
economic gain is breathing new life into a dying cultural practice.
I lived for two years in the small Ngöbe village of Chalite, on the banks of
the Guariviara River in Bocas del Toro, Panama. Every day, I worked alongside
the women of this village and became their pupil, teacher and friend. I saw the
hope in their eyes and the calluses on their fingers as they scraped leaves of the
pita plant, rubbed their legs raw making string and stayed up late nights by the
light of a candle fashioning the kra. I knew they had an intimate relationship
with this plant and I sought to know more about their connection to pita.
As very little is known and even less documented about the use of the
pita plant by Ngöbe women, my first purpose was to determine use and
document how the plant is grown and harvested, and how fiber is extracted and
2
turned to string and then used to make bags, hammocks and other items. My
second purpose was to examine how this use of the pita plant has changed in
recent years with increased access to manufactured materials and a cash
economy. By determining what changes have occurred, I make
recommendations of future use of the pita plant for women in Chalite.
I begin this examination in chapter II with a background of the country
of Panama. I will discuss its geography, people and economy, natural resources
and agriculture. I will also give a brief history of the country and an account of
some of the events that helped shape Panama. In chapter III, I will continue
with background, focusing on the region where I lived and studied. I will
discuss how the geographical, environmental, political and social structures of
this region formed and describe how these factors make it unique within the
country. A historical background of Bocas del Toro, the Comarca Ngöbe-Buglé
and the village of Chalite is given to orient the reader to the attitudes and
practices specific to the Ngöbe people.
In chapter IV, I provide an ethnobotanical review of the pita plant. I will
discuss the science of ethnobotany and the importance of this scientific
discipline. I will also discuss non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and their role
in natural resource management. Once thought to be the answer to widespread
deforestation on a global scale, in recent years NTFPs have seen many failures
commercially (Margolis 2004). Often these failures are due to a
misunderstanding of the cultures involved and the ways they use the forest.
Finally, this chapter gives a background of Achemea magdalenae, the pita
plant, and its use and cultivation worldwide.
3
In chapter V, I will discuss the methodology for this study, focusing on
the concept of participatory research. I will discuss obstacles I strove to
overcome in the research and outline the methods used, from initial
observations to data analysis. I will follow with the results of my study and a
discussion of those results in chapter VI. In this chapter, I will provide a look at
pita use past and present in regards to utility, cultural and economic variables.
Finally, I conclude in chapter VII with a look at potential of Aechmea
magdalenae in Ngöbe culture and highlight the importance of further research
on this plant and its potential impact on a global scale.
4
CHAPTER II
COUNTRY BACKGROUND FOR PANAMA
The Republic of Panama is the link between North and South America.
Bordered by Costa Rica in Central America to the west and Colombia and South
America to the east, only 555km of Panama’s border is land. The remaining
2,490km is coastline, separating the Pacific Ocean to the south and Caribbean
Sea to the north (CIA, 2004). Panama forms the only land bridge connecting two
continents and contains the only waterway connecting these bodies of water.
The unique geographic location of Panama has profoundly shaped its
landscape, people and ecosystems.
GEOGRAPHY
Located between 7.5 and 10 degrees North latitudes and 77.5 and 82.5
degrees West longitudes Panama is an isthmus, or s-shaped, country of 75,990
square kilometers, roughly the same area as the state of South Carolina (CIA,
2004). Formed by volcanic activity, Panama is cut by two high, rugged,
mountain ranges dividing the north from the south, and is surrounded by many
small island archipelagos. The depression between the two ranges is the
location of the Panama Canal, an 80km freshwater waterway connecting the
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. This canal, in turn, divides the country from west
to east. Panama’s highest point is the inactive volcano Volcan Barú at 3,475m,
which lies at the end of the western range in the province of Chiriqui (Doggett
2001). Panama has a great diversity of ecosystems, coastal plains give way to
the rolling hills which characterize much of the Pacific coast, high rugged peaks
5
Figure 1. Panama's location in the Caribbean (CIA, 2004)
cut along the dividing range and steep ridges give way to lowland swamps and
mangrove forests on the Caribbean side.
Panama has a diverse climate and a variety of ecosystems for such a
small country. While cloud forest dominates the high regions, mangrove
swamps and beaches can be found in coastal areas. Much of Panama was
originally tropical rainforest, but today large areas are being deforested, at a
rate of 41,321 hectares (102,106 acres) a year (ANAM 2004). As a result, soil
temperatures in these areas have risen and soil absorption rates have
decreased causing increased runoff and drier soils. The southern and eastern
parts of Panama have a marked, short dry season (December-April) and long
rainy season (May-November). The mountain region and Caribbean coast have a
6
more variable rainfall pattern with no marked dry season and higher humidity.
Temperatures are typically hot in the lowlands ranging between 21°C and 32°C
(70°F-90°F). The mountain region is cooler with a range of 10°C and 18°C (50°F64°F). Temperatures remain steady both diurnally and yearly (Smithsonian
2004).
There are nine provinces in the country of Panama and two indigenous
comarcas, areas delineated by the tribes and recognized by the Panamanian
government as semi-autonomous with limited sovereignty. From east to west
they are The Darien, Panama, Colon, Comarca de San Blas, Coclé, Los Santos,
Herrera, Veraguas, Comarca Ngöbe-Buglé, Chiriqui, and Bocas del Toro. The
Darien, the “wildest” of the provinces, borders Columbia and has large
expanses of dense rainforest. The indigenous groups of Emberá and Wounaan
live in the Darien, their way of life preserved by limited access. The cities of
Panama and Balboa, the two largest cities in the Republic, lie within Panama
Province. The Canal also cuts through this low-lying area.
Colon, on the northern end of the Canal, has a mostly urban AfroAntillean population, and profits from its port location as a center for
international trade. As part of the lowest-lying area of Panama, Colon’s
landscape is largely swamps and low plains. The Kuna Indians live in the
Comarca de San Blas, to the west of Colon province stretching along the coast
nearly to the Columbian border. The Kuna live on the over 350 islands of the
archipelago and farm the narrow strip of mainland along the coast.
7
Figure 2. Panama map with provincial delineations
8
White sand beaches of the Pacific coast give way to rolling plains and
hills in Coclé province, south of Colon and west of Panama Province. The
majority of the rural population of Panama farm in this region. Los Santos and
Herrera, jutting out as a peninsula into the Pacific, are also home to white sand
beaches, giving way to flat, dry rangeland. Many of the nation’s cattle are raised
here, and this is the driest area in Panama. Veraguas starts on the same
peninsula but extends to the Northern coast, crossing the central mountain
range. Higher peaks and steeper terrain are home to the Buglé indigenous
population.
Bordering Costa Rica to the west, the province of Chiriqui is rich with
farmland and rolling hillsides. In its mountains, the people of Chiriqui enjoy a
cooler climate where agricultural products requiring colder temperatures can be
produced. The capital of Chiriqui is David, located along the Pan-American
Highway connecting Panama to Mexico. David is the only city in the entire
western half of Panama, where roads are scarce between farming communities.
Bocas del Toro, named for the island archipelago that shelters the
mainland coast from the Atlantic Ocean, lies to the north of Chiriqui and has a
particularly different climate and feel. Cut off from the rest of the country by the
highest peaks of the Central mountain range, Bocas del Toro’s main cultural
influences are from the Caribbean islands and the large number of indigenous
peoples. Both the Ngöbe and the Terribe tribes occupy much of the land here.
The Ngöbe-Buglé Comarca stretches across three provincial borders, occupying
the highlands and the less populated coastal areas of the Panamanian West.
9
HISTORY
The Spanish conquistadors arrived in what is today the country of
Panama in 1501, among them Christopher Columbus on his fourth voyage to
the New World. Panama at that time was densely populated, having some
500,000 to 3 million inhabitants. One man in particular, Vasco Núñez de
Balboa, made the perilous 25-day journey across the country through dense
jungle to “discover” the Pacific Ocean in 1513. He quickly developed a trade
route from the Pacific to the Atlantic, hauling gold and other treasures from
Peru and South America. Balboa succeeded where other Spaniards had failed
in colonizing Panama, setting up farms instead of relying on rations from
sporadic ships and raiding Indians for food. Although he was arrested for
treason and executed in 1517, he remains the most beloved conquistador;
gracing the face of every Panamanian coin. His name, “Balboa” is synonymous
with the word “money” in Panama (Doggett 2001).
After Balboa established the trade route, Panama quickly became the
third richest colony of the Spanish empire. However, the perils of the route,
diseases like malaria and yellow fever, and dense vegetation prompted the first
surveys and talk of building a canal along the Camino Real, or royal road in the
1520s. The idea was abandoned, however, when many of the slaves for the
colony, the indigenous peoples, began to die at rapid rates from European
diseases and the rest fled inland to escape harsh treatment by the colonizers.
This prompted the importation of Africans for slaves, and Panama became a
major slave trade port for all of Central and South America (Howarth 1966).
The Spanish ruled Panama for 300 years, and established a modern
society. Towns and buildings were constructed in Spanish style, complete with
10
large catholic churches and parks. The latest fashions were brought by ship
from Europe, and those ships were then packed with gold and returned to
Spain. Then, on November 28, 1821, after the Spanish governor to Panama left
for Ecuador and put Colonel Edwin Fábrega, a native Panamanian, in charge,
Panama declared its independence from Spain. It was still a part of Colombia,
however, and remained so until after the construction of the Canal was
complete (Black and Flores 1989).
During isolated periods throughout the 17th and 18th centuries Spain had
demonstrated interest in the construction of a canal, but it was not until the
gold rush in California when plans to build an easier route of passage began in
earnest. Traffic increased as prospectors chose the passage over the rugged
wagon ride across the United States. A company from New York, taking
advantage of the demand, built a railroad that was completed in 1855. With
this new development, Panama’s economy grew rapidly after years of
stagnation. This period of prosperity continued until 1869 when the transcontinental railroad of the United States was completed.
The French decided to build a canal through Panama in 1879 along the
railroad route, and put Ferdinand de Lesseps, successful engineer of the Suez
Canal, in charge. In 1889, rumors of his eminent failure put out by his
enemies caused stock and bond prices to drop. de Lesseps received no help
from French politicians who wanted bribes to secure his holdings, and his
company went bankrupt before any serious construction began. In 1903 the
United States initiated construction of a canal. The process of construction was
not easy for the United States either; disease, labor strikes, financial and
political problems cost time and money. It is generally said that the Canal
11
would never have been built save for the efforts of Colonel William Crawford
Gorgas to combat the deadly mosquitoes carrying malaria and yellow fever
(McCullough 1977).
The United States drafted a series of treaties with Panama delineating
responsibilities for the construction and maintenance of the Canal. One of those
led to the separation of Panama from Colombia in 1903. The United States
helped liberate Panama in exchange for ensuring the United States retained
control of the Canal Zone, an area stretching for 5 kilometers on either side of
the Canal, for a period of 100 years. The occupation by United States military
and civilian personnel of the Canal Zone, delineated as United States soil,
ensured that United States ships could always pass through the Canal. The
first ship successfully sailed through the locks of the Panamanian Canal
August 15, 1914.
Panamanian citizens were not happy about the United States ownership
of the Canal Zone and wanted the land returned to the Republic of Panama.
This was the central issue of most national political debate in the country until
the military takeover in 1968. Members of the Panamanian National Guard
headed by General Omar Torrijos took power over the government after a
heated election in November of that year. Although relations between the United
States and Panama were uneasy during Torrijos’s reign, on September 7, 1977
he and President Carter signed a treaty of great significance to both countries.
The treaty stated the control of the Canal would be handed over to Panama at
11:59pm December 31, 1999 (Buckley 1991, Espino 2001, McCullough 1977).
Torrijos’s reign paved the way for the most famous Panamanian, General
Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno to come to power. Taking control of Panama in
12
1984 after Torrijos’ sudden death, Noriega was a ruthless dictator until his
forced removal by the United States government in 1989. Noriega is housed
today in a federal prison in Florida for drug trafficking and illegal arms dealing
(Koster and Sanchez 1991).
Although a democratic regime exists in Panama today, the effects of
Noriega’s dictatorship and the presence of the United States military are still
evident. As a consequence, many Panamanians have mixed emotions about the
United States and its citizens. The exchange of control over the Canal went as
planned however, and it has been proved over the last five years that
Panamanians run it well (fig. 3). Although a ruthless military dictator, General
Torrijos is remembered today as a “man of the people” for his negotiations of
control over the Canal. Martín Torrijos, Omar’s son, is the current President of
Panama.
Figure 3. The Canal entrance from The Bridge of the Americas
13
PEOPLE AND ECONOMY
Today, over 1,764,770 (62%) of the 2,839,177 inhabitants of Panama
live in urban areas, and over half live in the cities of the Canal Zone. As is often
the case in developing nations, much of the wealth of the nation also lies in
these cities while rural areas are stricken with poverty. This explains why
Panama has an overall high life expectancy rate at 77.5 years of age and an
adult literacy rate at 92%, but rural adult literacy is at 82%, while indigenous
literacy is at 60%. The census of Panama also considers an adult to be a person
of 10 years of age or older (Census 2000).
The demographics of the population are as follows: 70% mestizo (mixed
Amerindian and white), 14% Amerindian and mixed (West Indian), 10% white,
6% Amerindian (CIA 2004). There are eight organized indigenous groups in
Panama: the Kuna, Embera, Wounaan, Ngöbe, Buglé, BriBri, Bokota, and
Teribe. The largest indigenous group is the Ngöbe, with a population of 142,946
fifty-eight percent of the total indigenous population (Census 2000). All of these
groups have their own languages, though the only officially recognized
languages of Panama are Spanish and English (CIA 2004).
Panama’s economy is based on the US dollar, and the average annual
income for a Panamanian is $US 6,300 (2003 estimate). Among the rural
population, however, the income earned drops to less than $US 1000. Panama
earns 77% of its gross domestic product in the service sector, with most firms
based in Panama City. Only about 21% of the population works in agriculture,
and this sector accounts for only 8.3% of the total GDP (Census 2002). This
dichotomy is prevalent throughout the developing world, but is more
14
pronounced in Panama and has lead to dire consequences. Prices for imported
basic goods and general labor wages are higher. As a result, an unskilled
laborer in Panama makes an average of $6 per day compared to the $3 to $4
per day in the rest of Central America, but pays more for basic goods and
services. Companies looking for a labor force will more likely go to other Central
American countries to save money, leaving Panamanians with fewer
opportunities to earn any money at all.
AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES
Internationally economically important natural resources in Panama
include copper, mahogany, hydroelectric power, and shrimp (CIA 2004).
However, natural resources that do not currently generate revenue are also
important. They include a large variety of flora and fauna, some of which are
found nowhere else in the world (ANAM 2004). The amount of primary forest is
high, providing large carbon sinks that contribute to the world’s oxygen supply
and may combat global warming (ANAM 2004). Panama’s unique geography
plays a vital role in migration patterns of many species. It is part of the
Mesoamerican biological corridor, a region of the world where 8% of all of the
world’s biodiversity exists in less than 1% of its land area (World Bank 2004).
Panama’s forest cover is relatively high, 38%, compared to all of Central
America and the Caribbean, 29%. Originally Panama had a forest cover of 97%,
indicating a loss of almost 60% of total forest cover. Fifteen percent of that loss
has been over the last decade, the result of logging and clearing of land for
agriculture. This deforestation has prompted Panama to engage in land
stewardship. Currently Panama protects 19.5% of its total land area in 41
15
national protected areas (World Bank 2004). Panama’s rainforests are host to
9,915 species of higher plants, 192 of which are threatened. The bird
population, a biodiversity indicator, is one of the highest concentrations in the
world at 302 known species, sixteen of which are threatened. Panama has 218
mammal species, 242 reptiles, 182 amphibians, and 275 known species of fish.
As world trends in conservation and preservation continue to rise, the role of
Panama’s non-timber rainforest species will become increasingly important
natural resources (EarthTrends 2004).
Although agriculture is not a particularly important part of the economy
for Panama as a whole, the rural population relies on it for income and survival.
The country contains 7.6% arable land, while only 2.0% is in permanent crops
and 0.4% is irrigated (CIA 2004). As heavy rainfall on the Caribbean side
prevents cultivation of many crops, much of the agricultural production is done
on the Pacific side (Tollefson 1989). The top three items of economic
importance produced within the country are cattle, chicken and bananas. The
major agricultural exports are bananas, accounting for 40% of total agricultural
exports, followed by cattle at 12.2% and cigar cheroots at 8.2%. Agricultural
products account for 33.5% of the total export economy. Sugar, historically a
main export of Panama, is still important nationally. Major agricultural imports
include food preparations NES (pre-packaged food products) at 12.6%, corn,
accounting for 8.4% and soybean cakes at 5.8%. Total agricultural imports
make up 13.5% of total imports (FAOSTAT 2002).
The majority of Panamanian farmers are subsistence farmers, producing
just enough food to eat and little for sale. Common crops grown by subsistence
farmers are bananas, cassava, yams, rice, and corn. Typically families will have
16
one to five fruit trees around their homes and will grow a small amount of a
cash crop such as vegetables, coffee, or cocoa that can be taken to local
markets or traded with neighbors. Many constraints affect Panamanian
farmers today. Most land is divided by parents and given as separate parcels to
offspring. After several generations of this division of land, parcels are too small
to produce more than what is necessary for consumption. Tropical soils are
nutrient poor and have a thin layer of topsoil (Baver 1972). World conservation
and reforestation efforts, while helping the land, are hurting the farmer by
taking even more land out of agricultural production. Market prices today are
especially low for large-scale production crops grown in Panama such as sugar,
coffee, rice and bananas. With the absence of new technology, machinery, and
tools, farming in Panama is labor intensive. All of these factors have played a
role in keeping the poor farmer poor in Panama.
If the outlook for poor rural Panamanians throughout the country is
bleak, for those living sixteen hours from the capital the situation is much
worse. With less access to roads, electricity, phone service, markets or
government agency officials, it is harder for the extremely rural populations to
get aid and access to resources. As the divide between rich and poor increases,
the Republic of Panama as a whole suffers. By examining options for the poor
that have potential as income generating activities, this divide could be
lessened. It is important to look at and understand the options available for
rural Panamanians in order to provide relevant solutions. In the next chapter, I
will provide a closer look at the rural Panamanians of Bocas del Toro Province,
the Comarca Ngöbe-Buglé, and the village of Chalite.
17
CHAPTER III:
STUDY AREA
Often in the world of Peace Corps volunteers, there is the expectation
that the site you will call home for two years will be an exotic place filled with
romantic, breathtaking views and beautiful, friendly, interesting people. The
sense of adventure overwhelms you as you travel to your new home. Within
three days reality hits, striking you in the face with the challenges living in a
poor, remote village brings - forgotten by the rest of the earth including, it
seems, your own mother. But if you are lucky, as I was, to live in a place like
Bocas del Toro, Panama, that feeling will return day after day as you pause in
your work to enjoy the truly breathtaking views, and learn enough patience to
listen to the people and begin to understand them (fig. 4).
Figure 4 . Bocas del Toro
18
My research on the pita plant began as a regular Peace Corps service,
one where I was put in a place to learn about the people and their culture. I
gained interest in the pita plant through the people of one remote village,
Chalite. The plant interested me because it played a great role in the daily lives
of the people of this place, remote, forgotten Bocas del Toro, Panama.
Bocas Del Toro Province
Crossing the Serraniá de Tabasará into Bocas del Toro, one can
immediately feel the difference between this and other provinces as the
humidity rises. The crests of this range average 1500m to 1800m above sea
level and in only 40 km drop down to 0m at the coast (Weil, et. al. 1972). The
mean annual rainfall on this slope, 2870mm measured at the town of Bocas del
Toro, known locally as Bocastown, is double the amount found on the Pacific
side. Based on annual averages, a pattern of two months of reduced rainfall
does exist in March and December; though the mean rainfall in those months is
still 140mm. Months of heavy rainfall, usually July and January, average
355mm. of rain (fig. 5). The high humidity can be attributed not only to the
monthly and yearly variation in rainfall pattern, but also that there is no
diurnal difference in rainfall. Half of all rain in Bocas del Toro falls at night,
while on the Pacific slopes only one quarter does (ETSA 2004).
19
Figure 5. Rainfall Patterns in Bocas del Toro as compared to those on Pacific slope (David)
(ETSA 2004).
20
Bocas del Toro means “mouths of the bull” in Spanish. There is some
dispute as to how the Province acquired its name. The island chain was
originally known as “the islands of Toja”, and could have been misinterpreted
by the Spanish as “Toro”, but the “Bocas” part is more complicated. There are
five large rivers that empty into the Bay of Almirante and Chiriqui Lagoon, the
sheltered bodies of water surrounding the coastline of much of the province (fig.
6). The mouths (bocas) of these rivers deposit sand and silt into the Bay and
Lagoon. The largest river is the Changinola River, and it has several mouths
that empty into the Atlantic just west of the Bay of Almirante. The largest of
these mouths is near a narrow strip of water separating Isla Colón (Columbus
Island) from the mainland. This narrow strip is called Bocas del Drago (mouths
of the dragon), likely for the loud noise the river water makes as it empties into
the ocean. A distortion of Bocas del Drago and Islas de Toja perhaps became
“Bocas del Toro” (Gordon 1982).
Chalite
Figure 6. Map of Bocas del Toro (adapted from Slatton 2004)
21
The plant cover in Bocas del Toro is tropical rainforest dominated by
large, predominantly broadleaf evergreen trees. This vegetation type has an
extremely high biotic variety and complexity; species grow in an intermixture
rather than in clusters of one kind. The flowering and fruiting cycles, while on
an individual rhythm, do not follow monthly patterns. Common dominant tree
species come from the families Moraceae, Leguminosae, and Anacardiaceae
(Gentry 1985). The rainforest has many different layers, and often flowering
occurs only on the uppermost layer. Lianas and vines compete with the larger
trees for direct sunlight, leaving the understory species in dense shade. Every
plant has adapted to its layer using specialized roots and modified leaves and
reproductive strategies. Breaks in the dense canopy occur alongside major
rivers and coastline. Here, tropical ferns and grasses dominate and the majority
of the palm species and bamboo occur in abundance (Morley 2000). Mangroves
are present along the sheltered coastal areas of the mainland inside the Bay
and Lagoon and on southern edges of the islands of the archipelago (fig. 7).
Figure 7. Shoreline of Bocas del Toro mainland
22
The volcanoes that formed Panama became extinct before the Pleistocene
age (Bennett 1985). Generally volcanic ash and soils formed from volcanic
activity are fertile, however the ash that originated on the slopes of Bocas del
Toro region has been largely eroded (fig. 8). As a result, the soils on these slopes
are poor and lack nutrients. Covering mainly igneous rock, the soils in Bocas
are classified as highly acidic orthic and humic Acrisols (Yale 2003). Acrisols
are tropical and subtropical soils of old landscapes that are under high rainfall
conditions. They are extremely weathered and nutrient deficient, with a high
percent of low activity clay minerals and a low availability of phosphorus (FAO
2000). These characteristics are common to tropical soils in humid climates,
which generally have high moisture and leaching, low organic content, low
cation exchange capacity and formed on old landscapes of weathered material
(Baver 1972, El-Swaify 1982).
Figure 8. Overlooking the Bocas Del Toro Landscape
23
The only road leading into the province of Bocas del Toro is the Fortuna
Road, finished in 1985. Branching off the Pan-American Highway east of David
and cutting over the mountains to end at Chiriqui Grande, the 88 km journey
takes two hours by bus. Another road connecting Chiriqui Grande to the port
towns of Almirante and Chaginola, and then on west to Costa Rica, was
completed in 1997. While mudslides during the rainy season often cause both
roads to become impassable, they are the only land links to Bocas del Toro
Province. Other transport is by plane from Panama City or David to the Island
of Colon and Bocastown, or by boat. The canoe journey from Bocas province to
Colon powered by a 45hp motor takes 27 hours.
Bocas del Toro has a mix of different cultures. The islands and coastal
ports of the archipelago have a large population of Afro-Antilleans who migrated
to the islands from other Caribbean island nations, as well as a significant
population of mestizos, or people of mixed race. These populations make up
53% of the 89,269 inhabitants of Bocas del Toro (Census 2000). Though all
speak some level of Spanish, many also speak a dialect of English known as
guary-guary. Their major sources of employment are as fishermen or working
for the United Fruit Company, known locally as the Chiriqui Land Company
(Gordon 1982).
Two indigenous groups occupy the remaining land of Bocas del Toro. The
Teribe tribe, located in the Chaginola river valley, have a population of 2,220
(Census 2000). They practice subsistence farming and have an oligarchic
system of government, with a strong central chief (Gordon 1982). They do not
24
currently have a Comarca, though at the time of this writing negotiations for
land have begun with the Panamanian government.
Over 35,000 Ngöbe indigenous people live in the province of Bocas del
Toro, outside of the boundaries of the Comarca. The United Fruit Company
employs these Ngöbe to work in the fields weeding, pruning and tending to the
production of Panama’s number one export. The shift to income-based labor
has been a struggle for the Ngöbe population of Bocas del Toro. In the past they
worked for the company on a seasonal or temporary basis, leaving the
plantation to harvest their own crops after payday (Gordon 1982). Today the
Company has divided its land into farms that these Ngöbe work and live nearby
on a permanent basis. Many still have families who reside in the Comarca and
rely on income generated by the plantation workers to support their subsistence
lifestyle.
The Comarca Ngöbe-Buglé
The Ngöbe are the largest of the seven indigenous groups in Panama with
142,986 people, 58% of the total indigenous population. 85,078 live within the
Comarca Ngöbe-Buglé. The Ngöbe and the Buglé people are different, although
they have similar lifestyles based on kinship groups. Both peoples have been
referred to in the past as Guaymí, a word that is likely a distorted version of
ngwanmy, the term used by the Buglé to refer to the Ngöbe (PNB 2000). The two
are classified similarly linguistically, in the Guaymí language group, a subfamily for the Chibchan language family (SIL 2004). Although much of the
literature refers to the Ngöbe as Guaymí, the term Ngöbe is more precise and
will be used throughout this study. The language that Ngöbe people speak is
25
Ngäbere, a guttural, oral language that has been difficult to translate into
written texts.
Christopher Columbus encountered a large population of Ngöbe living in
Bocas del Toro in 1502. Accounts of that time suggest that the Ngöbe peoples
were living much as they do today; practicing swidden fallow agriculture with a
variety of root crops and hunting and fishing to supplement their diets.
Population pressure on the land was a real problem, even though villages were
a day’s walk apart with small hamlets dispersed between them (Young 1971,
PNB 2000, Gordon 1982). After the Spanish conquest, Ngöbe populations
decreased and ecological pressures were relieved (Bennett 1968).
The Ngöbe lived for many years in isolation from outside society; their
main adoptions were the use of metal tools such as the machete, the
introduction of old world crops such as bananas and rice, and the introduction
of domesticated animals (Young 1971). Their system of government was based
on strong family ties. While villages had a designated chief in times of war, in
peacetime his power lapsed and he functioned as a typical village member (Fray
Adrian Ufeldre 1682 as cited in Martinelli 1993 and Young 1971). The Ngöbe
successfully resisted outside influence on their culture partly due to this loose
political system, as no dominant person or group within the society existed
(Bort and Young 1985).
Throughout the twentieth century, land pressures forced Ngöbe to either
choose to assimilate into mestizo society or to retreat further into the isolated
mountains of Panama. A backlash against “modern” culture occurred in 1961
with the formation of the new religion of Mama Chi (or Mama Tata as it is
sometimes known). The religion started high in the mountains of Chiriqui
26
province where it was rumored that God had spoken to a young Ngöbe girl at
the river, telling her to organize her people with a secret religion excluding all
non-Ngöbe. The movement did many things to strengthen ties within the Ngöbe
community. It stressed the use of Ngäbere language and encouraged women to
register births. The religion’s position against spousal abuse made great strides
to improve life for Ngöbe women (Young 1978).
Ironically, the Mama Chi movement called for an end to certain traditions
of Ngöbe culture, such as the practice of balseria (Young 1978). Balseria is an
event staged between two communities as a celebration, either for harvest or a
wedding or some other occasion (Gordon 1982, Young 1971). In this event, men
drink large quantities of fermented corn liquor and attempt to hit each other
with pieces of balsa wood. This type of organized fighting has strong roots in
Ngöbe culture, and is still practiced today in many forms. Today Mama Chi is
still practiced in Ngöbe society, though its power over Ngöbe political life
dwindled in the early 1970s (Bort and Helms 1983).
The Mama Chi movement strengthened ties in the formerly weak
structure of Ngöbe society. A strong youth presence emerged and pressed for a
centralized political system. As part of the individual provinces of Veraguas,
Chiriqui and Bocas del Toro, Ngöbe and Buglé communities had formed around
schools built by the Panamanian government in their areas (Young 1971).
Local chiefs of these areas began to receive recognition by the Panamanian
government in 1968 (Bort and Young 1985). In 1977, the chiefs and the dictator
of Panama, Omar Torrijos, met in Kankintu, Bocas del Toro to delineate the
areas of the proposed Comarca (Martinelli 1993). However, political debate as to
powers and structure of government continued until leaders of the Comarca de
27
Figure 9. Political map of the Comarca Ngöbe-Buglé (Jaen and Baules 2002)
(red circle shows study area)
28
San Blas (Kuna) supported the formation of a model similar to the Kuna
system. On March 7, 1997 the 694,406 hectare Comarca Ngöbe-Buglé was
created under Law 10 (Jaén and Baules 2002). A two–branch chieftain system,
the traditional and the regional, governs the semi-autonomous Comarca. The
regions are divided according to the provinces they once occupied, Nidrín
(Veraguas), Kodrí (Chiriqui), and Ño-Kribo (Bocas del Toro) (fig. 9).
Village of Chalite
Chalite is located twenty kilometers east and approximately ten
kilometers south of the port town of Chiriqui Grande, Bocas del Toro. Chalite
lies within the district of Kankintú, region Ño-Kribo, Comarca Ngöbe-Buglé (fig.
10). The village sits at the base of a small mountain peak, Cerro Chalite, the
first point of higher terrain inland from the Caribbean Sea, at an elevation of
347 meters. Chalite itself is at an elevation of only 60 meters, and is
surrounded by a substantial amount of swampland (fig. 11). The Guariviara
River lies to the west of town, and its frequent floods form a narrow fertile plain
of sandy loam along its banks. The Central mountain range can be seen from
Chalite to the south with its high peaks, frequent rains and cooler climate. The
Caribbean Sea can be seen to the north and its warm tropical breezes can be
felt from town. Chalite is the embodiment of the word tropical rainforestimmensely humid, hot sunny days with frequent sudden bursts of heavy
rainfall, tapering off to cooler nights and more rain.
29
Figure 10. Map of Guarivara River Region (Slatton 2004)
30
Figure 11. Map of Chalite (Slatton 2004)
31
There are about 250 inhabitants occupying 33 houses in Chalite (Census
2000, est. from Guariviara region). According to village elders, a Frenchman
named Chalite founded the village in the 1950s. All of the inhabitants of
Chalite are Ngöbe indigenous people, and almost all are subsistence farmers.
Many people moved to Chalite after retiring from the United Fruit Company’s
banana plantation in the 1970s. Like most Ngöbe villages, Chalite received its
first school building and teacher in the late 1960s. It was a wood plank, palmthatched room where several of the elders first learned to speak Spanish. The
modern, concrete block and metal roofed three-room schoolhouse that sits on a
hill overlooking the town today was built in 1998. Five teachers now come to
teach grades K-6 at the school. The school and its storage building are the only
public structures in town (fig. 12).
Figure 12. Town of Chalite, school (blue buildings)
32
Forming a L-shaped pattern surrounding an open field used for soccer
(when not flooded) sit sixteen of the houses in Chalite. A missionary group from
the United States built these houses in the 1990s. The houses were built on the
ground, have concrete floors, metal sheeting for roofs and are entirely enclosed
from floor to ceiling with wooden planks. A typical Ngöbe house in Bocas del
Toro, like the other seventeen houses of the village, is raised off the ground
about five feet, has wooden floors, palm-thatch roofing and large gaps in the
wood plank walls to allow for breezes to pass through (Gordon 1982). Houses
generally have a large patio area to raise free-range chickens, fruit trees and
herbs. These sixteen were placed closer together than typical Ngöbe
communities, with only a 40–foot space between houses. Villagers have
explained that when the missionaries came to build the “modern” houses, many
people desired one. The houses are too hot inside during the day because the
metal roofing absorbs and then radiates heat and they are prone to flooding
since they are not raised off the ground. For this reason, most people have a
rancho, palm thatch stilt structure, built onto the back of the house. This area
is used for cooking (as all cooking is done on an open fire), socializing, siestas,
and many other activities. The missionary-built houses are used for storage (fig.
13).
33
Figure 13. A typical Ngöbe house and a missionary-built house
34
All of the missionary-built houses have access to clean potable water by
means of one spigot per house (or set of houses) connected to a series of PVC
pipes that feed from a stream on top of Cerro Chalite. Currently, forest
surrounds the stream and the water is the safest available, however many
people still collect water from the stream near the houses that is not clean and
nobody would hesitate to drink from any water source they happen upon in
their farms. The missionary houses also have concrete, modern latrines that are
now used for storage, play areas for children or chicken houses. The Ngöbe
people prefer to use the stream behind the houses for sanitation needs as
custom and tradition dictates. Electric lines connect each missionary house to a
gas-powered generator that has been broken for three years. The nearest
telephone is a two-hour hike from Chalite.
The Guariviara River is of great importance to the people of Chalite not
only for the soil it provides, but also as a means of transportation to and from
the village. There are no roads cut into this muddy, rocky, unstable soil, and
thus the villagers rely on dugout canoes for access to outside areas. Typically a
family will own at least one short canoe, six to eight feet in length, and use it to
travel on the river to visit friends and relatives as well as to fish and transport
small amounts of goods (fig. 14).
35
Figure 14. Dugout canoe for family
To reach the nearest larger town and closest road, Chiriqui Grande, the
villagers rely on a few people who own larger canoes, 20 to 30 feet in length,
with fifteen or twenty-five horsepower motors (fig. 15). These conductores travel
to Chiriqui Grande once a week, an eight hour round trip by river and ocean, to
transport people and goods to the marketplaces. The cost of this journey is
$4.00 one-way, an expense many cannot afford. However, the only other option
is to hike through an elaborate system of trails that cut through the rainforest.
One can reach Chiriqui Grande in eight hours by foot using these trails (fig. 16).
While this option is free, it is often difficult, as the journey is muddy, hilly and
hot. The choice to sit on a wooden plank for four hours in a narrow, leaking
canoe with often seven other people, bags of rice and bananas, and a chicken or
two; or climb the muddy hills barefoot for eight hours in the hot, humid,
Panamanian jungle is a purely financial one. If money is available, the canoe is
the best option for transport of goods and family members.
36
Figure 15. Larger canoe on the Guariviara
Figure 16. Rainforest trails
37
Chalite, like most Ngöbe communities, is made up of extended family, or
kinship groups (Young 1971). There are two main family groups, two brothers
are the heads of one and a man and his wife head the other. Nearly every
person in Chalite is related to one of these two families and often are related
through marriage to both. An average nuclear family in Chalite is made up of
one man, his wife and typically five to six children. Young married couples will
often live separately, each with their own parents, until a man can build a
house of his own. Often when a couple moves to occupy their own residence it
is near the extended family of the male, leaving the female to move away from
her kinship group to join her husband’s. It is common for members of extended
family to live in the household. An older woman never lives alone, so if her
husband has died or has gone to look for work outside the village, she will stay
with family. After a death in the family, members will move out of their home
and stay with extended family members. After the spirit has left the home, a
month to two months later, the family returns.
With the addition of the school in Chalite, all children are educated
through the sixth grade. Often female children will leave school earlier if they
become pregnant, not uncommon for thirteen- and fourteen-year old girls in
Chalite. If the family has money and the male child shows promise, he will be
sent away to live with distant family members and attend high school. This is a
tremendous expense and high school is such a different life from the village that
often the male children return after one year. The adults in Chalite do not seem
to oppose female children attending high school, and a few have done so, but
for lack of resources and norms set by sex roles, males are chosen over females.
38
Adult literacy rates are lowest for indigenous populations on the whole in
Panama, and because of this practice Indigenous women are the least educated
social sect in the country.
Subsistence agriculture is a way of life for the people of Chalite.
Subsistence farming is classified as growing food for personal consumption with
little left over (Beets 1990). Traditional crops grown for food include many
different types of bananas and plantains (Musa spp.), rice (Oryz sativa), root
crops (Dioscorea spp.) and peach palm (Bactris gasipaes). Some farmers do grow
a limited quantity of crops to sell including peach palm, cacao (Herrania
purpurea), and rice (Gordon 1982) (fig. 17). Domestic animals raised include
chickens, native pigs, turkeys, ducks, goats and Brahmin cattle. Hunting and
fishing are still a prominent part of life in Chalite, though population pressures
are affecting these practices. Hunted species include brocket deer (Mazama
Americana), painted rabbit (Agouti paca), ocelot (Felis pardalis), otter (Lutra
spp.), coatis (Nasua narica), toucan (Rhamphastos spp.), and armadillo
(Dasypus novemcintus) (Gordon, 1982). A number of plant species are also
gathered in the forest and used as food, tools, or aid in household chores. The
pita plant, Aechmea magdalenae, is one of the most important plants gathered.
The increase in recent years of the male population leaving Chalite to
find work on banana, coffee and sugar cane plantations has left the females in
charge of managing the farm. As a consequence, the women of Chalite are the
population that relies most heavily on crops and plants gathered from the
forest.
39
Figure 17. Typical farm in Chalite
The missionaries who built the houses in Chalite are not the only
organization to provide development aid to the area. The latrines and water
system were built by a Panamanian government project. Proyecto Ngöbe-Buglé,
an organization funded by World Bank and the German Technical Cooperation
(GTZ) has provided workshops to Chalite residents in farming techniques (PNB
2000). Patronato de Nutrición (Nutrition Patrons) is a non-governmental
Panamanian organization that has built and maintains a community farm
project in Chalite (Slatton 2004). The United States Peace Corps sent my
husband and I there in 2002, and another volunteer will work in Chalite until
May of 2006. Groups have formed inside the community as well. Padres de la
Familia, made up entirely of parents of children in school, provides wood,
money and workers to supply school lunches and organize festivals for
holidays. The women’s artisan association, Mesi Chali, although formed through
my work as a Peace Corps volunteer, has expanded to function on its own
providing a forum for women in Chalite to express their views.
Chalite is a traditional Ngöbe community that sits on the edge of modern
society. Exposure to the larger Panamanian and global society is increasing as
40
more children are educated and more projects are introduced. The people of
Chalite are caught in a dichotomy that has been part of Ngöbe life for years, the
struggle between improved health and standard of living and the preservation of
tradition and culture. For example, the people of Chalite still practice the cacao
ceremony, sitting up for days and nights in a row drinking hot chocolate during
the full moon. They believe the practice wards off evil spirits, and keeps the
community safe. Everyone participates in this ceremony. However radios,
watches, other objects of modern culture are common. Continuing integration
into the economy of Panama has resulted in the search to develop products that
can be marketed on a national and even international scale. The Ngöbe in
Chalite currently enjoy an abundance of natural resources in the form of land,
agricultural crops and other plants and animals from the forest. These
resources are the best option for potential economic benefit for the people of
Chalite.
Ngöbe women have used the pita plant, Aechmea magdalenae, for
centuries; the making of the kra was a tradition passed from mother to
daughter. Today, modern goods are replacing the bags and other items made
from pita fiber, yet more and more women are learning the craft of kra. This
may show the plant plays a larger role in Ngöbe society. Perhaps that role is
monetary; a recent rise in tourism has sparked hopes of an international
market for kra sales. The future use of Aechmea magdalenae could prove to be
a significant part of the preservation of Ngöbe culture, and could change the
economic situation for Ngöbe women.
41
CHAPTER IV
ETHNOBOTANICAL REVIEW OF AECHMEA MAGDALENAE
Ethnobotany
Ethnobotany is an old discipline that emerged as a science in the
twentieth century (Davis 1995). It draws on aspects from a wide variety of other
disciplines including botany, anthropology, human geography, history and even
medical fields. Ethnobotany, as defined by Schultes and von Reis (1995) is “the
study of human evaluation and manipulation of plant materials, substances,
and phenomena, including relevant concepts, in primitive or unlettered
societies.” Other texts describe “primitive societies” as “undeveloped”, “nonindustrial”, or “indigenous” societies (Davis 1995, Prance 1995). Ethnobotany
can be further defined as economic botany (the exploration of plant resources
for industry) or ethnoscience (studies the plants roles in material culture)
(Toledo 1995). I will use the term ethnobotany in this paper to refer to my
study of the use of the pita plant by the Ngöbe indigenous tribe.
The two objectives of ethnobotanical research are to determine what
plants are used in the forest and why they are used and to determine potential
value held by these plants. In the past, the second goal applied to western
culture, i.e. what values do plants used by an indigenous society hold for
agriculture, industry or medicine of other societies (Brockway 1979). I contest
that the potential for future use within the indigenous society itself for it own
benefit needs to be examined as well. In the case of A. magdalenae, the history
of use and cultivation within Ngöbe society has been documented but the
42
evolution of modern use has not been examined (Hazlett 1986, Gordon 1982,
Young 1971). As Ngöbe society changes, so does the role of pita and other
traditional plants. By examining these changing roles, we can understand the
changing culture.
Non-Timber Forest Products
Ethnobotany focuses on the role of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) in
a society. A NTFP can be defined as any species that is harvested from the
forest and used in some way other than the sale of timber (Profound 2004).
These include other products extracted from trees, wood used for fuel
(specifically cooking fires), products from non-plant organisms, and products
from non-tree plant species. In the past decade, the importance of NTFPs has
increased with the concern for deforestation in tropical areas. The extraction of
NTFPs is seen as a way to provide a stable income for local peoples as an
alternative to clearing forested land for crops (Nepstad and Schwartzman 1992).
However, studies show that many NTFPs, especially those of economic
importance, are being over-harvested (Vasquez and Gentry 1989). In response,
scientists are now looking at cultivation practices of indigenous societies to find
a balance between managing for economic value while sustaining the resource
(Tewari 1999, Godoy et. al. 1995). Presently, little is known about the
indigenous use of most NTFPs (Ticktin 2004, Marshall and Schreckenberg
2002).
Whether used commercially or not, many NTFPs have a high value for
the local populations that use them. While the common practice in western
society is to focus on only one part of a particular plant for a primary use,
43
indigenous societies use a variety of different plants for more than one use.
Thus, knowledge or value of a particular plant and of the ecosystem itself is
high for indigenous peoples. By documenting this knowledge, we increase our
knowledge of the biodiversity of the ecosystem and can work to maintain it
(Alcorn 1995).
The way indigenous communities value their natural resources can aid
in development work. Often plant values change over time, due to increases in
western agriculture practices and less reliance on the forest. Development
workers can look at negative impacts of past projects documented by
ethnobotanists to determine better ways to move in the future (Alcorn 1984).
Indigenous communities will not adopt new plants or technologies if they do not
value the use, plant or technology being introduced (Johns 1999). By studying
what people do value from the forest and why, development workers can
incorporate strategies of technology adoption that will have better success rates
(Alcorn 1995).
Often the value of a plant species changes for an indigenous community
when outside markets become available, and rural people have access to a cash
economy. Products made from plants are then replaced by industrial
substitutes (Vincent and Binkley 1991 as cited in Godoy et.al 1995). When this
occurs, dependence on wild populations of plant species declines or shifts away
from basic needs such as food, medicine, or fuelwood. Extraction of NTFPs is
then done for monetary gain, utilizing products like timber and specialized
plant extracts (Gould, et. al. 1998). An exception could be NTFPs such as A.
magdalenae, whose value has shifted as the culture has changed.
44
In order to study the use of a particular plant species, the plant must
first be identified. Growth habit, reproductive methods, habitat and cultivation
are all factors that determine the use of a plant by a society. In order to study
the use of pita by the Ngöbe, I began by identifying and studying these factors
for A. magdalenae.
The Pita Plant: Aechmea magdalenae
Aechmea magdalenae (André) André ex. Baker fam. Bromeliaceae is an
understory, terrestrial bromeliad found in neotropical rainforests from Mexico
to Ecuador(Croat 1978). Common names of A. magdalenae vary from region to
region but include ixtle (Mexico), pingwing, silk grass (English speaking) and
pita (throughout Central and South America). The Ngöbe word for both the
plant and the fiber extracted from it is kiga (kee-ga). In this paper, I will use the
term pita in reference to the plant and the term kiga in reference to the fiber in
order to avoid confusion.
Habit
A distant relative to the pineapple plant (Ananas comosus) but similar in
appearance, A. magdalenae is an herbaceous perennial 1 to 3.5m in height with
a typical spread of 1.5 to 2m. It has a short, stout stem with a rosette of leaves
sprouting at or near ground level. Its leaves are waxy, thick, and are typically
2.5m long and 5-10cm wide. The midrib of the leaf is broadly sunken and the
margins are armed with stout, fierce spines (Kirby 1963). Its inflorescence is
borne on a stout stalk sprouting from center of the rosette of leaves, 10-15cm in
diameter. Its arrangement of bright pink to red spinose-serrate floral bracts is
45
quite showy, with or with out the yellow, 5cm long sessile flowers (fig. 18). The
fruit is an egg-shaped berry, 5 cm long, yellow turning to orange at maturity.
This fruit is a preferred food of coatis (Croat 1978).
Figure 18. Pita plant and inflorescence
Growth Patterns
Aechmea magdalenae is a shade tolerant plant found in the understory
of tropical forests (fig. 19). It forms dense colonies that can spread to 500m² and
be found at a density as high as 7 colonies/ha in young forests and 10
colonies/ha in older forests (Brokaw 1983) The plant has been found to grow in
areas of higher sunlight, such as in canopy gaps and secondary forest growth,
and rosette production is higher in these light conditions (Ticktin 2003, Villegas
46
2001). However, in low light conditions, leaf extension has been found to be
significantly higher (Villeagas 2001) and this is important for harvest of fiber
from the leaves. In the study area, the three most frequently visited stands were
in forest gaps with greater than 10% canopy cover.
Figure 19. Aechmea magdalenae growth habit
Aechmea magdalenae is typically found in low, wet areas (Croat 1978).
Sunlight caused by gaps increases the number of leaves, but if the areas are
particularly dry, leaf production significantly decreases (Villegas 2001). In
climates with a pronounced dry and wet season, it seems to grow more rapidly
in transition periods when it is neither extremely wet nor extremely dry (Ticktin
47
2003). The climate of Bocas del Toro provides excellent growing conditions for
A. magdalenae because rainfall is steady throughout the year.
The pita plant has been shown to express the Crassulacean acid
metabolism (CAM) photosynthetic pathway (Pfitsch and Smith 1988). CAM
photosynthesis is typical for plants that are adapted to high light and low
moisture conditions. The plants that exhibit CAM photosynthesis close their
stomata during the day and generate malic acid, collected at night, to produce
carbon dioxide for carbohydrate production (Stern 1997). Although growth of A.
magdalenae occurs in lower light conditions, the carbon dioxide production rate
through CAM is 80-90% unless subjected to high light conditions, where it
drops to 60% (Pfitsch and Smith 1988). This results in a greater amount of
nitrogen, chlorophyll and water than found in species that do not exhibit CAM.
A. magdalenae may use this form of photosynthesis to maximize carbon gain in
periods of high light in order to survive as an understory species (Skillman, et al
1999).
The most common form of reproduction of A. magdalenae is vegetative
through rhizomes, and single plants seperate from colonies are rare (Brokaw
1983, per.obs.). While seedlings have been shown to reproduce in lab
situations, they are rare in nature (Villegas 2001). The rosette is monocarpic
and after producing one inflorescence, it dies. There are few flowering rosettes
present in any given year. It has been suggested that coatis distribute seeds,
although the germination rate of wild seedlings is not known (Croat 1978,
Brokaw 1983). Although the dense habit of pita colonies shades out seedlings of
other species in younger stands, pita does not affect tree density or diversity of
species in older stands (Brokaw 1983).
48
Use and Cultivation
The indigenous populations of Central and South America and Mexico
have used Aechmea magdalenae for centuries (Gordon 1982, Young 1971,
Ticktin 2002). The long white fiber extracted from its leaves is strong, durable
and resistant to salt water (Kirby 1963)(fig. 20). These indigenous groups used
the fiber for fishing nets, rope, fishing line, bags, fans, sandals, hammocks,
thread for clothing and string for musical instruments. The fiber was also used
to make paper in the 19th century (Williams, J.J. 1852 as cited in Ticktin 2002).
A. magdalenae fiber is strong and has a breaking strength of 283.3gm. It is
comparable to jute or hemp in its fineness, though its strength is comparable to
hard fiber (Kirby 1963). The Ngöbe still use this fiber, kiga, today in much the
same way their ancestors did.
In the village of Chalite, A. magdalenae is extracted and used as a NTFP
for rope, hammocks, fishing nets, and bags (fig. 21). These bags, called kra in
Ngäbere and chacara in Spanish, are used to carry every item the women of
Chalite ever carry; food from the farm, children up to three years of age, game,
fish, tools, clothing, and household supplies.
49
Figure 20. Aechmea magdalenae fibers
Fishing net
Hand woven bags-kra
Figure 21. Products made from A. magdalenae fiber
50
Other uses
The outer parts of the leaf which remain after the extraction process are
also strong and are used as rope to tether domesticated animals such as pigs,
dogs, and chickens. In Mexico it was once used to make mats (Ticktin 2002).
The fruit of A. magdalenae is said to resemble the pineapple in taste and was
consumed by indigenous groups throughout Central America. The leaves are
succulent, and produce a juice that was used to treat side pains (Hazlett 1986).
The Ngöbe plant pita as natural fence, as the dense colonies and sharp spines
form an impenetrable barrier against humans, domestic animals and wildlife
(fig. 22).
Figure 22. Dense colony of Aechmea magdalenae
51
The Ngöbe cultivate pita today on a much smaller scale than in the past.
Accounts of Ngöbe harvesting and planting pita appear in 17th and 18th century
documents (Gordon 1982). The Ngöbe cultivated a broader leaf variety of pita,
and few people outside Ngöbe culture today are even aware there is a difference
between wild and cultivated pita (Gordon 1982). Today, pita fiber is sold in
small local markets throughout Central and South America, but it is cultivated
and sold on a larger scale in Mexico. The Chinteco indigenous people cultivate
and sell pita fibers for the art of el piteado, an embroidery on belts, hats and
saddles that is expensive and highly valued. With the increase in demand for
pita in Mexico in recent years and a reduction in its habitat by deforestation,
the Mexican government sponsors programs to help farmers with improved
cultivation and harvesting practices of the pita (Ticktin 2002). In 1997, the
Fondo Mexicano para la Conservación de la Naturaleza (Mexican Nature
Conservation Fund) funded a project to conserve and manage pita populations
in Chinantla, Oaxaca (FMCN 2004).
Ticktin and Johns (2002) have studied the management of Aechmea
magdalenae by the Chinanteco people of Oaxaca, Mexico. Their study looked at
the value of indigenous management of the pita plant on a large-scale
commercial basis. The Chinateco, who have been managing A. magdalenae for
centuries, as have the Ngöbe, use a more successful management technique
than those developed by scientists.
The demand for and subsequent rise in cultivation of pita in Mexico may
indicate potential for cultivation in Panama as well. Trends in cultivation of pita
among the Ngöbe have never been fully studied, the use and potential of pita as
a strong part of Ngöbe agriculture has been mentioned in few texts. The current
52
use of pita must be examined in order to determine the potential for A.
magdalenae as a non-timber forest product (NTFP) in Panama. During the first
year I lived with the people of Chalite, I began to see that pita has a central role
in the life there. I wanted to learn more about the importance of pita in the lives
of women in the community and determine what value it held and its future
value. As a development worker, my job was to find new approaches to
problems by building on traditional knowledge. I felt that pita had played a
significant role in Ngöbe society and had the potential to play even a greater
one.
53
CHAPTER V
METHODOLOGY
I developed this study over the course of my two-year service in the Peace
Corps, while living and working on a daily basis with the Ngöbe of Chalite.
Although I had been a university student for a year, I did not have a specific
research topic in mind upon arriving. This was done for a reason. I chose to
find out first hand about the culture I lived in and how they use their natural
resources before formulating a hypothesis to test. By doing so I hoped my
research would have direct benefits for the people of Chalite, the Ngöbe people
and country of Panama.
As a community member, my strategies for research were participatory,
not only through my observation but also through the facilitation of discussions
by participants in the study. As Alexiades (1996) points out, “The subject
matter of ethnobotany, the relationship between people and their botanical
resources, is ideally suited to applied and participatory research.” Later he
states “Previously unrecorded knowledge is best approached through
participatory research at a local community level”. There are a variety of
methods used in participatory research. I began my study by using participant
observation to determine the interaction of humans with plants in Chalite. After
I determined that pita played a major role in Ngöbe life, I used an informal
interview process to find out how and why. This process was extensive, and
required verification of the data I received. I will describe how I verified my
research through group interviews and collecting data outside the community.
A research study of this kind is never without obstacles, and I will discuss how
54
I overcame the obstacles in this study. I conclude by reviewing the statistical
analysis I used for my data.
Participant observation
I began my study of the role of pita in Chalite by documenting my
participation in activities involving interaction between the people of Chalite
and their natural resources. Due to cultural taboos against women working in
the fields with men who are not their husbands or family, I chose to work with
the women and determine what natural resources were important to them. One
of the main activities of a woman’s life in Chalite is gathering food from the
farm. They use the kra to do this. They fish at the river using nets made from
kiga. They rock their babies to sleep in kra and rest themselves in hammocks
made from pita. I worked side by side with these women and determined that
pita was an invaluable part of their life (fig. 23).
As part of my job as a Peace Corps volunteer, I helped a group of women
organize an artisan association, Mesi Chali. The women were interested in
making their own money by selling bags made from pita to tourists. Some of the
women had participated in seminars given by Proyecto Ngöbe-Buglé that talked
about the growing tourist market and opportunity to sell kra to tourists. The
seminar was given in a town near the road, a five-hour journey from Chalite.
The major problem for the women of Chalite was transport. As part of the
group and hoping to improve their lives, I volunteered to sell kra they made
while traveling outside the village for a period of one year, until they profited
enough from sales to afford transport out of the group fund. Through this
55
experience I learned first hand about the market for pita in the Bocas del Toro
area. I documented every kra I sold and for how much and to whom for the
entire year period. By helping in this experience, I realized further the value of
pita in the lives of Ngöbe women.
Figure 23. Participant observation
I recorded the information I gathered from taking an active part in the
Ngöbe women’s lives in journals. As this kind of study has not been conducted
on the women of this area, a large amount of observational data was necessary,
making participant observation ideal for the study (Nichols 2000). Participant
observation is a research method that involves living in a community for an
extended period of time, participating in life there and recording the information
gathered (Bernard 2002). Using this method, I documented the daily activities
of Ngöbe women, their use of the forest, their use of pita, and their role in
Ngöbe culture.
56
Analysis of my journals led me to formulate some specific questions I
wanted to investigate. Why does pita play a role in the life of Ngöbe women?
Had the value of pita changed in the lives of the Ngöbe in the past twenty years?
If so, what was the significance of that change? What is the viable future of pita
in Ngöbe society? I thought that the changes associated with the value of pita
had a connection with the availability of outside resources. Using pita to make
kra had shifted from necessity to preference over other materials. Why had that
occurred? Also, the emerging tourist market in Panama played a role in the
value of pita to Ngöbe women, providing a means of monetary gain never before
available to them. I was curious of this impact and its implications for the
future value of pita.
Interviews
Most data for ethnobotanical research is collected through interviews
(Alexiades 1996). From my general hypothesis, I formulated specific questions
by topic to test it. Table 1 shows the topics I chose and questions I wanted to
answer. I began a series of unstructured interviews (Bernard 2002) with the
women of Mesi Chali, the artisan group I helped to organize. Although there are
thirteen women in the group, only eleven were interviewed to comply with
Human Subject Research Guidelines that an adult interviewee be eighteen
years of age or older. These interviews continued in many settings on many
occasions throughout my remaining time in the village.
57
Table 1. Topics and questions used to generate unstructured interviews
Topics and questions for interviews
Age/demographics
1
2
3
4
5
6
How old are you?
How long have you lived in this house?
How many houses do you have?
Where were you born?
How many children do you have? Boys_____ Girls______
How many people live in your house?
Education/marital status
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
Did you attend primary school?
Did you attend secondary school?
Do you know how to read/write?
Are you married?
Does your husband live in the house?
Did your husband attend primary school?
Did your husband attend secondary school?
Does your husband read/write?
Income
13
14
15
16
17
18
Does your husband work outside the house?
If yes, where does he work?
Do you work outside the house?
If yes where?
Does anyone else living in your house have work outside of the house?
If yes, who and where?
Farm
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
Do you have a farm?
How long does it take you to walk to your farm?
What do you grow in your farm?
Do you work at your farm everyday?
What activites do you do at the farm?
What food do you buy, that you don't grow on farm?
Do you plant things in your farm that aren't for food?
What types of things do you grow in your farm that you don't eat?
What products from your farm do you sell?
Pita plant
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
Does pita grow on your farm?
How long does it take to walk to your pita?
Do you plant pita?
How do you plant pita?
Do you harvest pita from the forest?
How many times a year do you harvest pita?
When is the best time to harvest pita?
What is the best way to harvest pita?
Can you describe where pita grows best?
Pita Use
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
Do you make things from pita?
What do you make?
Do you make products from pita every day?
How many hours each day do you spend making bags from pita?
Where did you learn to make products from pita?
How old were you when you learned how to make products from pita?
How many pita bags have you made in the last year?
Do you know how to make different designs in pita bags?
Where did your learn how to make the designs?
58
free list
free list
free list
free list
free list
Table 1 (cont.). Topics and questions used to generate unstructured interviews
Topics and questions for interviews cont…
47
48
49
50
51
Do you sell products made from pita?
What do you sell?
How many products of pita have you sold in the last year?
Where do you sell your products made from pita?
How much do they sell for?
52
53
54
55
56
57
Do you buy products made from pita?
What do you buy?
Do you ever buy pita?
How much does pita sell for?
Does colored pita sell for more money?
If yes, how much more?
Dyes
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
Do you know how to dye pita?
Where did you learn how to dye pita?
What age were you when you learned how to dye pita?
Do you know how to collect plants to make dyes?
Where did you learn how to collect the plants?
How many different colors can you make from plants?
What are they?
Pita Replacement
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
Do you make bags from other material?
What other material do you make bags from?
Where do you get this material?
Do you buy this material?
Do you dye this material?
Why do you make bags from other material?
Do you sell bags made from other material?
How much do they sell for?
Do you know how to make designs in bags made from other material?
Sales/market
Reasons for pita use 74 When you sell a bag, do you keep the money?
75 What do you do with the money?
Past use of pita
76
77
78
79
Do you like making bags from pita?
If yes, why?
Do you teach your daughter how to make bags from pita?
If so, why?
80
81
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
Does your mom know how to make bags from pita?
What else does your mom make from pita?
Do your parents plant pita in their farm?
How long have they planted pita?
Does your mom dye pita?
Does your mom know the dye plants?
Does your mother know how to make different designs in the bags?
Does your mother make bags from other material?
Does your mother sell bags from other material?
Where does your mother live?
Where was your mother born?
59
Rank reasons
free list
Rank reasons
Unstructured interviews differ from informal interviews because the
informants know they are part of a research study, provide information for it,
and cover a set of specific topics (Bernard 2002). Unstructured interviews differ
as well from semi-structured interviews in that they are often conversation-like,
and do not constrict the interviewee to simply giving responses to questions
that are put to them. In an unstructured interview, the informant is allowed to
open up and express themselves in their own terms and at their own pace.
Bernard (2002) suggests the use of unstructured interviews when the
researcher will be able to interview the informants on more than one occasion.
The unstructured interview worked best when interviewing the Ngöbe
women. Using this method, I collected data from conversations in which the
women would reveal more to me about the subject than when asked directly in
a formal interview. Ngöbe women are shy and will not respond to people they do
not trust. This is not an uncommon phenomenon in human subject research
(Cunningham 1996, Devereux and Hoddinott 1993). When I entered the village
for the first time, the women would not even say hello to me. I would approach
their homes and shout the traditional greeting “Ñantore!” and they would not
respond. After a month, I would approach the house and they would tell me
how starving they were, how they were sick and needed money and food, but
would not engage in a conversation with me. These were lies they told in an
effort to test my true intentions for living in the community. It took three
months of living in the village for women to respond to my greeting, and four
months for them to approach me and greet me first when we saw each other.
The day I left the village after two years was the first time three of the women
60
had ever been in my house. If I had had only two or three months for this
study, I would have received little useful response from the women of Chalite. If
I had taken a sheet of paper and pencil to their house to write answers they
gave me down in front of them, they would not have answered my questions,
although every one of them knew I was conducting a research study on pita and
had given me permission to use their answers. As Martenelli notes (1994) this
situation is not unique to the Ngöbe women of Chalite; in the past, Ngöbe
women did not talk to outsiders, as a result today they still feel uncomfortable
speaking informally with someone they do not fully trust.
I chose to interview only women for this study, as value of pita is most
directly tied to them. While men traditionally aided in the harvest of pita from
the field, the role of pita in Ngöbe life today is completely dominated by women.
Women are said to be the ones that hold the culture sacred, and the making of
the kra is the most evident symbol of culture in Ngöbe society (Martinelli 1993
and 1994, Hamlin 1993). Each member of the group Mesi Chali became a key
informant for the study (Nichols 2000) (fig. 24).
61
Figure 24. Members of the women’s group Mesi Chali
As I had daily conversations with the women of the study and recorded
the answers in my journal, I would note which individual stated the answer by
a three-letter code I had assigned each informant. I also included a number in
the journal entry corresponding with the question to which it pertained, thereby
coding all critical information (Stake 1995). Coding helped me organize my data
by both key informant and by relevance. At times I would record details of a
62
conversation about pita and it would not correspond to one of my predetermined questions. In this case, I would code it with a star symbol and
record the page number on a separate page at the back of my journal. These
conversations provided a great deal of qualitative data, a subjective research
method that needs to be verified to avoid misunderstandings (Stake 1995). I
used several triangulation techniques to verify my data (Yinn 2003).
Verification
I wanted to verify answers on planting techniques and tenure rights to
pita colonies as well as verify the cultural norms some women practiced. To do
so, I conducted semi-structured interviews (Bernard 2002) in group settings.
The meetings of Mesi Chali were an ideal place to conduct these group
interviews. During meetings I would begin by saying that I had heard about a
particular topic and then ask what they knew about it, never revealing who had
told me the original information. This is a form of “member-checking”, repeating
back to a participant their answers in order to verify your understanding of
them (Stake 1995). Often interviewees will provide one response alone and a
different response when in a group (Nichols 2000). By asking questions to
individuals and then also proposing the same questions to the group, I insured
I had recorded their responses the way they had intended for them to be
revealed. If individual responses varied from group responses, I would return to
the individual to clarify the response. I did not ask questions pertaining to
wealth or one’s own knowledge or skills in a group setting.
63
On several other occasions, I conducted unstructured interviews with
women from outside of Chalite. These included two women from the community
of Pueblo Nuevo, a larger Ngöbe village that sits on Fortuna Road and has
access to more resources. I visited this town once a month as it was the nearest
Ngöbe village to the port town of Chiriqui Grande. I had developed a level of
trust with these women. This village was the location for the seminars held by
Proyecto Ngöbe Buglé that taught techniques of making kra to sell to tourists.
This community had over 1000 inhabitants and five women’s artisan groups.
The women I interviewed were the presidents of two of them.
I also interviewed women from the artisan group known as FORANB, a
group organized by Proyecto Ngöbe-Buglé based in the town of San Felix. San
Felix is in Chiriqui, a day’s journey from Chalite, and has been the center of the
research on Ngöbe culture since the 1960s (Young 1971). These women have a
market in San Felix, on the Pan-American Highway. With the help of Proyecto
Ngöbe-Buglé, they have built this market and sell bags made by women from all
over Chiriqui.
By observing practices and interviewing people living outside of Chalite,
I was able to verify answers given by my informants and make some
assumptions about Ngöbe culture as a whole, rather than just the women of
Chalite. I was also able to make comparisons between the data I received from
outsiders when their responses did not correlate with those of Chalite. By
identifying the factors related to the answers, I could verify reasons for the
difference in answers. This process of seeking alternate explanations is used in
research to check validity of answers (Yinn 2003).
64
I took five samples of Aechmea magdalenae leaves, meristem and flowers
from four separate stands and pressed them. The best two of these samples
were submitted as vouchers to the herbarium of the University of Panama in
Panama City. They are cataloged as “Kathryn M. Lincoln specimen 001” and
“Kathryn M. Lincoln specimen 003”.
Obstacles
On one occasion, while walking the countryside with my neighbor, I
interviewed a woman who lives in the mountains and sells pita to the women of
Chalite. This interview was conducted through translation by my neighbor as
the woman spoke only Ngäbere, and although I understood her answers she
could not understand my questions because of my accent. Two of the women in
Mesi Chali do not speak Spanish, and others speak very little. However, because
they had taught me Ngäbere, they were used to the sound of my voice and were
better able to understand me. When it became difficult to communicate or a
misunderstanding arose, I used other members of the group or members of the
household to interpret for me. In this way, the interview could remain
unstructured; with the use of one single interpreter the conversational
structure of the interview would have been lost. Often Ngöbe women feel
intimidated speaking Spanish, as their level is rudimentary (Martenelli 1994).
My level of Castillean Spanish was also rudimentary when I arrived in Chalite.
The women and I found it at times easier to communicate because we both
spoke only a basic level of Spanish.
There were other barriers in the research I strove to overcome. Some
women in my study do not know their age, so in this instance we estimated how
65
old they were by an approximation of their age at the birth of their eldest child.
Cultural norms were an obstacle, as is generally the case in all research of this
kind (Nichols 2000). For example, Ngöbe women view time in a different way
from Western society. They are unaccustomed to counting time in hours and
minutes. This difference often led to vague responses to my probing for some
measurement of time spent on daily activities. In order to verify answers I
received I chose three women and personally monitored their activities for a
week, tracking the amount of time they performed seven basic activities:
cooking, washing clothes, fishing, making kra, going to the farm, gathering
wood, and gathering other plants. I averaged these activities to make a basic
outline of a woman’s day, but then also asked every woman for estimates of
time spent on the last four activities. Their responses fell within my
assessment.
Analysis
After the period of collection, I began to organize my data into a format
appropriate for quantitative analysis (Bernard 2002). I formatted the findings
from my questionnaire to fit into the SAS database. Pearson correlations were
found for the 104 variables of the questionnaire. The Pearson correlation
measures the association between two variables (Delwiche and Slaughter 1995,
Cody and Smith 1997). The output values range from –1 to +1, with a negative
value indicating a negative correlation and a positive value indicating a positive
one. A positive correlation means that as one variable increases, the other
variable increases. A negative correlation signifies that as one variable
66
increases, the other decreases. The significance values of 0.10 and 0.01 were
used to determine a 90% and a 99% confidence level for the correlations.
Among these correlations I determined trends that indicate strong significance.
Much of my data was qualitative in nature. This data I organized by
subject area, extraction and dying process, knowledge of harvesting and
cultivation of Aechmea magdalenae, and daily, cultural, and market use. Within
each of these categories I examined factors relating to the past, gained from
interview data, and factors relating to the present, gained from both interviews
and participant observation.
Participant observation played the greatest role in my research. Through
this method, I gained most of the data used to determine the results of this
study. An integral part of a use study is to determine the use of the object being
studied and document it. I determined the use of pita through participant
observation techniques and documented this use in the first section of the
results chapter. The interviews were used to verify trends that I had already
determined through participant observation (Yinn 2003). I determined my
hypothesis “there has been a change in the use of the pita plant in recent years”
by participant observation and sought to substantiate it by interviewing women
about their use and their mother’s use. I used a small sample of eleven women
because of the trust I had gained with them. A correlation found by itself with a
sample of this size is not valuable. I sought to find clusters of significant
correlations in order to verify a trend discussed and documented by interview
data.
The basis of my study of A. magdalenae and its role in the Ngöbe
community of Bocas del Toro, Panama was formulated through knowledge of
67
ethnobotany and NTFPs and the desire to contribute research to these fields.
With the opportunity to live and work in the community for a long period of
time, I gained valuable data through participant observation and unstructured
and semi-structured interviews. In the next chapter I will discuss my findings. I
begin by describing how Ngöbe women use the pita plant, with a description of
harvesting, extraction, dying, and making string for bags. Secondly, I report
results of the interviews, concentrating on past and present use of pita and the
change in value that has occurred in the community. I will then discuss how
the change in value affects Ngöbe culture in Chalite and in Bocas del Toro.
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CHAPTER VI
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
As I began to organize the results of this study, I realized that for such a
narrow topic, there are a great many factors involved. Aechmea magdalenae
has potential to play a significant role in a variety of topics including the recent
increase in interest of NTFPs, the continuing concerns of development agencies
to alleviate world poverty, and the great strides made to include women and
their roles in scientific study. The greater question, then, is how important is
Aechmea magdalenae and what is its potential? These were the main questions
I wished to have answered, as these answers could lead to further research on
this topic.
Most of the data reported in this chapter was determined through a
process of analyzing journal notes on participant observation and interviews
with eleven Ngöbe women. Although there are fifteen women in the Mesi Chali
women’s group, only eleven were interviewed to comply with standards for
Human Subject Research, as several members are under the age of eighteen.
The 89 interview questions generated 104 variables(see Appendix), and clusters
of correlations were determined.
I will begin the results with some demographics on the women of Mesi
Chali, reported in order to determine the role of the pita plant in the activities of
an average Ngöbe woman. I then discuss the processing of fiber, determining
the use of pita by Ngobe women in Chalite. Finally, I report results of the
interviews and correlations found from reported answers to the 104 variables.
The significance of the clusters I found are discussed.
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Demographics
The average age of the women in my study was 34, the youngest was 21
and oldest 50 (fig. 25). They have an average of five children, two of whom are
female. The majority of the women in the group were born outside of Chalite,
and moved to the village to be with their husbands and his family. Most of the
women live in houses built by the missionaries and have access to running
water. All of the women have a small number of domestic livestock, mainly
chickens and pigs. A few of the women have cows, ducks and turkeys. The
average household, while relying on farming, has received money from outside
income in the last two years. The only significant difference in wealth between
the women is determined by whether or not the family sells goods outside of the
community. These goods include cacao, coffee, rice and peach palm. If her
family does sell these things, she has more access to cash income than other
women.
Figure 25. Typical Ngöbe woman and child outside their home
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Only 18% of the women in Mesi Chali have been educated beyond the
sixth grade and know how to read and write. The majority does speak some
level of Spanish, though 36% only speak Ngäbere. Most of the women who
speak Spanish in Mesi Chali learned it from their husbands. All of the women
are married and 73% of their husbands have graduated sixth grade and read
and write Spanish. Slatton (2004) found that a strong positive correlation exists
between farmers who adopt new farming technologies in Chalite and whether
their wives are a part of Mesi Chali. This trend suggests the women of Mesi
Chali are part of households who have had some outside influence, and may be
adopting other practices. During my time in Chalite, the women’s group of Mesi
Chali evolved from women interested in making kra for sale to outside markets
to a voice for women in the town. The group’s activities promoted health
education and family planning activities, suggested solely by group members. I
attended a total of eighteen meetings of Mesi Chali during my time in Chalite.
Much of a Ngöbe woman’s time is spent running the household, and the
women of Mesi Chali are no exception. They care for children constantly and
make sure food is available, clothes are cleaned and livestock fed. Lacking
modern conveniences like refrigerators, ovens, sinks, and washing machines,
these duties consume many more hours than they would in the United States. I
lived and worked alongside these women for two years, and monitored time
spent on five daily activities. As not every activity is done on a daily basis, I
used a weekly scale to determine time (fig. 26). Activities such as caring for
children are not included as they are performed constantly throughout the day.
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17%
12%
15%
9%
34%
6%
7%
at the farm
making kra
gathering wood
fishing
cooking
laundry
gathering plants
Figure 26. Percentage of waking time spent on activities (weekly)
Women spend fifteen percent of their total weekly activity time making
kra. This is a significant amount of time. Women work on the craft as relaxation
time, and also work with friends and daughters as an act of female bonding.
This may suggest why the craft remains an important part of daily life, though
access to backpacks, grain sacks and other manufactured items has increased.
The giant kra used to carry crops home from the farm remains the best tool for
this purpose, and therefore the craft of fashioning kra continues, even if kiga is
substituted with manufactured materials. The extraction of fiber from the pita
plant and fashioning of the kra is a time consuming process. It begins at the
farm, in a dense colony of spiny-leafed plants and ends with a work of art.
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The Processing of Fiber
Harvest and Extraction of Aechmea magdalenae
To extract the fiber from the leaf of the pita plant, one must first harvest
the leaves. The Ngöbe will do this in one of two ways, either by removing
individual leaves from rosettes leaving enough for the plant to continue living,
or by removing the entire rosette. The latter way is much faster, and the plant
will sprout new rametes from the rhizomes. However, the stand will take three
years to mature again. Removing individual leaves ensures a continuous supply
of leaves when needed (fig. 27). The harvester also can select for longer better
quality leaves to harvest. The plants die after flowering, and when this occurs
the entire plant is removed. Similar methods of harvesting are used in Mexico
among the Chinateco (Ticktin 2002).
Figure 27. Harvesting pita leaves
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Males in Ngöbe society traditionally harvested leaves and removed
spines, though today females also do this (fig. 28). The women then carry the
harvested leaves to their houses to extract the kiga. One leaf at a time is placed
on a balsa wood log. The wood must be clean, and to ensure this, the bark is
removed. A piece of rattan cane, about 25cm long, is cut in half so that a clean,
smooth edge is exposed. The cane is held on either end with the bark facing
outward. It is then repeatedly rubbed against the leaf in an upward motion on
the balsa wood until the outer layer of leaf is removed and the kiga is exposed
and comes loose from the bottom layer (fig. 29). The kiga is then removed
further by hand and washed in water. The juice of a citrus fruit is often added
to the water may to aid in cleaning. When it is clean, the kiga is hung on a line
to dry and bleach in the sun (fig. 30).
Figure 28. Removing spines from pita leaf
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Figure 29. Extraction of fiber from leaf
Figure 30. Cleaning newly extracted kiga
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The Ngöbe believe that the kiga will only come out pure white (which is
desired) if the woman extracting it has not lain with her husband within 24
hours and is not menstruating or pregnant. A woman must be at full strength
in order to extract the kiga fiber from the pita leaf. Joly et al. (1990) mention in
their work with the Ngöbe of Chiriqui Province that there are strict taboos
surrounding women speaking about menstruation. I found that women in
Chalite do not speak of these things with their husbands but do speak of them
in groups of females only, as long as children are not present. Pita must also
be harvested during the full moon for best quality. This belief has some
scientific basis, as the groundwater table is higher during the full moon,
especially near the coast, due to tidal shifts (Porter 2002). The amount of water
the roots are receiving at this time may have some effect on the plant thus
producing a whiter fiber, although this has not been studied.
Raw fiber is a primary product of pita that holds its own value and is
bought, sold or traded for money or goods. While prices for kiga are negotiable
and depend on factors such as past trade relations and family ties, there is an
accepted standard of measurement and price (Table 2). The measurements
provided in this table are estimates. The names correspond to a type of
measurement, i.e. if a woman wishes to buy a “leaf” this means she wants as
much fiber as a leaf produces, which is enough fiber to be of one-quarter inch
diameter in thickness and five to seven feet long. A “handful” correlates to as
much fiber as the woman can hold in her hand and touch her fingers at the
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tips, estimated at two and one-quarter inches in diameter and five to seven feet
long.
Table 2. Standard measurements and prices of kiga
Name (Spanish, Ngabere)
leaf (hoja, ka)
colored leaf (hoja pintado, ka juke)
handful (mano,kise)
ball (bola, n/a)
Amount
1/4 in. diameter 5-7ft.long
1/4 in. diameter 5-7ft.long
2 1/2 in. diameter 5-7ft.long
5 in. diameter ball
Price
$0.10
$0.25
$2.50
$5.00
Trade Value
n/a
1lb rice
one 3- 5lb chicken
negoc. no standard
The Dye Process
Cultural norms are associated with the dying of kiga as well. In order to
participate in the dying process, a Ngöbe woman must be of reproductive age
but not pregnant or nursing a child. Again, she must not have lain with her
husband in the past 24 hours and must not be menstruating in order to give
her full energy to the dye process. It is believed the dye will not take if these
norms are not followed.
Dye plants are gathered from the forest to use in the process. A listing of
the plant, the color extracted and the plant part used can be found in Table 3.
Figure 31 shows the parts used to extract dyes of the plants su, kuro and kare.
The women know the plants only by their Ngöbe names, therefore this listing is
incomplete as I had no other reference for information. This listing is not
extensive, and women have told me of other plants said to make purple and
other natural shades, though I never saw these plants. Mud (kronan) is used to
achieve hues of colors or to dye kiga black.
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Table 3. Dye plants used by Ngöbe women of Chalite
Dye Plants used by the Ngobe women of Chalite
Scientific Name
Tectona grandis
Bixa orellana
Arrabidaea chica
Spanish common
name
Ngobe name
unknown (fig)
Su
Kan wada
teca
Kan
achiote (fig)
kuro
chica
kokra tain
unknown (fig)
kare
blure
Color
Produced
Yellow
pink
red
orange
red
green
blue
Plant part used to
extract color
root
bark
leaves
seeds
leaves and stems
leaves
berries
Photo by R. Dainton
Figure 31. Dye plants su, kuro, and kare
Dye is extracted by pounding the specific part of the dye plant and
placing it in boiling water (fig. 32). The water turns the desired color and the
plant residue is strained from it. The pita fiber is then placed in the dye and the
mixture is boiled again. Citrus juice, salt or pieces of an acidic cane (caña
agrigo) are added to the dye mixture to fix the dye to the pita fiber. After several
minutes, the kiga is removed, wrung out and hung to dry (fig. 33).
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Figure 32. Extraction of dye from plant
Figure 33. Newly dyed kiga
Fashioning the Kra
The pita fiber is a fine, silky fiber. In order to use it, it must be rolled into
string. This is a long and tedious process that is difficult and something I was
never able to achieve. To begin this process, a woman takes a handful of kiga
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and ties it to a post, leaving one end of the bunch free. She then separates three
to five individual strands from the whole and rolls these three against her bare
thigh to twist them together (fig. 34). She works up from the loose end, rolling
the strands, to form one strong string. After one is complete, she starts the
process over, separating and rolling strands until the bundle is complete. The
string formed is used to fashion kra, rope, hammocks, and fishing nets, each in
a process of sewing these individual strings together.
Figure 34. Making string from kiga
Fashioning a kra is a difficult process to describe, and the intricacies of
adding colored strings in a methodological way to form designs is beyond my
scope of understanding. Therefore, I will only say that this process begins with
a single string woven upon itself, and ends in a true work of art. The process
can take from several days to several months of working diligently to complete.
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The women use no needles to aid in sewing the kra and often work at night by
the light of a single candle or kerosene lantern. This is the art of Ngöbe women,
born out of need and continued by tradition (fig. 35).
Photos by R. Dainton
Figure 35. Fashioning kra
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The Change in Use of Pita Plant Over Time
Past and Present
I wanted to determine to what extent pita was used in the past and
compare that to the use today. I did this by interviewing my informants about
their mother’s use of the plant. Personal interviews as well as other documented
works reveal that Ngöbe women have been fashioning the kra and other
products for many years (Young 1971, Hazlett 1986). We also know that Central
and South American Indigenous peoples have cultivated the pita plant for
centuries (Gordon 1986, Kirby 1963, Levi-Strauss 1950). As the average age of
my informants was 34, we can approximate that the responses they gave about
their mothers could range in time period from the 1930s to the present. To be
more accurate, I would conclude that the information they provided is
significant for the past twenty years. However, women often referred to “the
past” in accounts of pita use and when asked for a time frame referred to “when
my grandmother was a child”, suggesting a time dating back further.
There have been some significant changes in Chalite in the last twenty
years. The addition of the multi-room schoolhouse brought in mestizo culture
through the addition of three teachers. The town had electricity for one year,
they had new houses built in a colonial American fashion, they received water
to their houses without having to haul it from the river, and development
organizations have come to Chalite. These changes have prompted some
changing attitudes, and often these changes are both positive and negative.
There have been some changes in the use of pita over these last twenty years as
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well, and some significant differences were found in responses of women when
compared to their accounts of pita use by their mothers. For each of the
following five variables I discuss the comparison of these changes. I also report
on results of knowledge source of present use, noting responses given as to
where the knowledge of each subject was gained. A general discussion of what
significance these differences may have follows this section.
Cultivation and use of Aechmea magdalenae
In the past, use of the pita plant was extensive. Women in the
study report that their mothers spent more time making the bags, and more
time harvesting pita. Pita grew in a greater number of farms and was harvested
from the forest on a greater scale. Often pita was planted closer to the home,
where it could be harvested more often and with greater convenience for the
woman. One woman who reported her mother planted pita said, “As a child, my
mother planted pita close to our home, so that she could harvest it easier. Many
women did the same, but now we live too close together and there is no space
for the pita, so we plant it in the farm, where it will grow better.” (translated
from Spanish). When asked if their mother planted pita in the farm, 73% of the
women said yes, and 27% reported that pita grew naturally on the farm. This
data shows that all of the informants’ mothers had access to pita. An older
woman was more likely to report that pita grew naturally in her mother’s farm,
rather than planted (correlation: age of informant to pita grows natural for
mother r=0.88, P=0.0004).
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I learned over time that the women consider all land around Chalite
“farm” and not “forest” because all land is “owned” by someone. Therefore, I
always received a negative response when I asked if the women harvested pita
from the forest, although land that has over 60% canopy cover and is not being
used for crops could be considered “forest” by an outside perspective. The
mothers of my informants lived farther from their neighbors than today, making
the possibility of buying pita more difficult. Therefore, knowledge of how to
extract fiber from the plant and to tend cultivated stands was of greater
importance.
There has been a general decline in use of Aechmea magdalenae since
the time of the interviewees’ mothers. A lower number of women (55%) reported
planting pita than their mothers, and a few women reported having no access at
all to pita. One woman noted, “If you want to have pita in your farm today, you
have to plant it.” However, other women (18%) did report that pita still grows
naturally on their farm. There were many occasions when I would be at a
meeting of Mesi Chali and they would all agree that they could not work on kra
at the time because there was no pita available. People once gave the pita away
for free to anyone who wanted to take the time to harvest it. These individuals
own the several giant pita stands near Chalite. Now these owners are charging
for the pita, and on more than one occasion the women’s group paid an owner
$2.00 a person for access to pita on a farm.
The women who reported planting pita on the farm stated it was fairly
easy to do so, describing the process as follows: ask a neighbor who has pita for
permission to take some young rametes, dig up three to five young rametes of
less than knee height (approximately 22 inches), sever the rhizome from the
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mother plant leaving at least seven inches attached to the ramete, and finally
plant the rametes in the desired location. All but two women stated that the
best place to plant pita was under trees near water.
All but one woman interviewed reported knowing how to harvest pita.
The preferred method of harvest reported by these women is to remove
individual leaves. Only 73% of the women who reported knowing how to harvest
pita learned from their mother. Others had learned as part of women’s group
activities. The women in the study reported that they could harvest leaves from
the same colony of pita twice per year. I witnessed this first-hand on two
occasions, once in January of 2003, and again in July of that same year. The
average walk to pita was reported at 25 minutes, and the four stands I visited
were five-, fifteen-, 30- and 45-minute walks away from the center of town.
I found that women who dedicate their time to farm activities and
gathering wood spend less time on activities involved with pita (r= –0.69, P=.019
planting pita, gathering wood) (r= –0.60, P=.051 harvest pita, hrs work on farm).
This evidence suggests that This can be further suggested through the negative
relationship of hours gathering wood to hours spent making kra (r=-0.79,
P=.004). As more men leave the community of Chalite to work on coffee and
sugar plantations, women dedicate more time to farm work and household
chores out of necessity rather than planting and harvesting pita. A correlation
also exists between planting pita and age (r=0.53, P=0.094), suggesting older
women dedicate more time to planting pita than do younger ones. Older women
also spend more time gathering other plants (r=0.64, P=0.033) and collecting
medicinal plants (r=0.56, P=0.071).
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Knowledge of dye plants and dye processes
All bags made of pita use colored pita in some way, even if only in small
quantities. Most often, a woman will make periodic bands of color in the kra.
This is known as the diseño sencillo, simple design. Sixty-four percent of the
women reported that their mothers knew how to dye the fibers of A.
magdalenae. Results show that mothers who dye pita also have a knowledge of
what plants are used in the process (r= 0.61, P=.048). None of the women
reported that their mothers planted these plants, but 45% said the dye plants
grow naturally in their mother’s farm. A correlation of was found for mothers
knowledge of dye plants and mother planting pita. If a respondent reported
their mother had knowledge of pita cultivation, she would also have knowledge
of the dying process and plants used for dye (r=0.61, P=.047 mother’s
knowledge of dye plants and mother planting pita).
Only a little over half of the women reported knowing how to dye kiga
today, and have knowledge of the plants used to dye kiga. Individually, some
women reported knowing less about dye plants than their mothers had and
some reported knowing more. Eighteen percent of the women reported planting
dye plants in their farms, while 55% reported knowing that dye plants grew
naturally in their farms. The source of knowledge for dying kiga and dye plants
is interesting to note. Only 27% of the women learned to dye kiga from their
mothers. The others learned either from Mesi Chali activities or from seminars
given by Proyecto Ngöbe-Buglé. The same response was given in regards to
knowledge of dye plants, only 27% learned about dye plants from their mother.
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A distinction was made between knowledge of the dye process and
knowledge of dye plants due to the increased availability in recent years of
imitation dye products. These products can be bought from markets in Chiriqui
Grande, and are often used to dye pita in the same fashion as natural dyes,
without the extraction process. The imitation dyes require less time to dye pita
and therefore reduce labor. Some women also report pita dyed with imitation
dye products hold color longer. The women of Mesi Chali preferred natural
dyes, because development agencies had either directly or indirectly told them
that tourists prefer natural to imitation dyed pita bags.
I had a discussion with a woman and her husband in the community one
day about the origin of knowledge of dyes extracted from plants. This family is
one of the most respected families not only in Chalite but also throughout the
entire Ngöbe community, and the man is well traveled and educated. He relayed
a story to me about a Ngöbe youth who had gone to Costa Rica to study. There,
he saw a beautiful cloak and kra of many colors made from pita fiber. When he
asked who had made such beautiful crafts, he was told the Ngöbe had made
them. He had never seen pita dyed in such a way in his home in Panama. He
was so impressed that he spent his remaining time in Costa Rica studying
which plants made which colors and how to extract the dye. Then he came
home and taught his people how to make the dyes again.
I do not know how much truth there is to this story. I offer it only as a
possible reason why some women, such as the wife of this man, knew more
than fifteen species of dye plants and she reported that her mother knew none.
By examining the Pearson correlation coefficients relating to knowledge of the
dye process, I found that there are a number of strong positive correlations
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between knowing and planting dye plants, hours spent making kra, and
planting pita. These correlations suggest further that several people specialize
in the craft of kra making and others do not, even within a group specifically set
up to do so. Women who had learned the process and plants for dying pita
from group activities, though, did show a high correlation to hours spent
making kra (r=0.53, P=.092) and selling kra (r=0.56, P=.074).
Local Pita Use
In the past, women did not have the access to nylon substitutes that
they do today, and pita had a greater utilitarian value. When asked how their
mothers used pita fiber, the informants listed these things: rope to tie houses,
clothing, hammocks, fishing line, fishing nets. They fashioned the bags of many
shapes and sizes for a variety of reasons, cradling babies, carrying food, and
storing items big and small. One woman described her mother as having a
curtain made from pita to separate rooms in the house. Just under half of the
women reported that their mothers do use nylon string and plastic grain sacks
to make kra today. They reported that this practice has increased in recent
years, and was rare in their childhood.
Interviewees that reported they did not learn to dye kiga from their
mother also reported that their mother makes kra from plastic or nylon (r= 0.56, P=.074, mother makes plastic kra and respondent learned how to dye kiga
from her mother). This data corresponds to other correlations that show a
mother who sells plastic kra also does not plant pita (r=-0.61, P=.048). This is
88
proven further by interview responses where informants said that when plastic
became available, more people stopped planting pita.
The leaves of the pita plant were used in the past to tie animals, as they
are still used today. No other uses were reported freely, but when asked if the
plant could be eaten, two of the women reported that their mothers had given
them the fruit to eat. This suggests that there has been little to no
abandonment over the last twenty years of other uses of pita.
All of the women interviewed knew how to make work kra (simple
design), and all had learned the craft from either their mother or grandmother.
The average age at which they learned to make the bags was eleven years.
However, several women reported that they have since forgotten how to craft
kra, stating that other activities, mainly work on the farm, now replace this time
consuming one. The use of pita to make rope and fishing nets is still high, with
91% and 73% of the women reporting they own fishing nets from pita and use
pita as rope. The use of pita to make hammocks has declined, as only 27%
report owning a hammock made from pita fiber. Pita bags used for carrying
items from the farm will last one year before holes are torn, those used to store
items in the home will last two to three years. Women make the work kra as
often as needed, averaging three per year.
With the addition of a school in Chalite, women have greater access to
sacos, large plastic sacks (fig. 36). These sacks hold food for school lunches like
rice, beans, and crema (corn meal mush). After they are empty, these sacks are
utilized by townspeople for storage, curtains, shelter for animals and bags. The
women take apart these sacks and roll the plastic into string in the same
manner as raw pita fiber is rolled to make workbags. These sacks have also
89
replaced the need to make storage bags as the women can use the sacks to
store possessions.
Figure 36. Plastic sacks
An increased number of people living in the Guariviara river basin have
led to an increase in boat traffic to the port town of Chiriqui Grande. Although
most women do not leave Chalite except for an emergency, men will travel to
Chiriqui Grande an average of once every three months to visit relatives, get
medicine, attend political conferences, and work. Dry goods stores in Chiriqui
Grande sell nylon string that some women now use to fashion the bags (fig. 37).
Ngöbe women like bright colors and the nylon is sold in a large variety of
bright colors that stay bright longer than colored pita, which tends to fade after
three to five months of use. Another obvious advantage to nylon is the time
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saved on extraction and dying of the fibers. A 340 meter nylon string ball costs
$3.95, comparable in amount to a bola of kiga, which costs about five dollars.
Bags made from nylon string last longer than pita ones, up to three years if
used for work in the farm, five to seven if used for storage.
Figure 37. Signs of a modern house: kra made from nylon string, a modern propane powered oven
and stove, and plastic bleach bottles.
Nylon bags do have disadvantages. The bags are hotter than pita, and
the string rubs harder against the back, cutting and burning the skin even
when leaves are placed between the bag and woman while she is carrying the
items. The women also complain the plastic bags cut into their head at the
strap. The women of Mesi Chali expressed a dislike for the use of plastic kra for
these practical reasons, and when asked also stated they prefer pita “because it
is natural”. However, 73% of the women interviewed said they do make kra out
of plastic and nylon when the material is available.
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If a woman has more children to care for, she has less time to spend
harvesting pita and making the bags from kiga. Thus she is more likely to make
bags from plastic or nylon (r=0.58, P=.060) if she has many children. Also, if a
woman sells other goods outside of Chalite, namely cacao, she is more likely to
make plastic kra (r=0.56, P=.074), for both cacao selling and goods sold out of
Chalite. This can be attributed to the trend I noticed that women who gain an
income from selling other goods spend less time making kra from kiga. It could
also indicate that these women have more access to plastic and nylon string, as
they are more likely to travel to markets where these items are available. When
asked why, one woman replied that she works in the farm tending to cacao and
coffee and does not have time to harvest pita, so she uses the plastic she gets
from the cacao cooperative to make kra. She also claimed she had to make less
plastic kra because they are stronger and last longer, though she did say she
prefers pita and buys it when she can.
Cultural Pita Use
The women reported that the bags were part of ceremonial dress in the
past, and were used to hold talismans and charms. The kra used were the
smaller, highly ornamental ones that are sold today to tourists (fig. 38).
However, the majority of the women reported that their mothers did not know
how to make the small ornamental kra with the many designs. If a woman
reported that her mother knew how to make designs, I asked how many designs
she knew. The response never exceeded two designs. According to Proyecto
Ngöbe-Buglé, there are at least 10 different types of designs with many
92
variations (PNB 2000). This result seems to contradict other results that
suggest pita was used more in the past, and is notable. Perhaps this knowledge
of the kra designs was not learned by many of the mothers, as they had no
utilitarian reason to do so.
Figure 38. Ceremonial kra vs. work kra
Correlation data suggests the same. If a woman reported her mother
knew designs, she was more likely to have a sixth grade education (r=0.56,
P=.074). This suggests the mothers who know designs are younger mothers,
who have perhaps learned the designs from their daughters, or women in the
women’s group. There are several of the women’s group members whose
mothers are not in the group, and have reported teaching their mothers
designs. This is reinforced by data showing the number of dye plants the
mother knows correlates positively to the informant’s graduation from sixth
grade (r=0.77, P=.006).
Simple design kras are made by expecting mothers in anticipation of the
need for a large kra in which to cradle their babies. This is similar to the
93
tradition in Midwestern United States culture of crocheting a baby blanket in
anticipation of a newborn. These kra are the largest ones made in Chalite, and
are always made from pita, even today as more and more work kra are being
made with plastic and nylon. Women use kiga because the nylon and plastic
bags rub the skin and hurt, not because of any cultural loyalty to pita fiber.
Half of the women of Mesi Chali interviewed make ceremonial kra, and
only 18% said they learned how to make designs in kra from their mothers and
grandmothers. Data show that if a woman learned how to make kra at a young
age (from mother or grandmother) she is more likely to make the ceremonial kra
and she knows more designs (Table 4). Results also showed that women who
learned to make kra at a young age also made more kra overall and sold more
than others. The interview results I received confirmed that there is a
connection between learning kra at a young age and dedication and interest in
making the kra. If a woman had learned the practice well at a young age, she
tended to dedicate more of her time making both forms of kra.
Table 4. Significant variables correlated with “Age at which first learned to make kra”, at a 0.10 level
of statistical significance
Pearson Correlation
Coefficient
P
Make ceremonial kra
-0.93
<0.001
Make designs
Number of designs known
-0.76
-0.60
0.007
0.053
Number of kra made last year
-0.72
0.012
Number of kra sold last year
-0.64
0.033
Variable
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Forty-five percent of the women report learning how to make designs
from other sources such as other members of Mesi Chali and Proyecto NgöbeBuglé. Upon request from members of the group, I brought in a booklet that
showed pictures of kra designs, published by Proyecto Ngöbe-Buglé (PNB 2000).
One woman, displaying incredible interest and patience, copied one of these
designs simply by looking at the picture. Other members would borrow kra that
I had purchased from other communities and copy the designs in them. This
suggests that it is important to these women to learn how to make designs in
these bags. The reason for this is economic.
Economics of Pita Use
Results show the respondents’ mothers bartered pita more often then
today. This bartering existed within the kinship groups, and on rare occasion
with others in the community. The women reported that their mothers had
bought and sold pita and kra in the past. Most of the selling was done in the
community, 64% reported this to be true, although there is some indication
that kra was sold to outsiders as well with 27% reporting this. Only 27%
reported that their mothers bought pita bags. The same women that reported
their mother sold kra to outsiders said that their mother sold and bought pita.
Although there is no strong correlation data regarding age and mother selling
kra, results from interviews indicate that older women reported their mothers
only bartered pita and kra, and younger women speak of selling and buying kra
for money.
95
According to the women of Chalite, the concept of buying includes the
barter of pita for another item, most often a chicken. Therefore, responses for
buying, selling and trading are often the same. However, the correlations I
found related to buying, selling and trading are interesting. If a mother sold
bags made from pita to others in her village, she was more likely to also sell pita
(r=0.61, P=.048), plant pita (r=0.81, P=.003), and be in charge of the money she
makes from sales instead of giving it to her husband (r=0.69, P=.019). This
indicates that some women’s mothers may be known as sellers of pita, and
grow pita and harvest dyes for the specific purpose of selling kra made from
pita. The correlation of the money being kept by the mother indicates a trend
that I have only found in women under the age of 55, once again suggesting
that this trend is a new one.
In the village today, simple design kra are often bought and sold amongst
the women, but barter still exists. The women buy and sell pita as well, and
buy pita from outside the community, especially colored pita. Over half of the
women reported selling pita for money. One older woman I interviewed who
lives 45 minutes from town is known as a reliable source of pita and does make
money selling it. She sells colored pita, most often dyed from imitation dye
products, to the women of the village. This woman told me she learned the dye
process only three years ago, though she would not tell me where. She is an
example of the “buyer” and “seller” market emerging in Chalite.
Similar results occurred in response to bags made from plastic and
nylon. Some women spend their time making and selling plastic kra and others
spend their time on other activities and buy kra from their neighbors. Table 5
shows some of the correlation data that supports this trend. The data shows
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that if a woman buys kra she is less likely to sell it. The correlation between
speaking Spanish and this relationship further supports the evidence shown
that younger women are relying on buying rather than selling, as younger
women are more often the ones who speak Spanish (correlation of age to
speaking Spanish: r= -0.59, P=.057).
Table 5. Pearson correlation coefficients related to the emerging market of buyers and sellers in
Chalite reported at a 0.10 level of statistical significance (negative correlations in red)
Variables
hours making
kra
speak
Spanish
buy kra from
pita
buy plastic/nylon
kra
sell kra from
pita
buy kra
from pita
r = -0.59
P =0.054
r = 0.57
P = 0.066
r = 1.00
-----
-----
buy plastic/
nylon kra
r = -0.59
P = 0.057
r = 0.69
P = 0.018
r = 0.83
P = 0.002
r = 1.00
-----
sell kra from
pita
r = 0.58
P = 0.057
r = -0.69
P = 0.019
r = -0.82
P=0.002
r = -0.83
P = 0.001
r = 1.00
no sig.corr.
no sig.corr.
no sig.corr.
r = -0.67
P = 0.024
r = 0.54
P = 0.083
sell plastic/
nylon kra
The women most often reported that their mothers had not sold
ceremonial bags to tourists. This response correlates with the response given
that the interviewees’ mothers do not know how to make the ceremonial kra of
intricate design. A correlation between being born in Chalite and whether or not
one’s mother sold kra to tourists (r=0.54, P=.086) could reflect the fact that
most older women were not born in Chalite, and most younger ones were. This
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is further suggested through the correlation of age of informant to mother
selling to tourists (r=-0.59, P=0.055). The older women’s mothers did not live in
a town but rather in an isolated kinship group.
The potential market of ceremonial kra is better, however. Correlations
exist between the number of designs known (thus the number of ceremonial kra
varieties one can make) and number of ceremonial kra made and sold (r=0.79,
P=.003 for made, r=0.78, P=.004 for sold). Also a correlation exists between the
woman learning designs from the group and the number of ceremonial kra she
sold last year (r=0.55, P=.083). However, there is a big difference between a
potential market and an actual market. The women of Mesi Chali made 45
ceremonial bags in the year 2003, with the express purpose of selling those
bags. With the help of the Peace Corps, they sold 25. In the year 2002, the
women reported making a total of fifteen ceremonial bags, and sold three, all to
me. For the first half of 2004, the women made fifteen ceremonial bags sold six
and gave away two, all to Peace Corps volunteers who came to the village, as I
was no longer taking the bags out of the village to sell. These figures show there
no real market in Chalite, and an extremely limited national market.
The average ceremonial kra sells for $15. The profit from the sale of just
one of these bags contributes a significant amount to the estimated $450.00
total average annual income for residents of Chalite. However, without the
existence of outside agency help, the chances of selling a ceremonial kra are
slim to almost impossible for the women of Chalite.
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Discussion
The results show that there have been some significant changes in the
use of Aechmea magdalenae by the women of Chalite in the past twenty years.
Table 6 delineates the trends found in use of pita over the last twenty years in
Chalite. In general, there has been a decline in harvesting and processing of
pita and a shift towards use of manufactured products such as nylon and
plastic. In the process a new market system is emerging with a defined group
of women who are gaining knowledge in pita harvesting, planting, processing,
and the manufacture and sales of kra, both for utility and for tourists.
Table 6. Comparison of changes in pita use over time
Change in Pita Use Over Time
Past
Present
Cultivation and
Use of Plant
greater knowledge of cultivation
and harvesting of pita; harvested
natural stands; harvested more
often
less harvesting activity; less
overall access to pita; harvest
from cultivated not natural
stands
Knowledge of
Dying and Dye
Plants
a few dye plants known;
knowledge of dye process high
greater number of dye plants
known; fewer women know
how to dye
Local Pita Use
most to all bags made from pita;
more women made simple bags;
little other use known
more women make bags from
other sources; fewer women
make any bags at all; other uses
same
Cultural Pita Use
not many ceremonial kra made;
few designs known
increase in ceremonial kra
making; increase number of
designs known
Economics of
Pita Use
bartering of simple kra high;
some sales to community
members; very little sales to
outside and little interest
bartering declines, sales
increase; difference between
"sellers" and "buyers"; increase
interest in sales to outside
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The implications of the change in system are significant. With fewer
women harvesting pita, the stand dynamics of colonies of Aechmea magdalenae
could change from many small and widely dispersed colonies of pita to fewer
but larger colonies concentrated in smaller areas. There is some evidence of this
already in the stands harvested by the women of Mesi Chali. I would often see
small colonies of pita scattered in the forest, yet the only stands the women
harvested from were large stands with thousands of individuals. Owners of the
land had planted these stands.
As several women emerge as sellers of pita in Chalite, this improves the
local economy. There is no current local market as all goods sold are brought in
from outside and all goods produced are sold to the outside. Traditionally, only
bartering existed in Chalite, and people are reluctant to sell items for money to
their family and neighbors, especially things that were at one time either given
freely or bartered. Nevertheless, the trends suggest that a market for pita is
emerging. If so, this may increase the value of pita and products made from it.
Bags made from plastic and nylon are also increasing on the market, but
correlations suggest there could be a separate market for bags made from kiga
and bags made from manufactured goods.
A major reason that pita use has increased in recent years after an
apparent decline is the promise of an emerging tourists market. However, this
market does not exist in Panama at this time. There has been an increase in
tourism on Bocas Island (Isla Colón) and places like Panama City and David in
recent years. But unfortunately not enough has occurred to warrant the supply
that is now emerging. I often visited with the women of Pueblo Nuevo. Their
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town is on the Fortuna road, and sits in a prime spot for developing a market
for tourists. There are five women’s groups in Pueblo Nuevo and each women’s
group on any given day has a supply of kra that totals over 200 bags. The
women’s groups have tried for five years to open a market on the road, but have
not succeeded because they have no money to support the start up costs. The
average woman in one of those women’s groups sells one kra a year. This sale is
only because the Japanese development agency known as JICA comes to the
town every three months and takes kra to Panama City. Left to their own
devices, the women would not be selling any kra to tourists.
Many Ngöbe women have been motivated by development organizations
such as JICA, Proyecto Ngöbe-Bugle and Peace Corps. They have relearned the
time consuming process of harvesting pita, extracting fiber, dying with natural
dyes, and making kra with intricate designs. They have put their time and effort
into the prospect of selling to tourists. The development agencies have done
well. The women are proud of their designs and have rekindled pride in the
craft of kra. But the fact remains there is no market for 50,000 Ngöbe women
who need to sell at least one kra a month in order to justify her time and effort.
These changes in pita use over time in Chalite have raised some other
questions concerning local markets for pita fiber and kra, potential for
cultivation of pita, and outside markets for ceremonial kra. In the conclusion
section, I will discuss these questions, relate my findings to previous work, and
offer some recommendations for the future of Aechmea magdalenae in Ngöbe
culture.
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CHAPTER VII
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
CONCLUSIONS
The Ngöbe women of Bocas del Toro, Panama have used the fiber of the
pita plant, Aechmea magdalenae, for centuries to fashion hammocks, fishing
nets, and bags known as kra. They also used the plant to heal stomach pains
and would occasionally consume its fruit. The items fashioned from fiber were
used to aid in the daily activities of a subsistence lifestyle: gathering food from
the forest, hunting, and fishing to feed their families. A Ngöbe woman would
often live alone with her husband and his family, a day’s walk from neighbors.
Over the last century, things have changed for the Ngöbe woman.
Increased population pressures have brought the mestizo and Ngöbe
populations of Panama in contact with each other. With this contact came
changes to traditional Ngöbe culture. The introduction to a cash economy has
often left her alone while her husband leaves to work on banana, coffee, or
sugar cane plantations. Manufactured goods such as pots, dishes, and clothing
have been commonplace in Ngöbe culture for over fifty years. Modern
accessories like watches, radios, and beauty products have now entered even
remote Ngöbe villages that do not have road access and still practice many
“traditional” Ngöbe customs more accessible villages have long abandoned. The
Panamanian government has improved efforts to offer aid to Ngöbe, foremost in
the form of schooling. Villages centered around schools, like Chalite, have
replaced traditional kinship hamlets. Efforts to unite the scattered Ngöbe people
102
resulted in a religious movement, Mama Chi, and the formation of a semiautonomous state, the Comarca Ngöbe-Bugle.
Throughout the last twenty years the use of the pita plant has also
changed in Chalite. There are no accounts today from my informants that any
part of the plant is used other than the fiber. The results of this study show a
there has been a general decrease in knowledge of harvesting and extraction of
pita for fiber. The same is true for the dying process and plants used to dye
pita fiber. This change can be attributed to increased access to substitute
products of manufactured origin, such as nylon string, plastic sacks, and
artificial dyes.
Although fewer women practice the art of kra making, some women are
emerging as specialists in pita extraction, dying of fiber (kiga), and fashioning of
kra. These women have expanded on basic knowledge learned from their
mothers and have learned new designs and dye processes from peers and
development organizations. The renewed interest in kra making has been
sparked by the hope of profiting from sales to tourists.
RECCOMENDATIONS
Forest Dynamics
In the past, every woman had her own little stand of pita to harvest. As
fewer women harvest pita today, these little stands are being cleared away to
plant crops. However, women harvesting pita are doing so on an increasingly
frequent scale and they are encouraging stands to grow. This new stand
structure of fewer but larger colonies of pita could affect the forest canopy in
these areas. The women of Chalite prefer the stands grow in shade, and are not
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likely to clear trees to cultivate the plant. Brokaw (1983) has found on Barro
Colorado island that while denser colonies of pita do inhibit sapling growth, the
canopy is not greatly affected. In an area where land is cleared for agriculture,
like Chalite, the larger colonies of pita may ensure trees are not removed to
plant crops. Ngöbe women are the experts at harvesting pita in Panama, and
their knowledge of their resource should be recognized. All over Latin America,
women are emerging as the source of knowledge in extraction of non-timber
forest products (Martinez-Romero 2004).
However, further increase in extraction and cultivation of pita depends
on market conditions, labor costs, minimum consumption needs, and market
access (Robinson, et.al. 2002). Land use is also a factor. The people in Chalite
currently have a large amount of land per family, and their current cash
economy consists only of pifa, cacao, coffee and rice, all on a small scale
(Slatton, 2004). Excluding market variables, pita cultivation has tremendous
potential in Chalite. However, market variables are the variables of greatest
significance (Tommich 1998).
External Pita Market
In recent years, development organizations such as Proyecto NgöbeBuglé, JICA, and the Peace Corps, have worked with Ngöbe women in an effort
to encourage and promote self-esteem, empowerment, and equality for women
in Ngöbe communities. These efforts in and of themselves are necessary and
have made great strides to curb abuse and abandonment of Ngöbe women and
raise self-esteem (Martenelli 1994). In an effort to provide women with their own
income, these organizations have encouraged Ngöbe women to improve the
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quality of the kra, along with other traditional items to produce for sale to
tourists. Their efforts have succeeded. In many Ngöbe communities, women
have been inspired to relearn a dying craft and to improve upon it. However, in
communities like Chalite, that have little access to markets and little time to
dedicate to the craft, encouraging production gives these women a false sense of
hope.
The problem does not lie solely with accessibility. In the town of Pueblo
Nuevo, located on Fortuna road, the women are in a similar situation. They
have an excess of kra for sale and no market. JICA arrives once a month to pick
up kra and take it to the city in an effort to help create a market. They do not
involve the women in the sales procedure, and the women are not learning how
to market their product. The use of intermediaries to sell these goods is not
sustainable (Martinez-Romero et.al. 2004). This increases the reliance of these
women on the development organization. As these development organizations
instruct the women on how to make their bags “marketable,” the culture
becomes more manufactured and thus no longer true culture at all.
Manufactured culture is not a new concept in the name of marketing
goods to tourists (Jongeward 2001). The problem arises, however, when people
not of that culture are making decisions that change traditions for the culture
in question. Then, empowerment and promotion become empty words as other
forces are manipulating the women. Trying to create a tourist market where one
does not exist in order to help women sell these bags is unrealistic. Both the
Peace Corps and Proyecto Ngöbe-Buglé have realized this and made an effort to
encourage women who wish to seek out a market to do so, but have stopped
efforts to create a market or sell bags for Ngöbe women. During my Peace Corps
105
service, the Caciques of the Comarca Ngöbe-Bugle signed an agreement with
volunteers living in Ngöbe communities specifically banning the sale of kra by
Peace Corps volunteers. This agreement was initiated by the Caciques after they
received pressure from women’s groups without Peace Corps volunteers living
in their town who had complained of having no access to markets.
Currently few markets exist in Panama or internationally for these
ceremonial kra. A few tourist shops in Panama City, sixteen hours away from
Bocas del Toro, carry ceremonial kra made by women in Chiriqui Province. Most
of these kra are not made of pita fiber, but fiber of a species of Agave. Another
small outlet is the infrequently visited roadside market in San Felix, Chiriqui,
funded through a project by Proyecto Ngöbe-Bugle. A small potential tourist
market is developing on Isla Colón in Bocas del Toro as this area has
experienced an increase in tourism in the last two years (Visual Adventures
2004; Bocas del Toro, Inc. 2004). However, the Ngöbe compete in these small
markets with artisan works from mestizo Panamanians and Kuna, Emberá, and
Wounaan Indigenous populations. The national tourist market is simply not
sufficient enough to provide economic benefit for all of these groups.
Internationally, the Ngöbe of Panama compete with other indigenous
populations throughout the world that produce a wide variety of hand-crafted
items (Martinez-Romero et.al. 2004, Dean 1998, Jongeward 2001).
Trying to market pita or a product from it on national or international
scale has many challenges. Commercialization of a NTFP is always a challenge
when a product used locally on a small scale moves to production on a large
scale (Neumann and Hirsh 2000). The case of pita is no exception. A national
market exists for pita in Mexico, and currently efforts to cultivate the plant on a
106
large scale are in place. However, limitations to the large-scale
commercialization of pita in Mexico are possible fungal attacks with large
colonies, effects of genetic diversity and long-term market potential for the fiber
(Ticktin et. al. 2003). In Panama, these limitations are not issues as the market
and production is limited. However, these potential problems show that focus
on a local market before focusing on a national one may be a better strategy.
Often commercially used NTFPs are overexploited, and environmental concerns
ignored, defeating the purpose for using the NTFP in the first place. Examples of
this are abundant in the Amazon with palm hearts and wild fruit populations
and in the Andes with Cinchona spp., the natural source of quinine, and many
more (Southgate 1998). Ticktin et. al. (2003) recommend that even for Mexico,
harvesting of pita should be treated as a supplement to and not a replacement
of a subsistence lifestyle.
Local Pita Market
In order to assess the potential for the success of a NTFP, factors such as
cultivation, processing, current use and current markets need to be addressed
(Marshall and Schreckenberg 2002). The results of this study address these
issues as they relate to the NTFP Aechmea magdalenae and the Ngöbe women
of a remote village of Bocas del Toro, Panama. Encouraging results show the
emergence of local trade, an extremely important factor in the role of women
and NTFPs. Worldwide, as in Chalite, women receive most to all of their
economic gain through local markets (Tommich 1998, Marshall and Newton
2003). Constraints in transportation and household duties keep women closer
to home.
107
There has been an emergence of a small local market for simple kra.
There are some women who dedicate time to the harvesting of pita and making
kra and some women who have abandoned these practices. The women who
have abandoned the craft are part of families that depend less on the forest for
food and subsistence, supplementing forest crops with income from plantation
work and the sale of agricultural goods to outside markets. This trend is also
occurring in other regions where extraction rates of non-timber forest products
by families depends on amount of money received from other sources
(Pattanayak and Sills 2001, Marshall and Newton 2003). These women still use
simple kra, and with their disposable income can afford to pay small amounts
of money to purchase the bags from others in the community. This market
system is a new concept for the people of Chalite, as almost all items bought
with money are brought from outside the community and all items sold are sold
outside the community. The Ngöbe have an aversion to selling products to each
other, because for so long barter and gifting of items was expected by cultural
norms (Young 1971). The emergence of this local market could have beneficial
results for Chalite and other communities like it by promoting a local economy.
In this way, the community could reduce some of its reliance on outside income
to support its members, especially women, whose only current source of income
relies on the sale of kra.
Pita fiber is now also being bought and sold in the community of Chalite,
as fewer women have access to or knowledge about the plant and the
cultivation of it. The buying and selling of pita fiber, known locally as kiga,
could contribute to this growing local economy in Chalite, and women who
cultivate the fiber could see considerable economic gain. However, it is
108
premature to think of commercial cultivation of pita by the Ngöbe of Panama.
Access to external markets has increased the use of cheap manufactured
materials in place of pita in Chalite. Research by Godoy, et al. (1995) and
others show that as access to manufactured goods increases, reliance on
natural forest products decreases, and this trend is evident in my findings.
However, some women in this study displayed a preference for pita fiber and
dyes extracted from plants. This preference could be the result of direct and
indirect influence by environmentalists, conservationists and development
organizations who have told the Ngöbe it is better to use products extracted
from the forest. When asked directly about preferences, in fact, the women in
this study often gave the reason “because that is what the tourists like.” There
is a difference between promotion of stewardship of the forest and its resources
among groups who already value the forest, but forcing groups into land
stewardship will not benefit those groups in the long run.
The balance between preservation of natural resources and promotion of
society has to be addressed by all people that work with indigenous
populations. In his work Brosius (1997) discusses implications of this
misrepresentation of indigenous people’s concerns in Borneo. Influence by
environmentalists has led to a change in perspective of deforestation by
indigenous populations. As a result, indigenous groups have stopped
deforestation efforts based on a system of values that is not their own, efforts
that could prove detrimental to advancing their population.
109
Pita fiber is a strong, durable fiber that has been used for centuries for
many purposes throughout Central and South America (Ticktin 2002, LeviStrauss 1950). Kirby (1963) compares Aechmea magdalenae fiber to fibers from
around the world and concludes that “Quite obviously, therefore, the fibre
would have considerable possibilities if it could be produced on a commercial
scale at an economic price.” In Mexico, commercial cultivation of pita has
increased recently due to a demand for the fiber to embroider leather goods
(Ticktin and Johns, 2002).
Market structures and processes are one of the biggest constraints in the
development of NTFPs (Tommich 1998, Godoy et al 1995). This study has
addressed some of the issues involved in the marketing of pita and ceremonial
kra in Chalite and in Panama as a whole. Extensive research on market trends
and analysis for these products needs to be done. It should be done before
further development efforts to improve production of ceremonial kra. If a market
is not found for ceremonial kra on a sufficient scale for Ngöbe women, other
potential uses of Aechmea magdalenae should be further explored. The
emergence of a local pita and simple kra market has strong potential to
supplement the subsistence economy of Ngöbe women.
As with all potential resources, before developing markets it is necessary
to identify current uses and the factors influencing these uses. Ethnobotanical
field research plays an important role in this examination. This study
specifically sought to define the current use of A. magdalenae among Ngöbe
indigenous women in an effort to promote its potential. With further research, I
feel the Ngöbe women of Chalite could benefit from the continued and increased
use of this plant.
110
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117
APPENDIX
118
THE 104 VARIABLES EXTRACTED FROM INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND
ANALYZED USING PEARSON’S CORRELATION COEFFICIENTS
Variable
Number
Average or Percent
Response
Variable Description
1
Age of respondent
34
2
Respondent born in Chalite
3
Number of years respondent has lived in
Chalite
19
4
Number of children
5
5
Number of boys
3
6
Number of girls
2
7
Number of People in living in house
8
8
Male present in respondent’s house
91%
9
Husband is head of household
73%
10
Number of houses owned
11
House has water access
55%
12
Receives money from outside the town
55%
13
Member of family receives pension
36
14
Number of minutes walk to farm
31
15
Has a sixth grade education
18%
16
Able to read and write
18%
17
Speaks Spanish
64%
18
Husband has sixth grade education
73%
19
Husband reads and writes
73%
20
Husband speaks Spanish
91%
21
Member of house with beyond a sixth grade
education
27%
22
Number of pigs owned
1
23
Number of chickens owned
7
24
Number of ducks owned
2
25
Number of dogs owned
1
27%
2
119
Variable
Number
Average or Percent
Response
Variable Description
26
Number of cats owned
1
27
Number of cows owned
1
28
Number of turkeys owned
1
29
Plants beans in farm
9%
30
Plants corn in farm
18%
31
Plants coffee in farm
45%
32
Plants yams in farm
82%
33
Plants manioch in farm
55%
34
Plants cacao in farm
45%
35
Plants pineapple in farm
55%
36
Plants fruit trees in farm
64%
37
Plants vegetables in farm
55%
38
Plants medicinal plants in farm
9%
39
Collects medicinal plants from forest
45%
40
Sells farm products
45%
41
Hours spent working on farm
8
42
Hours spent making kra
12
43
Hours spent gathering wood
6
44
Hours spent gathering other plants
4
45
Plants pita in farm
64%
46
Pita grows natural in farm
18%
47
Pita grows in the forest
9%
48
Number of minutes to walk to pita colony
25
49
Pita grows under trees
82%
50
Know how to harvest pita
91%
51
Own fishing net made from pita
73%
52
Use pita as rope
91%
53
Use a pita hammock
27%
54
Make simple kra
91%
120
Variable
Number
Average or Percent
Response
Variable Description
55
Sell simple design kra
54%
56
Number of simple design kra sold last year
0.91
57
Buy kra made from kiga
36%
58
Makes plastic kra
73%
59
Sells plastic kra
36%
60
Number of plastic kra sold last year
61
Buys plastic kra
45%
62
Buys other products made from kiga
18%
63
Barters with kiga
27%
64
Sells kiga
55%
65
Keeps money from kra and kiga sales
82%
66
Know how to dye kiga
55%
67
Knows dye plants
64%
68
Plants dye plants
18%
69
Dye plants grow natural in farm
55%
70
Make ceremonial kra
73%
71
Number of designs known
3
72
Number of ceremonial kra made last year
4
73
Number of ceremonial kra sold last year
2
74
Learned to make kra from mother
91%
75
Learned to make kra from grandmother
9%
76
Learned designs from mother
55%
77
Learned designs from grandmother
9%
78
Learned designs from Mesi Chali members
36%
79
Learned designs from PNB
9%
80
Learned to dye from mother
27%
81
Learned to dye from Mesi Chali members
27%
82
Learned to dye from PNB
9%
83
Learned dye plants from mother
27%
121
1
Variable
Number
Average or Percent
Response
Variable Description
84
Learned dye plants from Mesi Chali members
18%
85
Learned dye plants from PNB
9%
86
Mother planted pita
73%
87
Pita grew natural in mother's farm
27%
88
Age when first learned to make kra
11
89
Mother makes designs
45%
90
Number of designs mom knows
0.7
91
Mother sold kra outside community
27%
92
Mother sdold kra inside community
64%
93
Mother bought kra
27%
94
Mother makes plastic kra
45%
95
Mother sells plastic kra
36%
96
Mother buys plastic kra
18%
97
Mother barters plastic kra
9%
98
Mother sells kiga
64%
99
Mother buys kiga
36%
100
Mother keeps money from sales
45%
101
Mother knows how to dye kiga
63%
102
Mother knows dye plants
63%
103
Dye plants grow natural in mother's farm
45%
104
Daughter knows how to make kra
55%
122