Restoration
Plantations and tree crop commodities
Enhanced nutrition and food security
Biodiversity, safeguarding and conservation
Nationally determined contributions
Bioenergy and biomaterials
Blue carbon and peatlands
Climate change adaptation
Landscape governance
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Farm-forest policy interface
Agroecology
Livelihood trajectory modelling and assessment
Inclusive finance and business models
Innovating finance for sustainable landscapes
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Orphan tree crops
Effectiveness of approaches to sustainable supply
Quality of FTA research for development
Sentinel landscapes
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Seeds and seedlings delivery systems
Smallholder tree-crop commodities
English (sago); Pidgin English, Papua New Guinea (saksak); Thai (sakhu); Malaysian (rumbia); Tagalog, Philippines (lumbiya); Indonesia (pohon sagu, pohon rumbia)
| Dimensions in meters | 6-16 m |
| Maturity of tree before yields | 8-15 years |
| Productivity lifetime | 8-15 years |
| Seasonality | The tree is hapaxanthic, meaning it only flowers once in its lifetime and dies shortly afterwards. To harvest the starch, the tree should be cut down just before the fruits ripen because the ripening completes the life cycle of the tree, and the plant uses its starch reserves to produce seeds. If the fruiting process is allowed to continue, the tree becomes a hollow shell and dies. Instead, the palms are cut down before ripening when they are between 8–15 years old. Once cut down, the trunks are split open, and the woody ‘pith’ is scraped out and ground into powder. The powder is then mixed in water and pressed through a cloth to release the starch water is poured into a container where the starch settles.
After several washings, the starch is ready for transport or to be used in cooking. One palm tree can produce about 360 kilograms (800 pounds) of dry starch. |
| Production zones and cultivation methods | The palm grows well on clay soils with a high content of organic matter. It especially prefers lowland freshwater swamps. The tree can be cultivated in agroforestry through careful pruning and separating out the small saplings that sprout up around the base of the larger trees. |
Per 100 g edible portion (EP) of starch
| While sago starch has few minerals and negligible vitamin content, it is rich in carbohydrates. | |
| Energy (kcal) | 331.5 kcal |
| % Daily Value (DV) * | ||
| Macronutrients | Protein: 0.4 g | 1 % |
| Fats: 0.1 g | 1 % | |
| Carbohydrates: 83.4 g | 30 % | |
| Key Minerals | Iron: 0.7 mg | 4 % |
| Calcium: 9 mg | 4 % | |
| Magnesium: 3 mg | 1 % | |
| Key Vitamins | Negligible amounts | |
| *All Daily Recommended Values are calculated using the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s recommendation guide. | ||
Sago palm trees are native to tropical Southeast Asia, namely Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Sago starch is the main staple food for over a million people on the islands of New Guinea, Maluku, Borneo, South Sulawesi and Sumatra. Once extracted, the starch can be cooked and eaten in various forms including pancakes, pearls (similar to tapioca), and ‘papeda,’ a glue-like paste made by mixing the starch with boiling water. The pearls are often mixed with milk and sugar to make sweet sago pudding, and the starch can be used industrially to make noodles, cakes and custard powders.
Although the fruits are rarely eaten — because harvesting them would mean losing the starch from the palm (see “Production zones and cultivation methods”) — they are considered a local delicacy.
Palm fronds and fibers may be used for roof thatching, mat weaving and basket making. The bark can be used as a flooring material and the hard outer trunk is used for construction. In addition, the starch is used to feed pigs, as an ingredient in paper and to treat textiles, while the starch-sugar extract can be transformed into biofuel.
Because M. sagu grows so well in poor soils, it is an ideal food tree to cultivate on degraded lands. Their deep root systems aid in soil rehabilitation and erosion prevention. For example, sago palms have been used to restore Indonesian coastal plains where large areas of land have been deforested and abandoned. The young palm trees also grow spines and can be cultivated in fence-like rows where they act as pens for livestock or barriers against potential trespassers.
Increasing demand for sago starch to manufacture biodegradable plastics could provide additional income to smallholder farmers while also restoring peatlands. Research shows that these starch-based plastics would be safer than conventional plastic packaging and reduce the damage from marine plastic pollution. It is hoped these types of initiatives will help transition to a more sustainable, circular bioeconomy. However, more studies are needed to understand how the material would interact with complex ecosystems.
“I did my graduate research in Sumatra and met my wife there. During that time, I have many happy memories of eating Pempek, a famous dish made by mixing Sago flour and fish that is eaten throughout the island. It is often accompanied with Cuka, a strong vinegar and chili sauce. As Cuka is highly corrosive, it is said that many metal structures in Sumatra suffer early deterioration because of it!”
Michael Brady, FTA Scientist
A recently-launched CIFOR-FTA project focuses on sago as a tool for peatland restoration in Southeast Asia. Information about the Western Pacific Sustainable Peatland Management (SAGU) will be posted here in the coming months. This project is funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment and Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU).
Flach, M., Rumawas, F., Jansen, P. C. M., Onwueme, I. C., & Siemonsma, J. S. (1996). Plant resources of South-East Asia 9. Plants yielding non-seed carbohydrates. In research.wur.nl (Vol. 9, p. 237). Backhuys Publishers. https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/plant-resources-of-south-east-asia-9-plants-yielding-non-seed-car
Lie, G.-H. (1980). The Comparative Nutritional Roles of Sago and Cassava in Indonesia. In M. Flach & W. R. Stanton (Eds.), Sago (Vol. 1, pp. 43–55). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-8928-3_6
Pickell, D., & Kal Müller. (2002). Between the tides : a fascinating journey among the Kamoro of New Guinea. Periplus ; North Clarenden, Vt. https://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=n2FzBgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Between+the+Tides:+A+Fascinating+Journey+Among+the+Kamoro+of+New+Guinea&ots=OQoLhu7yBd&sig=a4kDBPvGcFlCOqlD7ek5totY4U0&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Between%20the%20Tides%3A%20A%20Fascinating%20Journey%20Among%20the%20Kamoro%20of%20New%20Guinea&f=false
Rauwerdink, J. B. (1986). An essay on Metroxylon, the sago palm. Principes (USA), 30(4), 165–180. Agris. https://agris.fao.org/agris-search/search.do?recordID=US8724480
