By Tupou Vaipulu Jr

Breadfruit is the Pacific’s most climate-resilient crop due its ability to survive and withstand natural disasters, said Kyle Stice, Executive Director of the Pacific Island Farmers Organization, at the opening of the Breadfruit Festival 2024 in Tonga,

Over 100 farmers from around the Pacific and the Caribbean gathered at the MORDI Centre in Haveluloto, Tongatapu today to learn more about the value of breadfruit or “mei”.

Mr. Stice said that breadfruit (mei) can be part of a solution for a lot of “big problems”. 

“We’ve seen cyclones battering breadfruit trees, they fall down and they sprout again. When we see all crops drying up in drought, we see breadfruit surviving,” he said.

“We see it on the atolls in Micronesia, we see it in the fertile valleys, breadfruit is the most climate-resilient crop.”

Mr. Stice also said that breadfruit can be a great alternative to expensive grains like wheat and rice.

“As we see the cost of rice going up, as we see the cost of wheat going up, to know that we have a staple food that we can produce in the islands to sustain us is very powerful”.

The Chairperson for MORDI Tonga Trust, Dr Seu’ula Fu said in her remarks, that the Breadfruit Festival 2024 more than just a celebration - it is evidence of the joint efforts to uphold traditions, improve farming methods, and build resilience within the communities and throughout the Pacific.

Educational side events are focused on the mei, from cultivation to cooking methods.

Pacific countries  and states that are represented include Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Hawaii, Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste and Vanuatu.

From further afield, participants have come from Barbados, Guyana and Suriname.