Will Breadfruit Solve the World Hunger Crisis?

PIOJ—Sustainable Development & Regional Planning Division
Volume 6 Issue 17
May 2013
Will Breadfruit Solve the World Hunger Crisis?
In
New Developments in an Innovative Food Crop
This
Issue...
By Matthew P. Lucas and Diane Ragone,
National Tropical Botanical Garden
Will Breadfruit Solve the World 1
Hunger Crisis?
New Developments in an
Innovative Food Crop
SD Events and More
5
Off the Bookshelf
6
In Focus—PIOJ Publishes
Damage and Loss Assessment
Handbook for Jamaica
7
The Zero Hunger Challenge
8
The Pride of Mango Valley
10
A map can be a powerful visual tool, but
can a map help solve world hunger,
rejuvenate agricultural soil, and prevent
mosquito-borne infections? Can a map
help slow global warming and spur
sustainable economic development in
tropical regions around the world? Perhaps
a map alone can't do these things, but a
map can help display the real potential of a
very special tree, the breadfruit.
Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) is a tropical
tree originally from Papua New Guinea
with a rich and storied history. This starchy
staple crop has been grown in the Pacific
for close to 3,000 years and was first
introduced to other tropical regions more
than 200 years ago. The trees are easy to
grow and thrive under a wide range of
ecological conditions, producing abundant,
nutritious food for decades without the
labor, fertilizer, and chemicals used to
grow field crops.
These multipurpose trees improve soil
conditions and protect watersheds while
providing food, timber, and animal feed.
All parts of the tree are used—even the
male flowers, which are dried and burned
to repel mosquitoes. Because of its
multiple uses and long, productive, low-
maintenance life,
breadfruit
was
spread throughout
the
tropical
Pacific by intrepid
voyagers. Hawaii
is one of the many
island
chains
where breadfruit,
or
ulu
in
Hawaiian,
was
cultivated as a
major staple. It is
fitting that now Hawaii is home to the
headquarters of an organization devoted to
promoting the conservation and use of
breadfruit for food and reforestation around
the world.
The Breadfruit Institute, within the nonprofit National Tropical Botanical Garden
(NTBG), is a major center for the tree's
conservation and research of more than
120 varieties from throughout the Pacific,
making it the world's largest repository of
breadfruit. As a result of this work, the
Institute has received requests from
numerous countries seeking quality
breadfruit varieties for tree-planting
(Continued on page 3)
Page 2
Vol.5 Issue 17
From The Editor
Last October I had the pleasure of visiting
use of geospatial technologies to solve global
challenges.
with the illustrious and innovative women of
the Mango Valley Cooperative, St. Mary,
Jamaica. These rural women have mastered
the art of making value-added products from
local fruits and foods like breadfruit, kola
nuts, yam and otaheite apples.
These
products include the breadfruit flour which
is known for its gluten-free quality and those
delectable otaheite apple balls. So, how
delighted was I when I contacted Dr. Diane
Ragone, co-author of our cover story, and
she told me that she has a bag of the Mango
Valley Pride Breadfruit Flour which she uses
frequently in her presentations on valueadded products for breadfruit. Surely the
Mango Valley team should be proud!
We continue our “breadfruit story” with an
account of the Planning Institute of Jamaica’s
visit to the Mango Valley Pride facility,
complete with a pictorial of our informative
and enlightening trip.
Our cover story elaborates on the work of
the Breadfruit Institute at the National
Tropical Botanical Garden, USA and how
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
Technology was utilised in identifying areas
most suitable for the cultivation of
breadfruit. The article echoes the current
focus by the development community on the
Also in this issue, we focus on one of the
seven issues highlighted for priority attention
in the preparation for the recently, convened
Rio +20 convention in Rio de Janiero-Food
Security and Sustainable Agriculture. We
focus on the The Zero Hunger Challenge,
launched by Secretary General of the UN,
Ban Ki-moon. The challenge encourages all
nations to work towards creating a future
where no one goes hungry.
Our Reading List and Off the Bookshelf features
will provide you with a healthy digest of
reading material. Also of importance is our
story introducing the Damage and Loss
Assessment (DaLA) Handbook for Jamaica.
The handbook, produced by the PIOJ, serves
as a quick guide to the use of the DaLA
methodology by stakeholders in the social,
economic and environment sectors of
Jamaica.
would like to extend thanks to
Dr. Diane Ragone and Matthew Lucas,
contributors of our cover story and to the
editors of the ArcNews magazine which
granted permission to use the texts and
graphics in the story. Thanks also to
Mareeca Brown for her contribution of the
Mango Valley Pride story.
As we move towards finding practical
solutions to critical world challenges such as
food security, it is hoped that Jamaica and
groups like Mango Valley Cooperativee will
play its part in making it all happen.
“In a world of plenty, no one – not a single person –
should go hungry... I invite all of you to join me in
working for a future without hunger.”
- Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General, UN
Thank You.
Nadine Brown
Editor/Desktop Publisher
WE NEED TO HEAR FROM YOU!!
The
team would like to get your valuable feedback and response in order to provide relevant information and links
about issues important to YOU!
Send us your input on sustainable development related websites, events, projects, articles, workshops etc. and we will
gladly include them in our publication. Please feel free to forward this newsletter to friends and colleagues who may find
the information useful. Past issues of
Editorial Team
Toni-Shae Freckleton
Kim Hoo Fatt
are posted on the official website of the PIOJ at: http://www.pioj.gov.jm
is a biannual newsletter of the Sustainable Development & Regional Planning Division, Planning Institute of Jamaica. The opinions
expressed by our contributors are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of
. Please send comments to: The
Editor,
, 16 Oxford Road, Kingston 5. Tel: (876) 935-5058 Fax (876) 906-4465 Email: nbrown@pioj.gov.jm
Page 3
Vol.5 Issue 17
Will Breadfruit Solve the World Hunger Crisis? Cont...
(Continued from page 1)
projects. To address this need, the Breadfruit Institute has
developed innovative propagation methods, making it possible to
produce and ship thousands, or even millions, of breadfruit plants
anywhere in the world.
These breadfruit tree-planting projects can help alleviate hunger
and support sustainable agriculture, agroforestry, and income
generation. Most of the world's one billion hungry people live in
the tropics—the same region where breadfruit can be grown.
However, as Dr. Diane Ragone, author and director of the
Breadfruit Institute, has learned, stating these facts and illustrating
them are two very different things. A strong realization is made
when a person sees the data from the United Nations Food and
Agriculture Organization global map on world hunger coupled
with a map showing areas suitable for growing breadfruit.
It was originally this type of powerful visual aid Ragone wanted
when she began working with NTBG's GIS coordinator and co-
author Matthew Lucas. To create such a map, Lucas began by
constructing a model within ArcGIS using WorldClim 30-second
resolution global raster datasets of interpolated climate conditions
compiled from the past 50 years (Hijmans et al. 2005). With the GIS,
monthly rainfall and temperature data was condensed into total
annual rainfall, mean annual temperature, and minimum and
maximum annual temperature. Then, the annual climate data was
reclassified.
"Suitable" and "best" ranges of rainfall and temperature were
identified after referring to the breadfruit profile written by Ragone
for Traditional Trees of Pacific Islands (Elevitch 2006). The best
ranges in mean temperature and rainfall were given a value of 2,
whereas suitable conditions were given a value of 1; conditions that
were deemed too low or high were given a value of -10. ArcGIS was
used to combine all the reclassified climate datasets. The final output
resulted in a global dataset that now displayed areas deemed
unsuitable for growing breadfruit as < 0, areas assumed suitable with
a value of < 4 and > 0, and best areas with a value of 4. This data was
Page 4
Vol.5 Issue 17
Will Breadfruit Solve the World Hunger Crisis? Cont...
displayed in combination with 2011 Global Hunger Index scores
entered into a vector dataset of countries. The resultant map helps the
viewer see the real potential breadfruit development could have for
tropical regions.
It became clear that this map, the data, and the ArcGIS
methodology used to construct it provided not only a powerful
visual aid but also a useful research tool. Armed with these maps
and the information they convey, Lucas and Ragone are continuing
to pair what has been learned about breadfruit cultivation with
ArcGIS to help understand and display future breadfruit potential.
They are currently working on a climate change analysis that uses
predicted climate datasets of various future climate models and
scenarios in an attempt to quantify areas that would have the
highest likelihood of sustainable breadfruit development. They are
also working on publishing an online map displaying global
breadfruit growing potential. Finally, it is the hope of the
Breadfruit Institute and NTBG that future breadfruit development
will be expanded and that ArcGIS will help guide potential
breadfruit-growing countries in planning and implementing
planting projects of this very special tree.
(Source: ArcNews Summer 2012)
About the Authors
With this new visual aid completed, Ragone and Josh Schneider,
cofounder of Cultivaris/Global Breadfruit, a horticultural partner that
propagates breadfruit trees for global distribution, attended the World
Food Prize symposium in October 2011. The breadfruit suitability
map was shared with Calestous Juma, professor of the practice of
international development and director of the Science, Technology,
and Globalization Project at the Belfer Center for Science and
International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School. Juma has
extensive experience and contacts in Africa.
The map was also shared with the former president of Nigeria,
Olusegun Obasanjo. It was at Obasanjo's invitation that Schneider
visited Nigeria and met with government officials and researchers to
discuss breadfruit planting projects. Due to the relatively fine scale
(1 km) of the original datasets, a more detailed map of Nigeria
showing areas suitable for growing breadfruit, along with roads and
cities, was an invaluable tool during discussions.
The World Food Prize meeting also spurred other similar countryspecific maps that have been created and shared with organizations
and individuals working in Haiti, Ghana, Jamaica, Central America,
and China. The maps provide government officials, foundations, and
potential donors with clear information about the potential of
breadfruit in specific areas. The maps have spurred the question,
What other countries are best suited for growing breadfruit? ArcGIS
was used to combine the breadfruit suitability data with a vector
layer of country borders. This not only resulted in a list of countries
that could possibly grow breadfruit but also made it easy to identify
and rank the amount of area each country has that is suitable and best
for growing breadfruit.
Matthew Lucas is the GIS coordinator for the Conservation Department at
the National Tropical Botanical Garden, USA. As a graduate of the
University of Hawaii, Hilo, Department of Geography, Lucas hails from a
conservation background where he uses models and maps to guide more
efficient decision making and problem solving. Diane Ragone, PhD, is
director of the Breadfruit Institute at the National Tropical Botanical
Garden. She is an authority on the conservation and use of breadfruit and
has conducted horticultural and ethnobotanical studies in more than 50
islands in Micronesia, Polynesia, and Melanesia.
For more information about the Breadfruit Institute and NTBG, visit
www.ntbg.org/breadfruit. To help support the work of the institute and
breadfruit tree-planting projects, visit ntbg.org/breadfruit/donate/
plantatree.php. For more information on Global Breadfruit and how you
can help, visit www.globalbreadfruit.com.
Citations
Hijmans, R. J., S. E. Cameron, J. L. Parra, P. G. Jones, and A. Jarvis
(2005). "Very High Resolution Interpolated Climate Surfaces for Global
Land Areas." International Journal of Climatology 25:1965–1978.
Ragone, D. (2006). "Artocarpus altilis (breadfruit)." In Traditional Trees
of Pacific Islands. Elevitch, C. R. (ed). Holualoa, HI: Permanent
Agroforestry Resources, 85–100. Available at www.traditionaltree.org.
Von Grebmer, K., M. Torero, T. Olofinbiyi, et al. (2011). "2011 Global
Hunger Index: The Challenge of Hunger: Taming Price Spikes and
Excessive Food Price Volatility." International Food Policy
Research
Institute,
Bonn.
Available
at
www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/publications/ghi11.pdf [PDF].
Page 5
Vol.5 Issue 17
SD Events and More
Sustainable Development Events
Third International SIDS Conference - Caribbean Subregional Preparatory Meeting
June 17 - 21, 2013
Jamaica
Sustainable Development Conference:
Green Technology, Renewable Energy
and Environmental Protection
Conference
June 21 - 23, 2013
Bangkok
Thailand
International Conference on Sustainability and Human
Development (ISHUD 2013)
July 3 - 4, 2013
London
United Kingdom
11th Global Conference on Sustainable Manufacturing
September 23 - 25, 2013
Berlin
Germany
World Clean Technology Summit 2013
November 31 - October 2, 2013
Kampala, Central
Uganda
Reading List
The Last Hunger Season: A Year in an African Farm
Community on the Brink of Change
by Roger Thurow
Rebuilding the Foodshed: How to Create Local, Sustainable,
and Secure Food Systems
by Philip Ackerman-Leist
For Hunger-Proof Cities: Sustainable Urban Food Systems
by Mustafa Koc (Editor)
The Plundered Planet: Why We Must--And How We Can-Manage Nature for Global Prosperity
by Paul Collier
Outgrowing the Earth: The Food Security Challenge in an Age
of Falling Water Tables and Rising Temperatures
by Lester R. Brown
Extreme Gardening
Used with Permission from © Seppo Leinonen, www.seppo.net
Page 6
Vol.5 Issue 17
Off the Bookshelf
Food Insecurity
The State of Food Insecurity in the
World 2012 presents new
e s t i m a t e s
o f
undernourishment based on a
revised and improved
methodology. The estimates
now show that progress in
reducing hunger during the
past 20 years has been better
than previously believed, and
that if current efforts
continue it may be possible to
reach the MDG hunger target
at the global level by 2015.
The number of people
suffering from chronic
undernourishment, however,
is still unacceptably high, and eradication of hunger remains a major
global challenge.
The report also discusses the role of economic growth in reducing
undernourishment. Sustainable agricultural growth is often effective in
reaching the poor because most of the poor and hungry live in rural
areas and depend on agriculture for a significant part of their
livelihoods.
FAO, WFP and IFAD. 2012. The State of Food Insecurity in the World
2012.
Economic growth is necessary but not sufficient to accelerate reduction of
hunger and malnutrition. Rome, FAO.
ISBN 978-92-5-107316-2
http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/i3027e/i3027e00.htm
Hunger Extinct by 2100?
Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security in
Latin America examines the impact of projected
climate change on future food production and
food security in Latin America and the
Caribbean (LAC), to 2100. While it is believed
by some that climate change could be a
devastating prospect for the indigenous
peasantry of South America, and for LAC
prospects as a food exporting region, temperate
areas like the Southern Cone and parts of the
Andean Highlands might actually benefit from
some increase in temperature and the projected
rise in precipitation. Several Latin American
sub-regions would actually benefit from climate
change, especially the plains around the River
Plate and the high-altitude Andean plateaux.
The number of people at risk of hunger would
become small or vanishing well before 2100, for the Latin American region and practically
all its countries. Even in the worst cases, like Haiti, Central America or Bolivia, economic
access to food would be greatly enhanced, with undernourishment expected to affect a
small percentage of people by the late 21st century.
Maletta, Hector E. and Maletta, Emiliano, Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security in
Latin America (June 2, 2010). CLIMATE CHANGE, AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY IN
LATIN AMERICA , Multi-Science Publishing, Brentwood, Essex, UK, 2011. Available at SSRN:
http://ssrn.com/abstract=1619395
Food Security in the Caribbean
Trade and food security in the Caribbean are tied
together through a variety of linkages rooted in the
importance of exports and imports to these small
open economies. Analyzing the dynamic relationships
between trade and food security is therefore
important, especially in the wake of the profound
changes occurring in the multilateral, hemispheric and
regional economic environment. Agricultural trade
liberalization, and trade reform in general, have
significant impacts on all dimensions of food security
for Caribbean countries - availability, access, utilization
and stability.
The book examines the various dimensions of
agricultural trade and food security of Caribbean countries. It focuses on multilateral trade
negotiations, mainly those of the World Trade Organization, and its implications for
Caribbean agricultural and food sector performance and policies. Moreover, it presents
policy instruments to analyse and address linkages between trade, food security and rural
development.
Agricultural trade policy and food security in the Caribbean
edited by J.R. Deep Ford Crescenzo dell’Aquila and Piero Conforti
Trade and Markets Division
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Rome, 2007
ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/010/a1146e/a1146e00.pdf
Page 7
Vol.5 Issue 17
IN FOCUS
PIOJ Publishes Damage and Loss Assessment Handbook for Jamaica
O
ver the last 25-30 years, Jamaica has experienced an
increase in the frequency of natural events, primarily floods
related to inclement weather, tropical depressions, tropical
storms, hurricanes, and droughts. Some of the more recent
meteorological events that have severely impacted Jamaica
include Hurricane Ivan in 2004, Hurricanes Emily and Dennis
in 2005, Hurricane Dean in 2007 and Tropical Storm Gustav
in 2008. Between 2001 and 2010, Jamaica had been impacted
by 10 disaster events, resulting in cost to the country
estimated at approximately $111.81b.
The adverse
environmental impacts included a decline in the health of
coral reefs; loss of sea-grass beds; severe beach erosion and
loss of forested areas. The agricultural sector, specifically the
banana industry, has also been repeatedly impacted by
extreme weather events. These events have also resulted in
significant social dislocation, economic losses and damage.
For instance, in 2004, Hurricane Ivan resulted in damage
totalling J$35 billion while Hurricane Dean in 2007 left J$23
billion in damage. It is estimated that by 2025 the cost to
Jamaica could be 13.9% of GDP, 27.9 % by 2050, 42.3 % by
2075 and approximately 57% by 2100 (based on 2004 GDP).
A major challenge faced by Jamaica is the continued need to
prepare thorough post-disaster impact assessments. Since
2004, the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) has hosted
several capacity building training workshops in the use of the
Economic Commission for Latin America and the
Caribbean/Damage and Loss Assessment (ECLAC/ DaLA)
methodology. This has strengthened the capability of the
Institute to more effectively coordinate the preparation of
post-disaster socio-economic and environmental assessment
reports for hurricanes and other natural disasters affecting the
island. These reports have played an integral role in assisting
the government in identifying key sectors or areas for prime
recovery and restoration activities after a major disaster event.
Unfortunately, due to staff turnover in key supporting
Ministries, Departments and Agencies, knowledge
management has become a key challenge.
In order to correct these problems and improve the reporting
process, the PIOJ has prepared a handbook which will serve
as a quick guide to the use of the DaLA methodology by
stakeholders in the social, economic and environment sectors
of Jamaica. This will help decision-makers to better allocate
resources for Jamaica’s disaster risk reduction programme.
The Handbook was prepared with funding from the Climate
Investment Fund’s (CIF) Pilot Programme for Climate
Resilience (PPCR) Phase
I of the Jamaican
Programme.
The production of this
Handbook is a key step
in harnessing the
knowledge around
assessment of extreme
events in Jamaica. It will
strengthen not only the
capacity of the PIOJ
resulting in an improved
reporting process, but
will also increase PIOJ’s
capacity to share this
knowledge in an
organised and easy
manner with others. It will serve as a quick guide to the use of
the DaLA methodology by stakeholders in the social,
economic and environment sectors of Jamaica. The end result
will be better informed decisions regarding the allocation of
resources for Jamaica’s disaster risk reduction programme.
The Handbook is intended for practitioners who are experts
in their own fields and who are brought together to conduct
assessments of extreme events, referred to as Assessors in the
Handbook. The expectation is that Assessors are trained in
the use of the DaLA methodology and are involved in the
conduct of an assessment in the past. The Handbook then, is
meant to reinforce knowledge already learned, and also to
clarify any doubts that may arise as one proceeds with
undertaking an assessment. The Handbook is also meant to
provide the most current information on the DaLA and its
uses. The structure of the Handbook is such that the basic
concepts underpinning the methodology are easily explained,
and instructions for undertaking the assessment are provided
through step by step procedures, quick guides, examples,
illustrations and charts. This Handbook also provides some
guidance on how to prepare the final report. Through a
reference section, the Handbook provides for its users a brief
listing with addresses to sites and sources where additional
information and more
elaborate theoretical explanations can be found.
The handbook can be accessed on the PIOJ’s website at
http://www.pioj.gov.jm/ResearchandData/DLAResources/
tabid/136/Default.aspx
Page 8
Vol.5 Issue 17
The Zero Hunger Challenge
One of the seven issues highlighted for priority attention in
the preparation for the recent Rio +20 convention in Rio de
Janiero was Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture.
The UN’s Food & Agriculture Organization estimates there
are about 900 million hungry people, 13 per cent of the world
population and it is projected that this figure will increase by 2
billion by 2050. Various elements of our environment are
under siege both from the impact of climate change and
human demands. Soils, freshwater, oceans, forests and
biodiversity are being rapidly degraded and our environmental
resources are increasingly being threatened by risks associated
with disasters such as droughts, hurricanes, landslides and
floods. This has impacted rural communities primarily, with
a further spin-off impact being an increase in rural-urban
migration. Food security and sustainable agriculture are
therefore critical for providing solutions for development,
hunger and poverty eradication.
The Zero Hunger Challenge, launched by Secretary
General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon, encourages all nations to
work towards creating a future where no one goes hungry.
The challenge puts forward that this can only be achieved
through “comprehensive efforts to ensure that every man,
woman and child enjoy their Right to Adequate Food; women
are empowered; priority is given to family farming, and food
systems everywhere are sustainable and resilient”
100% ACCESS TO ADEQUATE FOOD
ALL YEAR ROUND
Enabling all people to access the food they
need at all times through nutrition‐sensitive
agriculture and food systems, marketing,
decent and productive employment, a social
protection floor, targeted safety nets and
food assistance; boosting food supply from
local producers; and through open, fair and well‐functioning
markets and trade policies at local, regional and international
level, preventing excessive food price volatility.
ZERO
STUNTED
CHILDREN UNDER 2
YEARS
Ensuring universal access to
nutritious food in the 1 000 day
window of opportunity between
the start of pregnancy and a
child’s second birthday, supported by nutrition‐sensitive health
care, water, sanitation, education and specific nutrition
interventions, coupled with initiatives that enable empowerment
of women, as encouraged within the Movement for Scaling Up
Nutrition.
http://www.un.org/en/sustainablefuture/pdf/zerohungerchallenge.pdf
The “Zero Hunger Challenge” has five objectives
1. 100% access to adequate food all year round
2. Zero stunted children under 2 years
3. All food systems are sustainable
4. 100% increase in smallholder productivity and income
5. Zero loss or waste of food
ALL FOOD SYSTEMS
ARE SUSTAINABLE
Ensuring that all farmers,
agribusinesses, cooperatives,
governments, unions and civil
society establish standards for
sustainability; verifying their
observance and being accountable for them; encouraging and
rewarding universal adoption of sustainable and climate‐resilient
agriculture practices; pursuing cross‐sectoral policy coherence
(encompassing energy, land use, water and climate); and
implementing responsible governance of land, fisheries and
forests.
Page 9
Vol.5 Issue 17
The Zero Hunger Challenge
1 0 0% I N CR E AS E I N
S M A L L H O L D E R
PRODUCTIVITY AND
INCOME
Reducing rural poverty and
improving well-being through
encouraging decent work, and
increasing smallholders’ income;
empowering women, small farmers, fishers, pastoralists, young
people, farmer organizations, indigenous people and their
communities; improving land tenure, their access to assets and to
natural resources, making sure that all investments in agriculture
and value chains are responsible and accountable; and developing
multidimensional indicators for people’s resilience and well-being.
government health centre and maintain a prescribed
schedule of visits, and children over 6 years of age must be
attending a government funded school and must maintain a
minimum monthly attendance record of 85%, in order to
satisfy the conditionality for the education grant. .
Sources:
http://www.endinghunger.org/en/educate/zero_hunger.html
http://issuu.com/endinghunger/docs/the_fome_zero_program/3
http://www.mlss.gov.jm/pub/index.php?artid=23
Food Security and Agriculture Facts and Figures

Agriculture is the single largest employer in the world,
providing livelihoods for 40 per cent of today’s global
population. It is the largest source of income and jobs
for poor rural households.

500 million small farms worldwide, most still rainfed,
provide up to 80 per cent of food consumed in a large
part of the developing world. Investing in smallholder
women and men is an important way to increase food
security and nutrition for the poorest, as well as food
production for local and global markets.

Since the 1900s, some 75 per cent of crop diversity has
been lost from farmers’ fields. Better use of agricultural
biodiversity can contribute to more nutritious diets,
enhanced livelihoods for farming communities and
more resilient and sustainable farming systems.

1.3 billion people have no access to electricity
worldwide - most of whom live in rural areas of the
developing world. Energy poverty in many regions is a
fundamental barrier to reducing hunger and ensuring
that the world can produce enough food to meet future
demand.
ZERO LOSS OR WASTE OF FOOD
behaviour.
Minimizing food losses during storage and
transport, and waste of food by retailers and
consumers; empowering consumer choice
through appropriate labelling; commitments
by producers, retailers and consumers within
all nations; and achieving progress through
financial incentives, collective pledges,
locally‐relevant technologies and changed
The Zero Hunger Challenge was inspired by a successful antihunger programme in Brazil. Brazil’s Fome Zero (Zero Hunger)
Project was launched in 2003 and provided direct financial
assistance to the most impoverished families. It also opened up
government-run restaurants that provided low-cost meals three
times a day to those in need. Zero Hunger worked to address root
causes of poverty and hunger. For a family to receive money for
food, the children had to be enrolled in school. Better education
has given these children a chance to break free from the vicious
circle of poverty and hunger.
The equivalent of Brazil’s Fome Zero Project in Jamaica is the
Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education
(PATH). PATH is a conditional cash transfer (CCT) programme
funded by the Government of Jamaica and the World Bank and is
aimed at delivering benefits by way of cash grants to the most
needy and vulnerable in the society. To qualify for benefits an
applicant must satisfy the eligibility criteria of the Programme that
he/she is a member of a poor family. Beneficiaries are required to
satisfy specified criteria for continual receipt of benefits.
Beneficiaries of health grants are required to register in a
Garden vole and pesticide
Used with Permission
from © Seppo Leinonen,
www.seppo.net
Page 10
Vol.5 Issue 17
The Pride of Mango Valley
By Mareeca Brown
On October 19, 2012,
members of staff of the
Planning Institute of
Jamaica
made
a
courtesy call to the
Mango Valley Pride
facilities in St. Mary.
The purpose of the visit
was to tour the Mango
Valley Pride facilities
to explore the strategies undertaken by the group in
marketing, advocacy, and training to sustain and
maintain this particular cottage industry.
The Mango Valley Cooperative consists of a group of
entrepreneurial women who have established a brand of
products using natural resources from within and around
the Mango Valley community. They are the producers of
the Mango Valley Pride line of
products. Products include
mango chutney; pickle; guava
cheese; guava jelly; sorrel jam;
jerk
seasoning;
orange
marmalade;
otaheiti
balls;
grounded kola nuts (busy);
orange and lime spice; and
breadfruit, plantain and banana
flour. The women also produce,
on a smaller scale, hand-crafted
items such as embroidered table
linen and decorative pillows.
The group was established in the late 1980s and has been
successful in producing food products to high quality
standards. The Mango Valley Visionaries, as they are
called, has been the face of this rural St Mary community
for many years. Cinderella Anderson, founder and the
immediate Past President of the group, indicated that the
group boasts a membership of 40, of which 11 are males
who work alongside the females in the agro-processing
industry. The cooperative maintains a greenhouse where
cash crops like tomatoes and pepper are grown. Other
agricultural products on the farm include pumpkins and
callaloo. The Mango Valley Visionaries have been the
recipient of various culinary awards as well as donations
from established local and international organizations.
This includes equipment from the European Union (EU), A
Computer Centre which was donated by Food for the Poor
and a small agro-processing facility funded by the
Environmental Foundation of Jamaica (EFJ), the InterAmerican Foundation (IAF) and the Local Initiative Facility
for the Environment (LIFE).
The
Visionaries,
through
its
agro
processing
arm
currently
supplies
cassava flour to the
National Bakery who
uses it in their baked
products. There is
also both a local and
overseas demand for
the breadfruit flour,
and the confectionary
items such as jams and jellies which are sold to neighbouring
hotel properties. All products are produced by well-trained
individuals who ensure that products meet the required
standard. This is done at the agro-processing plant located in
the community. The Mango Valley Pride label has brought to
the table an impressive track record of value-added
agricultural products.
In light of these achievements and the progress made since its
inception, the women at the helm of the friendly society want
to take their agro-processing business into new realms,
serving the island and the wider Caribbean; this means
increasing the volume and variety of goods that they produce.
However, the group has been challenged by a number of
factors namely:




the Mango Valley Pride name has not been trademarked
nor patented, which increases the group’s vulnerability to
intellectual property theft
lack of funding to purchase adequate machinery and
equipment for e.g. solar dryers
inadequate funding to pay agro-processors
inadequate capacity to market products.
It is hoped that one of the outcomes of the visit will be
provision of assistance (financial, technical) to the cooperative
in some way to help these remarkable women to overcome the
challenges noted.
Page 11
Vol.5 Issue 17
The Pride of Mango Valley
(Pictorial)
Above: Peppers being grown in the greenhouse and plots of pumpkins an tomatoes on the
outside.
Above: Mrs. Marcia Blake Hall and Mrs. Sandra
Ward get ready to enter the agro-processing facility
while Marsha Woolcock looks on.
Above: PIOJ staff listens to Cinderella
Anderson as she speaks about the greenhouse
Above: Inside the agro-processing facility
Top - right: - Mrs. Odean Cole-Phoenix
presents a member of the cooperative
with a basket
Bottom - right: - Mr. Orett Moncrieffe of
the PIOJ presents Mrs. Cinderella Anderson with a copy of the Vision 2030
Popular Version
Above: Flour varieties and Kola Nut Powder produced
under the Mango Valley Pride brand.
Right: Staff was treated to roasted breadfruit and ackee
and saltfish after the tour...yummm!