Thanks to Global Breadfruit for this infographic on breadfruit nutrition!

TTFF is excited to be in Jamaica this week. We will be hosting a breadfruit symposium in partnership with Jamaica’s College of Agriculture, Science and Education (CASE). Check out details below! All are welcome and we hope you can join us. Contact info@treesthatfeed.org or 876-593-5291 to RSVP and/or ask questions.

We received an update today on the yellow yams that were part of TTFF’s hurricane response effort. Thanks to the generosity of our donors and partners, and to the energetic efforts of Pierre-Moise and Renel, the people of Doudouche recently received yam saplings. Doudouche is in the remote foothills of Jeremie.

Immediately after the hurricane, TTFF secured yellow yams from an area in Haiti unaffected by the disaster. These yams were one component of our multi-faceted approach to the hurricane relief, as we worked to provide various sustainable food sources that would provide both immediate and long-term yield. Our partners then helped transport the yams to Jeremie, an area struck by the hurricane. Pierre-Moise and Renel, two local agronomists, spent time dividing the yams in the nursery to be able to maximize the number of yams and yam seeds from this distribution.

We are thrilled to see that the hurricane relief efforts are continuing to provide food sources that will help alleviate a need for charitable food contributions in the future. Thanks again to all of our supporters and partners.

Hello, Mary:

You have probably heard all of this already from your people in Haiti, but I wanted to tell it to you personally as a “Thank You” for what you have gotten started for the people of Thomassique in Haiti’s Central Plateau.

I think it was 2012 when our mutual friend, Larry, told me about the work you were doing to promote the growth of food-bearing trees.  I was organizing a group of high school students to spend a week at St. Joseph Clinic in Thomassique during which time, among other things, they were planning to teach local youth how to plant and nurture food-bearing trees.  You generously arranged for us to get a dozen or more small breadfruit trees from your nursery near Port au Prince.

Those trees have done very well and are now yielding produce every year.  They are not only providing supplementary nutrition to the workers at St. Joseph Clinic but also serve as a model for others to see.  (See photo.)

But that is not the end of the story.  You placed me on a mailing list to get notices from your foundation.  One of those notices described a workshop that your staff was going to hold in Port au Prince to encourage the planting of breadfruit and moringa trees.  (Moringa was one of the other trees the high school group planted at St. Joseph Clinic.)  I asked our Global Health Fellows at the Clinic if they could identify an individual from the community who might want to learn more about those trees and become an advocate for them in the Thomassique region (a population of about 125,000).  We ended up sending Maxeau to your workshop.  He returned to Thomassique very excited about the possibilities that those trees held for the people in the region.  He maintained contact with your staff and assembled groups of farmers in at least two outlying villages to get a sense of their interest in growing the two crops.  Encouraged by their response, he is developing a business plan to create a local business to plant the trees, refine the produce, and sell the products.  I think his business model is benefiting from the experience of the two young Haitian men who conducted the training session.

If successful, Maxeau’s business will be a welcome addition to our efforts to improve nutrition in Thomassique, especially for women and children. It could also contribute to improving the economy of the region in general.

I don’t know how all of this will play out over the next couple of years but I do know that we would not have gotten this far if it had not been for your original contribution and the sustained guidance from your staff in Haiti.  Thank you.

Peter J. Dirr, Ph.D.
Member, Board of Directors
Medical Missionaries

Hurricane Matthew hit Haiti in October 2016. In response, Trees That Feed Foundation received generous support for relief efforts. Since then, we have been working closely with partners to ensure that donations are utlizied in the most effective way possible.

TTFF believes that emergency aid is necessary in a crisis, but if continued indefinitely, it can become harmful. Gifts of food and other material over time can undermine the development of local industry and create dependency on further contributions. TTFF is organizationally geared toward long-term, permanent solutions in the form of self-sustaining, local partnerships and entrepreneurs. However, in the case of Hurricane Matthew, we modified our traditional approach to include both short-term and long-term efforts.

As part of our short-term efforts, TTFF has been providing vegetable seeds, including pea, corn, tomato, cabbage and carrots, and other food sources that will provide a yield in as little as a few months. Just this week, thanks TTFF supporters’ generosity, our partners in Jeremie were able to secure hundreds of yellow yams. These yams are being distributed to farmers in the southern region who lost their crops due to the hurricane.

For long-term relief, TTFF continues to provide food-bearing trees. We hear from many are clamoring for help – their crops have been wiped out. They say that it is raining now and this is the right time to replant.

While there has been progress since the hurricane struck, support is still needed in Haiti for both short-term and long-term relief efforts to help farmers, producers and communities rebuild for the future.

Tomorrow marks the fifth annual #GivingTuesday, a day dedicated to giving.

Last year, more than 45,000 organizations in 71 countries came together to celebrate #GivingTuesday. Will you join the movement this year by giving fruit trees to help battle hunger and climate change?

Facing an uncertain climate, we can all do our part to ensure our environment will be a place for future generations to cherish. Please help us combat climate change through providing food-bearing trees. While reducing hunger, these trees restore ecological balance to damaged land.

For just $15, you can provide a tree that will improve the environment and feed a family for decades.

Thanks to all of TTFF’s donors for your generous support.

Today, Renaud Thomas arrived in Jeremie, Haiti with a truck loaded with 200,000 sweet potato plants. These plants will be distributed to several farmer groups in areas hit hardest by Hurricane Matthew. Mary McLaughlin, TTFF Chair, has been concerned about lack of food in these areas when the emergency relief efforts tail off. TTFF usually distributes food-bearing trees, but we need to supply faster growing crops in response to the hurricane to more quickly provide food sources. We’ve already provided thousands of seeds to plant carrots, tomatoes, and many other vegetables. But starchy root crops like potatoes, yams and cassava are full of calories and nutrients and will help reduce hunger within two or three months.

As we write this, the truck has just navigated several hours of rough, difficult mountain roads between the town of Les Cayes and Jeremie. This success is the culmination of relentless effort between Mary and our working partners in Haiti.

TTFF has collaborated with Women & Children’s Hope Foundation (WCHF) and Farmers of Timo, two organizations on the ground in Haiti. Farmers of Timo provided the sweet potato plants, which are ready to go into the ground. WCHF has provided half of the funding for labor and transportation, and TTFF has provided the other half. This funding originally came in for hurricane relief from generous TTFF donors.

In partnership with the Ministry of Forestry, TTFF just completed its first shipment of over 200 Jamaican-grown yellowheart breadfruit saplings to the Bahamas. The trees will be distributed to farmers in various islands and to the government’s reforestation program. This initiative is an excellent example of Caribbean nations working together for mutual benefit.

The trees were grown in Jamaica by Mr. Joseph Johnson, Chief Propagation Officer with Jamaica’s Ministry of Agriculture. To meet stringent international standards, the trees were grown in sterile, soil free material. These saplings are currently six months old and a few inches tall. In a few years, they will be statuesque trees, providing shade and bearing over 200 fruit per year. Each fruit weighs four to five pounds and can satisfy the carbohydrate requirement for a family of four, in addition to providing protein, potassium, riboflavin and other vitamins.

Once large enough, these trees will be distributed through the family islands to farms, environmental groups and into urban back gardens. Extensive planting of fruit trees in backyards will create a virtual urban food forest – transforming neighborhoods into shady, cool places with food sources.

This special shipment of breadfruit trees into the Bahamas required many players from both Jamaica and the Bahamas. A special thanks to Dr. Ken Banks, Ms. Danielle Hanek, Ms. Amanda Newbold, Mr. Pericles Maillis of the Bahamas and Mr. Joseph Johnson of Jamaica.