Producing Super Food! Re-Greening The Country While Addressing Hunger

After I posted a series of videos about the Breadfruit Trees, also known as “Kolo” and “Rimas,” I discovered in North Upi, Maguindanao del Norte, there had been a deluge of information and tips on where to find more of this tree species which produces fruits described by health experts as the “Super Food.”
“Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) is a species of flowering tree in the mulberry and jackfruit family (Moraceae) believed to be a domesticated descendant of Artocarpus camansi originating in New Guinea, the Maluku Islands, and the Philippines,” according to wikipedia.
The Breadfruit had been described as a “Super Food” because it is “full of minerals like calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, manganese, and zinc. One cup of breadfruit has more potassium than three bananas, and it contains B vitamins, niacin, thiamine, and Vitamin C.”
My interest in the propagation and planting of the Breadfruit is spurred by my desire to reach a middle ground with “Environmental Purists” in the advocacy to promote fruit tree farming in the denuded highlands of the country to “Re-Green” the Philippines.
The “Environmental Purists” are those who advocate for the planting of endemic species and frown on the promotion of other fruit tree species in the Re-Greening Program of the country.
The practical “Re-Greening” advocates like me, on the other hand, contend that the program will only succeed if the farmers make money from out of the trees they planted in the highlands.
Breadfruit offers the middle ground because it is an endemic species and its fruits command a very high price in the world market.
So, I had long been searching for planting materials of the Breadfruit hoping to propagate these in my nursery and share these later with other farmers.
Yesterday, I followed up on a tip given to me by local broadcaster Noy Collena who said that there is an old “Kolo” tree growing just beside the Davao-Cotabato National Highway in Barangay Saging, Makilala, Cotabato.
I found the tree planted by the Palo family but it appeared sickly as the fruits were being attacked by fungus.
The best bit of information, however, came from farming advocate John Paul Cruz, son of my former office mate, Amy Bulaclac, who said that he had been propagating the Breadfruit with the help of another relative, Donna Provido.
He said they were reproducing the Breadfruit seedlings through grafting, a process which could boost the reproduction of this precious endemic fruit tree.
I was told earlier that the had grown Breadfruit seedlings through root cuttings and marcotting.
With these developments, I will now be engaged in the advocacy to promote the propagation and planting of the Breadfruit Tree because of its economic benefits and the potentials of addressing hunger and poverty in the countryside.

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