Taro has been the staff of life in Hawai'i and remains an important food throughout the world. And that global aspect is part of what makes the notion of banning genetic research on the plant disturbing.

The Senate Committee on Agriculture and Hawaiian Affairs is set at 9 a.m. today to hear Senate Bill 958: a proposal to begin a 10-year moratorium on "developing, testing, propagating, cultivating, raising and growing of genetically modified taro" in Hawai'i.

This bill would allow unfounded fears — that the native crop would be lost — to divert attention from the real need for agricultural solutions.

Taro is a key element in Hawaiian culture, and discussion is sure to be heated. But cooler heads need to prevail: More people rely on taro research than those who live in this state. Ceasing genetic research on taro — and not just Hawaiian varieties, but all types — is a rash action and one unwarranted by the facts.

Horticulturalists point out that cross-pollination of taro is complicated; in nature, pollination often requires an insect that doesn't live in Hawai'i. That's not a problem in the usual course of things, because taro is cultivated asexually, by growing new plants from part of the parent.

Farmers and researchers trying to create new hybrids generally must pollinate the taro by hand, so there's little risk of genetically modified varieties contaminating the native stock by accident, with pollen borne on the wind.

So it ought to be possible to safeguard the native stock and perpetuate it, while developing genetic varieties that are modified in the laboratory.

And these variants are necessary to replace crops that have been eradicated by disease. In Samoa, for example, farmers are dependent on advances made in Hawai'i-based research for new taro varieties that can restore the indigenous plants that have been destroyed.

The idea of shutting down genetic work on taro for a full decade — there's no reason for a hiatus to last this long — simply ignores the importance of tropical agriculture research conducted in this state for the benefit of Hawai'i farmers and the Pacific region.