Our project is a response to food security issues in Hawaii and other regions. We have pioneered a way to easily propagate and distribute breadfruit, a fruit that is high in nutrients, easy to grow as a result of our innovation, and ideally suited to tropical regions. Our goal is to expand plantings of breadfruit varieties locally and globally to alleviate hunger, to support sustainable agriculture, agroforestry and income generation, and to preserve the ethnobotany of this valuable food source.

Please describe your innovation?

Facing soaring food, fuel and fertilizer costs, farmers in the tropics need sustainable, low input, nutritious crops. While rice, corn, and wheat represent the most common staple crops, these plants require substantial external inputs and technologies to obtain adequate yields. But breadfruit, which is ideally suited to the tropics, has been shown to be more nutritious than corn, rice and wheat. Until now, conventional propagation and shipping methods have limited wide cultivation and use of breadfruit, but our pioneering work on this unique multipurpose life-supporting tree has shown that year-round production and distribution is possible to answer food security issues in the tropics. Our project is an initiative to expand plantings of good quality breadfruit varieties in Hawaii, and replicate it worldwide to alleviate hunger, and support sustainable agriculture, agroforestry and income generation in tropical regions.

What is the problem or situation that your innovation seeks to address?

We are seeking to address food-security issues. In Hawaii, we have to feed approximately 1.3 million people (excluding visitors), but close to 90% of the food is imported from elsewhere. At any given time we have only about a seven-day supply of food available. Facing soaring food, fuel, and fertilizer costs, farmers in the tropics need sustainable, low-input, nutritious crops. Breadfruit has been identified as a tropical food source with unique and robust nutritional values, high in carbohydrates, fiber and multiple vitamins and minerals. It has been shown to be more nutritionally valuable than, rice, potatoes and other carbohydrates, and it holds the potential to alleviate hunger. On a global scale, more than 80% of the world's hungry populations live in tropical and subtropical regions. Many countries, with populations exceeding 2 billion people, have ecological conditions suitable for cultivating breadfruit.

What effort have you made to test out your new idea?

The breadfruit collection at the National Tropical Botanical Garden is being systematically studied to utilize and share this important plant genetic resource. Our ten-year study of seasonality showed that a diverse planting of varieties can provide a steady supply of fruit for most of the year. Characterization and description of accessions include fruit weights, fruit and leaf descriptors and yield estimates, and seasonality data. Detailed analyses of 94 varieties were conducted to determine nutritional values. We also have partnered with an innovative horticulture company to mass produce healthy, vigorous, disease-free breadfruit plants using tissue culture methods and to distribute the plants.

What is particularly noteworthy or novel about your innovation?

Our project has four elements that make it unique. First, we have pioneered a method of in-vitro tissue culture growth that allows for quick breadfruit propagation, with a very high rate of plant development. Second, we have years of research that analyzed the nutritional value of breadfruit, and we are able to show scientifically the high nutritional value of this food product. Third, we have developed a partnership with an entrepreneur that can grow the plants and deliver them safely to their destination, allowing wide distribution. Fourth, we have agreements with the countries of origin for the varieties we are propagating and distributing, and we share revenues from plant sales through a benefit-sharing agreement that recognizes indigenous knowledge associated with these varieties.

What impact do you expect your innovation will have on the problem or situation described in the previous question?

Increased cultivation of breadfruit, which already has provided Pacific islanders with a nutritious staple food for millennia, will contribute to sustainable agriculture and agroforestry, improve soil conditions and watersheds, and provide increased food security for Hawaii. The long-lived trees are easy to grow in a wide range of ecological conditions and they can offer bountiful yields, should any kind of natural or man-made catastrophe cut the islands off from Mainland or international food distribution options. Breadfruit trees begin bearing in three to five years and are productive for many decades with relatively little labor, fertilization, or pest control. They are also very rich in iron and most other minerals, high in many vitamins, including Vitamin A, and they are a better source of protein than other starchy staple crops. Conservative estimates predict that 100 breadfruit trees would produce 8 tons of fruit per acre, higher than the average yields for corn, rice or wheat.

What other community partners will you need if your innovation is to scale beyond your organization?

We have developed local partnerships with organizations such as the Hawaii Homegrown Food Network, with whom we have launched the Ho’oulu ka ‘Ulu project to raise awareness of breadfruit in Hawaii, through outreach programs. We will also need to develop partnerships with other local organizations on all the Hawaiian islands. We will continue our partnership with Cultivaris, LLC/Global Breadfruit and are developing partnerships with international intermediaries and NGOs that have a means to distribute the plants to other food-insecure areas in tropic regions worldwide. (We have identified the famine-prone areas of the world and they happen to be the same regions where breadfruit grows best

Why are your organization, partners, and key personnel suited to take on this project?

The National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG) established the Breadfruit Institute (www.breadfruit.org) in 2003 to promote the conservation and use of breadfruit for food and reforestation. The institute curates and studies the world’s largest repository of breadfruit diversity. The collection was assembled over a 30-year period and conserves varieties from 34 Pacific islands, the Seychelles, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Some of the varieties in our collection are now extremely rare or even extinct on their home islands. Our project manager, Dr. Diane Ragone, has made the study of breadfruit her career and is the director of NTBG’s Breadfruit Institute. Cultivaris/Global Breadfruit, is a horticulture innovator and has developed successful methods of propagating and distributing breadfruit plants. In fact, it already has successfully grown and distributed thousands of breadfruit trees for NTBG in Hawaii and other tropical areas.