Page 31 - Islands Business March 2022

ENGLISH NAVIGATOR AND THE
‘KURU’ STORY Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees in Suva, Fiji, although border
lockdowns triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic had delayed
the shipment.
That delay has not stopped TTE from using other methods to
build up its nursery of young breadfruit trees.
“What we have been doing in the meantime is to identify good
COOK ISLANDS RETRACE ITS BREADFRUIT ROOTS breadfruit trees, those that bear fruits in abundance.
“From these trees, we dig out parts of its roots, the size of your
thumb, about 3⁄4 inches long and you grow them in pot plants,”
explains Mataroa.
“As long as they are watered and looked after, they should
grow in 2 months time.
“Once they grow to about 5 feet tall, these are then transplanted
to the breadfruit orchard.”
That the stakes are high are not lost on the community leader.
He realised this when he attended the Pacific Breadfruit
Roundtable in Tonga in September 2016.
With an annual import food bill of around NZ$30 million,
Mataroa told the conference that there was so much to be done
if local crops like breadfruit were going to make a dent on the
Cook Islands’ economy.
“Breadfruit is everywhere in the Cooks, but we eat imported
food.
“If the ships stopped coming to the Cooks, we would be the
first in the world to all die.
“We spend upwards of $30 million a year on imported food,
yet we have breadfruit right on our doorstep, and do not know
Fruit bearing branch of breadfruit tree the potential that it has.”

This is one of a series of impact stories featured in the Pacific
Islands Farmer Organisations Network (PIFON) undertaken by
The Cook Islands and kuru (breadfruit) share a long and island itself, Te Tango Enua felt the need to embark on a public members of the Network in 9 Pacific Island Countries under
interesting history. awareness programme first. the Farmers’ Organizations for Africa, Caribbean and Pacific –
It was the English explorer Captain James Cook who was the “Breadfruit is a traditional crop in the Cook Islands and is fo4acp programme – which is managed by PIFON and funded
first European to navigate through these groups of islands in the not looked at from a commercial perspective,” explains TTE by the European Union (EU), the African, Caribbean and
eastern Pacific Ocean, and it was on one of those voyages that President, Daniel Mataroa. Pacific (ACP) group of countries and the International Fund for
Cook stumbled upon the humble tropical food crop in what is “The awareness programme aims to change the mind-set Agricultural Development (IFAD). A breadfruit tree
now Tahiti, and recommended it as an energy food for British of the community by advocating about its health benefits,
colonies in the Caribbean. including the processing of its flour into gluten free flour that is
As the history books tell us, through Captain Cook’s marketable globally.
recommendations, another equally famous English sea captain “The idea is to take this awareness workshop across the
William Bligh set sail for the South Pacific aboard the HMS country.”
Bounty in 1787 to collect breadfruit, only to be met with the As part of the awareness drive, TTE identified Cook Islands’
infamous ‘mutiny on the Bounty’ fate. eastern island of Mauke as best suited to drive the resurgence
If only Captain Cook or Bligh for that matter would have known of breadfruit farming.
that over 200 years after the mutiny, a breadfruit revival of sorts “Mauke was selected as the venue for this programme as it
would begin on the island nation that now bears Cook’s name. is only 45 minutes by air from the main island of Rarotonga,
This green renaissance if we can call it that, is not so much whereas some of the other islands involve a return flight of 8
about shipping young breadfruit trees from Tahiti westward to hours.
the Cook Islands, but more about revitalising, or re-popularising “The volcanic origin of Mauke, which is the easternmost island
breadfruit orchards on the archipelago. of the Cook Islands, makes it ideal for agriculture, and with its
Behind the initiative is the local farmer organisation Te Tango population of 927 people, the potential for expansion is huge
Enua, which secured funding from the Farmer Organisations and can be accommodated by the land mass.”
for Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (FO4ACP) project, a joint All told, 47 new farmers, 17 of them women and 6 young
partnership between the European Union (EU), the African, people attended the training on Mauke.
Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of states, the International Running parallel to this has been the construction of a
Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Pacific breadfruit tree nursery, as well as the production of a breadfruit
Islands Farmer Organisations (PIFON) to get a group of farmers manual.
interested in farming the food crop. In addition, TTE with the help of PIFON had placed an order
While breadfruit has been an island staple for as long as the for 2,000 tissue-cultured plants with the Pacific Community’s Breadfruit slowly roasted on the open fire Breadfruit ready to be enjoyed
Islands Business, March 2022 31