Breadfruit bill would nurture industry’s growth

A movement to commercialize breadfruit in the isles has slowly been taking root in recent years, and a bill moving through the state Legislature aims to give a much-needed boost to the fledgling industry.

Senate Bill 3023 proposes appropriating an unspecified sum in the upcoming fiscal year for research, development and marketing of breadfruit, or ulu.

"In order to have an industry, you need to bring it to scale," said James Naka­tani, executive director of Agribusiness Development Corp., which would spend the money. "Right now it’s too small."

Touted as a "miracle substance" by state agriculture leaders, breadfruit has the potential to become a new food staple in Hawaii — in line with taro and rice — and blossom into a booming export industry, supporters of the bill contend.

"Breadfruit is a wonderful thing to start cooking," Sharon Hurd, an economic development specialist with the state Department of Agriculture, said in a phone interview Friday. "It steams very easily, it bakes well, you can make desserts out of it. … It was really, really, really good."

Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz (D, Wahiawa-Whitmore-Mili­lani Mauka), chairman of the Senate Economic Development, Government Operations and Housing Committee, said the bill does more than just fund breadfruit research. It can help diversify Hawaii’s tourism-dependent economy, promote sustainability, reduce imports, create jobs and pave the way for crops such as blueberries, tea, oranges, papaya and peaches to be developed in the state’s various microclimates in a similar fashion.

"We’ve got to be more proactive in identifying and supporting some of these crops so we can get to the point of being commercial," Dela Cruz said. "If we can do that, then ag land will hopefully become more profitable than having the option to develop ag land."

Sen. Malama Solomon (D, Kaupulehu-Wai­mea-North Hilo) introduced the bill, which is poised to cross over to the House this week. Solo­mon’s office said ulu has "unrecognized potential as an agricultural commodity," as the Senate Agriculture Committee noted in its report on the bill.

The bill states that ulu was one of the few subsistence plants Polynesians brought with them to Hawaii around 750 A.D. According to the Breadfruit Institute, founded by the National Tropical Botanical Garden in Hawaii in 2003, breadfruit originated in the South Pacific, where it has been cultivated for 3,000-plus years.

Breadfruit is naturally gluten-free, which lawmakers believe positions it to fit into the growing U.S. market of gluten-free products, which is estimated to generate at least $6.6 billion by 2017. Lawmakers envision Hawaii as the Pacific headquarters for refining, processing, packaging and exporting ulu products — such as gluten-free noodles made with ulu flour — to the mainland, with U.S. Pacific territories serving as subregional hubs.

Support for the bill has also come from the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs. Soulee Stroud, the association’s president, said in written testimony to the Senate Ways and Means Committee that the marketing of breadfruit is in line with efforts to preserve and perpetuating Native Hawaiian culture.

Stroud said decreased access to ulu over the past century has caused "urban Hawaiians" to "lose the taste and benefits of this staple so familiar to the kupuna," but younger Hawaiians are starting to take interest in the fruit by sharing recipes.

"We would ask, however, that the original Hawaiian ‘ulu not be lost in the proliferation of Polynesian varieties," he wrote.