The empirical results of 51 surveyed sago farmer households in three villages in sago using agrarian societies (SUAS), Keke/Tapala, Heatoare and Savaiviri in Malalaua District of Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea are reported in this study. Interactive intimacy with this staple food crop amongst the three villages, socio-culturally referred to as the “Moveave-Toaripis”, has not waned, and still continues to play a pivotal role in defining the adaptive and beneficial role of the interplay between humankind, a plant genetic resource and culture. From the traditional (micro-scale) sago starch processing point of view, it was established that about 11.33 bags of sago starch are processed per bole of sago stand for either selfconsumption within a sago farmer household level or for sale at local markets, for example, in Malalaua government station, or even as far as in Port Moresby city. The sale and self-consumption ratio was worked out to be around 7.25:2.75, which alludes to the probability that from all sago starch processing in these sago using agrarian societies (SUAS), 72.5% of the total output of sago starch is sold at the market, while sago farmer households within Malalaua area consume the remaining 27.5%. Therefore, the annual rural incomes derived from sale of sago starch at local markets for SUAS are based on these sago starch productivity indexes.

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 The amount of starch extracted is highly dependent on the growth stage of the sago palm. In this study, three sago palms at different growth stages, namely flowering stage, 4-5 years trunk formation stage and 3-4 years trunk formation stage grown in mineral soils were cut down. The objectives of this study were to compare the amount of starch accumulated in its stem and to perform economic income and feasibility analysis using traditional starch extraction methods in the Municipality of Dulag, Province of Leyte, Philippines. The results showed that the largest amount of starch accumulated was found in sago palm at flowering stage with a potential of nearly 60 kg per palm, while 4-5 year sago palm at trunk formation stage only resulted to approximately 22 kg per palm and no starch was extracted in 3-4 year old sago palm. The sago pith was 60% of the total volume of sago logs and large amounts of residue were observed. The labor required in harvesting sago palm at flowering stage was 5 man-days, mostly provided by the family labor force. The total cost of harvesting in sago palm at flowering stage was US$ 13.89. The retail price of air-dried starch was US$ 0.093 per 150 g, which was cheaper compared to that in Mindanao. The gross income was US$ 33.76 producing a net income of US$ 19.87 per palm. On the other hand, harvesting young sago palms at 3-4 year and 4-5 year trunk formation stages is considered to be impractical.

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