Longtime Trees That Feed board member Dr. Ken Banks recently visited Guadeloupe and Saba. An avid tropical plant and tree enthusiast, he explored a mango collection and a breadfruit farm, while building important relationships and making exciting plans for TTFF.
Run by the French government, the mango collection Dr. Banks visited in Guadeloupe contains many African varieties, and 24 varieties selected from Guadeloupe will be added to the collection soon. Many of these varieties do not exist in the U.S.
Upon return to his home in Florida, Dr. Banks spoke with his contacts at the USDA in Miami, which has a very large tropical fruit tree collection. He arranged for their tree database to be shared with Dr. Dominique Dessauw of French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD). The USDA Miami staff are interested in receiving mango grafting material from the Guadeloupe collection, and we’re hoping to make that happen in the next year.
While South Florida already has a thriving mango cottage industry, these exotic varieties would attract even more attention. From the perspective of TTFF, mango varieties that fruit well in Guadeloupe would likely perform well in other Caribbean countries so this could be a benefit to the region. Many favoured Florida cultivars do not produce fruit well in the warmer tropical region. Also, followers know that more trees planted means more food and jobs, as well as a better environment!
Guadeloupean Mr. Dominique Zami arranged visits to a wetland habitat restoration project, fruit tree plantings done by children through the Parc National de la Guadeloupe, and a breadfruit agroforest farm.
His final treat was a bokit made from breadfruit flour at BOKaraïbes Restaurant. A bokit (bo keet) is a deep fried flat bread stuffed with chicken, ham, conch, salt fish, or many other fillings. Saveur Magazine wrote an interesting article on Bokits.
Dr. Banks also showed Mr. Modeste Salignat of the National Park TTFF’s educational activity book, Plant a Tree and Good Things Happen, which we recently translated into French. He loved it and is interested in printing some for children with whom he plants trees.
Another person Dr. Banks shared the book with was his French teacher, Stéphanie Cécile Fiesque, who in return showed him the book Guadeloupean children are given about fruits. It includes strawberries, apples, and peaches – not local fruits like breadfruit, mango and others, which are featured in TTFF’s book.
Dominique Zami and Modeste Salignat expressed interest in starting a breadfruit farm near Saint-François in southeast Guadeloupe (Grande-Terre). They showed Dr. Banks a farm, owned by Grégoire Dacalor, near Capesterre-belle-eau, a very lush area of Basse-Terre with rich volcanic soils, near the La Grande Soufrière volcano. Mr. Dacalor has created an agroforest that incorporates bananas, pineapples, and more, along with many breadfruit trees. Dr. Banks brought back leaf samples for genetic testing. TTFF is hoping we can purchase breadfruit trees locally and kickstart the new farm.
In his third week of travel, Dr. Banks visited Saba, where he has an excellent relationship with the government. He has been there twice already leading mango grafting workshops. In October, he plans to teach more classes and deliver breadfruit trees to both Saba and Statia. Statia is another Dutch island where goats have ravished fruit trees. Now, the goats are gone in Saba, and TTFF is keen to help with reforestation.
Visiting these islands and building relationships with trusted partners is integral to our mission. We are thrilled by the prospect of seeing Guadeloupean and African varieties of mango trees sent to Caribbean countries and Florida. We are looking forward to planting more breadfruit trees in Guadeloupe, Saba, and Statia. Being able to get our activity book into the hands of Guadeloupean children is exciting, as well! Thank you, Dr. Banks, for all you do to increase the impact of Trees That Feed Foundation.
