{{Short description|West Indian food staples}} '''Ground provisions''' is the term used in West Indian nations to describe a number of traditional root vegetable staples such as yams, sweet potatoes, dasheen root (taro), eddos and cassava. They are often cooked and served as a side dish in local cuisine. Caribbean recipes will often simply call for ground provisions rather than specify specific vegetables.
== Origins == Cassava, sweet potatoes, and maize derived from the aboriginal agriculture of the Amerindians.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Barker|first1=David|last2=Spence|first2=Balfour|date=1988|title=Afro-Caribbean Agriculture: A Jamaican Maroon Community in Transition|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/633846|journal=The Geographical Journal|volume=154|issue=2|pages=198–208|doi=10.2307/633846|jstor=633846 |issn=0016-7398|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Dasheen, also known as taro, blue food and kalo, arrived to the Caribbean aboard Trans-Atlantic slave ships.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Ewing-Chow|first=Daphne|title=Dasheen Plant Could Be The Root Of Caribbean Development|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/daphneewingchow/2020/10/26/dasheen-plant-could-be-the-root-of-caribbean-development/|access-date=2021-01-04|website=Forbes|language=en}}</ref> Provision grounds, small tracts of the least desired land, were allocated by planters to slaves so that they could grow their own food for their survival. The planters conceded to this arrangement to avoid absorbing the expense of feeding the slaves they imported to power their sugar plantations.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|last=McFadden|first=Syreeta|date=2019-01-02|title=Uncovering the Roots of Caribbean Cooking|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/01/origins-most-popular-caribbean-foods/579052/|access-date=2021-01-04|website=The Atlantic|language=en-US}}</ref>
== Production == In addition to large-scale farming, ground provisions are a part of forest gardens as an adaptation of African compound farming.<ref name=":0" />
== Common use == In Trinidad, It is usually accompanied by stewed meat, fish or chicken or with buljol. Callaloo, the national dish of Trinidad and Tobago and Dominica, is made using leaves of the dasheen tuber.<ref name=":1" /> Ground provisions are seen as a healthier starch choice because they are an unprocessed carbohydrate, but competes with popular starches such as rice.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2010-07-28|title=Make ground provisions enticing|url=http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20100728/health/health4.html|access-date=2021-01-04|website=jamaica-gleaner.com|language=en}}</ref>
Ground provisions are a common traditional food, but see growing interest due to farm-to-table movements and culinary tourism.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":1" /> Ground provisions are also a source of gluten-free flours produced for the international market.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-04-03|title=Caribbean eyes rise of the gluten-free market|url=https://www.voice-online.co.uk/lifestyle/food/2020/04/03/caribbean-eyes-rise-of-the-gluten-free-market/|access-date=2021-01-04|website=Voice Online|language=en}}</ref>
== Economy and trade == Production and consumption of ground provisions is common to all Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (CDCC) countries and production in these countries is of relative significance. Trade in ground provisions, with the exception of potatoes, which have seen major imports from Holland, takes place among CARICOM countries. Leeward Islands and Jamaica have some export of ground provisions to the United Kingdom. Dominican Republic and Cuba, on the other hand, export some ground provisions in the area, such as Curaçao, and some of the CARICOM countries, as it happens with Cuban exports of potatoes (to Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados). The traditional line of trade that has remained over the years are the occasional exports to the United Kingdom. In the area of production, the most organised effort in expanding production is made in Cuba, where research and development which is well-linked with production. Cuba also sells seeds of some of its improved produce. There are no business associations for producing or marketing ground provisions in the Caribbean except for Cuba.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|last=Sandoval|first=José Miguel|date=1980|title=Trade patterns and policies of CDCC countries in rice, legumes, ground provisions, fresh vegetables and citrus products and identification of areas for joint action|url=https://repositorio.cepal.org/handle/11362/27697|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-01-04|website=|publisher=ECLAC - United Nations}}</ref>
=== Jamaica === Jamaica's agricultural exports are concentrated on ground provisions, notably sweet potatoes and plantains. In the 1970s, there were efforts to expand the production of ground provisions,<ref name=":0" /> and by 1980 made up to 80% of Jamaica's total agricultural exports. The Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries' Production Incentive Programme targeted dasheen a strategic crop for development, with an objective of expanding local hectares under cultivation from 21 to 30, resulting in a four per cent increase in production during the 2019-2020 year.<ref name=":1" /> Sweet potatoes, yams, dasheens and tannias are being exported particularly to the United Kingdom and Canada.{{Cn|date=February 2025}}
=== St. Vincent === St. Vincent's exports of agricultural produce consist mainly of ground provisions and carrots. Most of these produce go to Trinidad and Tobago, in particular, eddoes, tannias and yams.<ref name=":3" />
=== Suriname === In 1980, the government of Suriname prohibited the export of some ground provisions because of shortages in the local supply.<ref name=":3" />
=== Trinidad and Tobago === Trinidad and Tobago is a net importer of food supply, importing large supplies of ground provisions, potatoes in particular.<ref name=":3" /> In 2020, Tobago offered cash incentives for farmers to encourage food security during Covid-19, including sweet potatoes and cassava.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-04-21|title=$7.5m Tobago boost to grow food|url=https://newsday.co.tt/2020/04/21/7-5m-tobago-boost-to-grow-food/|access-date=2021-01-04|website=Trinidad and Tobago Newsday|language=en-US}}</ref>
== See also ==
* Fufu * Cooking banana * Caribbean cuisine * Indigenous cuisine of the Americas
== References == <references />
==External links== * [https://www.thespruce.com/ground-provisions-2137968 Caribbean Roots and Tubers - Ground Provisions] *[https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel/2020/03/taste-of-jamaica-smoky-jerk-pork-pineapple-carpaccio A taste of Jamaica from smoky jerk pork to pineapple carpaccio] National Geographic Traveler
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ground Provisions}} Category:Caribbean cuisine Category:Staple foods ~