What is tuna fruit? It’s juicy, brightly coloured, and serves many purposes

January 18, 2021
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Fruit, fodder and climate change adaptation tool: tuna is a versatile crop!

This is prickly pear, or tuna fruit. The image shows a round basket halfway full of oval shaped fruit in purple, orange, yellow and green.

What is tuna fruit?

Tuna, as it’s called in much of South America, is the edible fruit of a type of prickly pear cactus. It originated in what’s now known as Mexico but grows today in dry areas all around the world, wild and cultivated.

These spiny, low growing cacti are well adapted to the alpine climate of the Andes and have many uses for the farmers we work with in Bolivia. In Bolivia, tuna serves as an alternate source of fruit where other cultivated fruits can’t thrive or irrigation is impossible. Once the spines are removed the pulp of the fruit can be eaten fresh or turned into juice.

Tuna, or prickly pear fruit, with its waxy skin removed to reveal the brightly coloured, edible interior.

Prickly pear cactus as climate change adaptation

With climate warming and changes in the precipitation patterns in the Andes, tuna can provide an alternative fodder for animals during the dry season. As the UN Food and Agriculture Organization notes:

“Cactus pear is able to grow on land where no other crops are able to grow; it can be used to restore degraded land and in many countries, such as Ethiopia, it is the only crop that can be relied on when everything else fails.”

During the dry season in the Bolivian highlands, harvest of traditional grain crops aren’t always enough to feed livestock. But cactus stems can be more than 65 per cent water during the dry season and serve as a minor but valuable source of food and hydration for animals.

Fence or food?

If the benefits of food and forage aren’t enough, the cactus also provides a simple and highly effective natural fencing material. If there are enough spines on the plant it will help to isolate livestock, divide property, and keep animal movements in check.