Do you grow fruits and vegetables in your backyard or community garden? Do some of them come from trees?
Breadfruit, or ‘ulu, is an easy-to-grow, productive, nutritious, and starchy staple crop grown in many Pacific Islands, including Hawaii. It can be roasted, baked, boiled, fried or pounded into poi. In the past, many people grew breadfruit at home and in community gardens. However, many breadfruit trees have been cut down, especially in urban areas. Products such as breadfruit can have a helpful impact on Pacific islands such as Hawaii, imports about 85 percent of its food.
Growing more breadfruit trees at home and in community gardens helps to improve food sustainability. Breadfruit is a key component of some Pacific Islands traditional agroforestry systems, which provide a model for revitalizing food production in Hawaii. Along with other conservation partners, the Breadfruit Institute is promoting the use and conservation of breadfruit throughout the Pacific Region. Food forests and home gardens that include breadfruit are being incorporated into urban and community landscapes. More information on efforts to plant breadfruit in home gardens in urban areas can be found in the USDA National Agroforestry Center’s Inside Agroforestry newsletter.
Home gardens that include breadfruit are only one of several agroforestry systems used in the Pacific and Caribbean Islands. Other important systems include multistory agroforestry, coastal forests and windbreaks, silvopasture, green manure, and cut and carry systems. These systems are described in the USDA. National Agroforestry Center’s newest publication, Working Trees for Islands. Produced in English and Spanish, the brochure describes how agroforestry provides food for growing populations and protects island natural resources. Many modern temperate agroforestry systems are rooted in the tropics and sub-tropics, including the Caribbean and Pacific Islands, and agroforestry has been practiced in these regions for generations.
In this 25th year of Farm Bill legislation authorizing the National Agroforestry Center, Working Trees publications can support the growing audience of people in islands, the U.S. mainland, and beyond who are interested in the environmental, economic and cultural benefits that working trees can provide.