Passage:
For centuries, yam cultivators across the Benue Trough relied on the 'oba ji'—an open-air, elevated timber frame where tubers were tied individually to vertical poles, ensuring ambient air circulation to inhibit premature rot. While effective against humidity, the traditional barn remained vulnerable to seasonal rodent infestation and theft, prompting non-governmental interventions to introduce decentralized solar-powered cold hubs in regional agrarian communities. Although these solar facilities significantly extended tuber dormancy and reduced post-harvest losses from thirty percent to below five percent, adoption rates among indigenous smallholders plummeted by the third year. Ethnographic audits revealed that cold storage, while preserving physical integrity, altered the starch-to-sugar conversion process essential for preparing 'yanmry-fufu'—the staple pounded yam of local ceremonial banquets. Furthermore, the centralized fee-for-service model disrupted traditional communal labor exchange systems, wherein young men collectively constructed and maintained individual family barns in exchange for social prestige and future labor reciprocity. Consequently, elder farmers began quietly retreating to modified oba ji structures reinforced with wire mesh, preferring minor pest losses over the erosion of socio-cultural cohesion and culinary authenticity.
Statement:
The smallholder farmers' return to modified traditional storage methods implies that for these agrarian communities, the socio-cultural utility of yam preservation outweighs purely quantitative reductions in harvest loss.
Is the statement above TRUE or FALSE based on the passage?
Cevap: Cevap