There’s an increasing demand in Hawaiʻi for ʻulu, also known as breadfruit — resulting from years of public awareness campaigns and buy-in from many in the state.
The Hawaiʻi ʻUlu Cooperative, which is made up of over 200 local farmers, said its annual production of the crop has grown to a peak of 230,000 pounds since it was formed in 2016 and grew closer to 20,000 pounds.
CEO Dana Shapiro said that demand has outpaced the supply, and it now needs more farmers to grow the versatile and culturally significant fruit.
“The biggest challenge in Hawaiʻi is simply lack of supply. There is not enough ʻulu being grown and harvested in Hawaiʻi to meet current demand,” Shapiro said. “We see demand just continuing to grow every year, which is a good problem to have as far as problems go, but it’s still a problem.
A big part of that comes through the state Department of Education, which first featured ʻulu in 2017, but now incorporates it in student meals. The DOE's demand this year is about 150,000 pounds, according to Shapiro.
The interest from public schools stems from the DOE's legislature-mandated goal to locally source 30% of its food by 2030.
It's not the only reason for the increased demand, however.
“Right now there is a lot of demand from public schools, but even without DOE demand would be much greater than supply,” Shapiro said. “It comes from restaurants, it comes from grocery stores, it comes from manufacturers and value-added producers in Hawaiʻi that want to use ʻulu as an ingredient for their cookie or pie or pasta or beer or whatever it is that they want to make. So, it's really coming from all sectors of the economy.”
Proponents of more breadfruit production in Hawaiʻi note the cultural significance of the crop, which is used in traditional Hawaiian dishes, its ability to help reforestation efforts, and its health benefits.
ʻUlu is often used as a starch and can replace potatoes in many dishes. Shapiro said about 25 million pounds of potatoes are imported into the islands every year — meaning there’s still a lot of potential for ʻulu demand to grow even more.
