The government of Samoa has received a cheque for sales of a Samoan breadfruit cultivator made under an agreement between the US National Tropical Botanical Gardens and the Samoan government.
The cheque -- for over 5-thousand US dollars - represents the first year of sales of the breadfruit.
The National Tropical Botanical Gardens or NTBG acts as Samoa's agent to distribute Samoan breadfruit varieties globally through Cultivaris/Global Breadfruit, a horticultural partner with growing facilities in California, Europe and Central America.
For each tree sold, NTBG receives a net licensing fee and gives half of that fee to the Samoan government.
Dr Diane Ragone of the NTBG says it now has the means to produce and distribute millions of breadfruit trees for tree planting projects in the tropics, where hunger and lack of food sustainability are prevalent.
She says in the past two years, trees of a superior variety have been distributed by Global Breadfruit to 14 countries, including Haiti, Jamaica, Ghana, Nigeria and Myanmar.
