Rising temperatures are which makes agriculture in the tropics very difficult. Food systems in the island nations of the Caribbean and the Pacific are particularly vulnerablewhich is severely affected by a combination of heat waves, droughts and unseasonal rainfall. And the impact of climate change in these areas is likely to be increase significantly over the next decade, especially for farmers of the most common commodities such as corn, wheat and soybeans.
But there is one crop that loves the heat and is not easily discouraged by sudden changes in the weather. It is called breadfruit, and it is experiencing a quiet resurgence in its Pacific and Caribbean islands, where people hope the tree and its products will thrive in a climate-changed future.
“There is no climate that is too hot for breadfruit,” says Russell Fielding, a geographer at Coastal Carolina University. One of the world’s highest-yielding food plants, breadfruit is a large-leafed evergreen tree in the jackfruit family that produces a large quantity of knobby fruit that can be used in a surprising variety of different dishes.
The growing range of these trees is constantly expanding as temperatures rise around the world, and because of their far-spreading root system, breadfruit trees are virtually indestructible. They survive hurricanes, Fielding says, and can also grow near salt or brackish water — a big plus as ocean levels continue to rise. stabilize and enrich Even the most degraded soils. A large tree will sequester 1.3 tons of carbon when mature, according to calculations conducted by the Trees That Feed Foundation, an Illinois-based nonprofit that provides breadfruit trees to help feed people and create jobs in the tropics.
“People are just beginning to recognize the incredible potential of the breadfruit tree,” says Fielding. “It is one of the most productive trees in terms of calories per year per unit of surface area. One breadfruit tree could easily supply all the fruit a family needs.”
If you have seen the movie Mutiny on the BountyYou probably already know about the breadfruit tree. These were the fruit trees that were transported during the ill-fated voyage of the merchant ship. But if you haven’t been to a remote Pacific island lately, or to the Caribbean, chances are you’ve never eaten this green, spiky, football-sized fruit with a creamy pulp. The breadfruit tree has a short shelf life and is rarely exported outside of tropical countries.
Native to the Pacific and once a staple food in Tahiti, Hawaii and Jamaica, breadfruit has gradually fallen out of favor and been replaced in these regions by a standard Western diet rich in processed foods, saturated fats and refined carbohydrates. Breadfruit tastes bland, a cross between mashed potatoes and sourdough bread; its sticky consistency when ripe has been compared to wallpaper paste. Yet despite these uninspiring qualities, some believe it to be the next big superfood.
Diane Ragone has been personally obsessed with the humble fruit since the 1980s. She is director emeritus of the Breadfruit Institute, a research and advocacy group based on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. For one thing, she says, breadfruit is far more nutritious than staples like rice and corn, as it is rich in micronutrients and vitamins. It is also relatively high in protein, she says; a Samoan variety called Ma’afala even beats soybeans in protein content.