PHILIPPINES: Festival celebrates sweet pineapple industry

Heaps of the last of ripe Formosa pineapples—the rejects of the season—sat waiting for buyers on farmer Winnie Palero's yard at the Gawad Kalinga community as it rained gently in this provincial capital for the first time this month.

INDIA: Biotechnology Dep’t allocates 1M USD for jackfruit value addition

The Centre's Department of Biotechnology (DBT) has allocated Rs 4.6 crore (USD 1M) to support a national multi-institutional project titled ‘A value chain on jackfruit and its products'.

MALAYSIA: Durian feast raises $50,507

With more than 2,000 participants, the event raised RM130,000 ($50,507), which would be channelled towards the Children's Wish Society of Malaysia.

SRI LANKA: Company plans USD 1.2M worth of fruit projects

Sri Lanka's Lee Hedges PLC is planning to set up a Apparel Training Centre in Jaffna and cultivate Red Lady, Papaya and Cavendish bananas in Vavuniya in a bid to help communities living in those areas to build a livelihood.

AUSTRALIA: Chance of avocado glut, as bumper crop forecast

Australia will produce its largest avocado crop this year, with a forecast 65,000 tonnes to be harvested.

VIETNAM: “We are not importing Chinese litchi” – Trade Minister

Due to tension in the East Sea, Vietnam's exports of litchi to China have ceased. Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai said at the press conference that to help northern farmers sell their litchi, the Ministry has created favorable conditions for farmers to transport litchi to the south.

MALAYSIA: Hot weather pushes watermelon price up 40%

The dry weather is driving the prices of watermelon up by at least 40%.What used to cost about RM1.10 (USD 0.34) per kg for a grade A (the highest grade) watermelon, now costs between RM1.30 (USD 0.40) and RM1.40 (USD 0.44).

INDIA: Dual fruits of pineapple farming

In the hilly regions of Kozhikode, pineapple cultivation is slowly catching on. At Thiruvambadi, Koodaranji, and Koombara, farmers lease out their land, mostly new rubber plantations, to seasoned pineapple cultivators.

INDIA: Jackfruit cultivation on dry, wet lands could boost incomes of farmers

In order to supplement farmers' incomes and generate revenue during crises such as floods or drought, experts suggested the planting of jackfruit trees and rainwater harvesting at the two-day international symposium titled ‘Jackfruit and Breadfruit in the Tropics: Genetic Diversity, Marketing, Value Addition and Marketing'.

AUSTRALIA: Kimberley mango flowering looks positive

Mango trees in the Ord Valley in the Western Australian Kimberley, are beginning to flower and farmers in the region are hopeful of a good season.

VIETNAM: Country seeks to expand overseas market for lychees

According to the Office of Agriculture and Rural Development of Luc Ngan District in Vietnam's northern Bac Giang province, lychee farmers had a bumper crop this year. Bac Giang has the largest area cultivated to leech in the whole country.

PERU: Strong growth in mango exports

Mango exports from Peru in the period between January and April rose by 25.7 per cent to US$165.2m compared with the year-earlier period, according to figures released by Peruvian exporter association Adex.

PARAGUAY: Plan to export watermelon, melon, and potato to Spain

The project to export national products abroad, especially to the European continent, was analyzed at an inter-agency meeting held at the Committee on Industry, Trade, Tourism and Cooperatives.

PAKISTAN: Experts concerned over declining mango orchards

Speaking at a two-day “Conceptual Workshop on Pre- and Post-Harvest Management Interventions”, growers said they are facing field problems, like lack of orchard management practices, water shortage and attack of fruit fly on the king of fruits mango and losing their source of income.

THAILAND: A few simple tips that will help ensure you can enjoy the fruits of your labor

Proper planting, fertilization, watering, and pest and disease management can ensure fruiting of your mango trees.

PAKISTAN: EU may ban import of local mangoes due to infestation

Discovery of fruit fly infested mangoes in one of the shipment from Pakistan in the United Kingdom (UK) has threatened import of Pakistani mangoes to the European Union this year.

NEW ZEALAND: Avocado programme up and running

The first fresh fruit programme to get Primary Growth Partnership funding from the Government is now up and running with the goal of tripling avocado industry productivity in 10 years.

ECUADOR: New unreported papaya disease identified

Ecuadorian scientist Diego Quito Ávila has identified a new virus in papaya plantations that had not yet been reported internationally, through the process of plant virology.

THAILAND: Lychee fairs planned in several provinces to absorb production surplus

Yukol Limlaemthong, acting Deputy Prime Minister and Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister has laid down plans to deal with the surplus of lychee as about 60,000 tons of the produce is expected to flood the market.

CAMBODIA: Longans longing for storage

The amount of land used to grow longans has doubled in the past two years, but a lack of supply-chain infrastructure is hampering farmers' ability to get top dollar for their product, the fruit's body says.

NICARAGUA: bananas imported again by El Salvador and Honduras

Bananas produced in Puerto Morazán regained the attention of importers from Honduras and El Salvador, who had abandoned them in favour of Rivas' production, where overproduction and the alleged lack of Costa Rican buyers had caused prices to drop. The return of these buyers has stabilised banana prices in the area.

JAPAN: Cube watermelon shipments begin

Farmers in western Japan have started shipping square-shaped watermelons to locations across Japan and overseas.

USA: “Super Bananas” enter market trials

The Centre for Tropical Crops and Biocommodities at Queensland University of Technology, Australia aims to ultimately weave together a drought-, pest- and disease-resistant, higher-yielding and beta-carotene-rich banana, a super-banana 2.0.