Lemmai Sustainability

 
















For Immediate Release

October 7, 2020

 

SENATOR MARSH (TAITANO) CONTINUES HER CRUCIAL CONVERSATION SERIES, BREADFRUIT AS A MEANS FOR FOOD SUSTAINABILITY AND SECURITY

Senator Kelly Marsh (Taitano) authored a bi-partisan supported bill to capitalize on Guam’s lengthy history of reciprocal intraregional relationships which have been part of the region’s traditional approach to surviving and thriving within the Mariana Islands, Southeast Asia, and Micronesia. Her bill would develop a Guam Intraregional Commerce Commission, which will spearhead efforts to strengthen regional resiliency and rebuild and re-envision our economy in the face of the current global pandemic era. 

With this focus on the need for greater regional economic collaboration in mind, Senator Marsh (Taitano) this Friday continues her Crucial Conversation Series, highlighting ways that we can build more sustainable industries while preserving our environment and culture. This week’s episode will discuss lemmai and dokdok, or breadfruit as a means of not only enhancing food security, but also by looking at what other islands have done in developing new sustainable industries. The podcast will be live on Friday, October 9th at 12:30 live on Senator Marsh (Taitano)’s Facebook page: www.facebook.com/senkgmt

 

For this podcast, Senator Marsh (Taitano) will sit down with CNMI Representative Ivan A. Blanco (District 3) to discuss the breadfruit grove that has been started in Saipan as part of a collaboration with the Hawaiian island of Maui. In Hawai’i and other islands in the Pacific, breadfruit remains a staple of their diets, and one which they have adapted and incorporated into modern products. Breadfruit production in Maui for example has represented a 20-year success story, and one that the CNMI is hoping to duplicate.

 

For the Senator, the issue of breadfruit is yet another way that planning and developing for the future can be best achieved through a preserving and protecting of the past. “Breadfruit--dokdok (native seeded breadfruit) and lemmai (seedless breadfruit) have been island staples for millennia. They have provided for Pacific Island communities including those in the Mariana Islands in numerous ways. We will explore how this time-old tradition can take us into the future--breadfruit flour, breadfruit chips, breadfruit candy, breadfruit pies, breadfruit hummus, the possibilities are numerous! Lemmai embodies food security and sustainability perhaps more than any other food crop.”

 

This Friday’s podcast will be the fifth in Senator Marsh (Taitano)’s Crucial Conversation series which features the voices of experts, political leaders, and businesses entrepreneurs sharing their experiences and insights, with the intent to help imagine a more sustainable and locally based economy for Guam moving ahead. Speaking to the intent behind these conversations Senator Marsh (Taitano) noted, “The pandemic has helped bring into focus what we have known for quite a while now, that we need to reimagine, retrain, and rebuild when it comes to our workforce and our economic goals. I strongly believe that a key element to this lies in greater regional integration and collaboration across the Marianas and the wider island family of Micronesia.”

 

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