UPDATE: For more information about the Symposium, click here.   Developing countries, particularly in Asia, Latin America, and Africa, account for about 98 percent of global tropical and subtropical fruit production. In the last decade, international trade of these fruits has expanded dramatically as developing countries recognize the benefitsContinue Reading

  ANNOUNCEMENT: The 6th General Assembly of the International Tropical Fruits Network (TFNet) will be conducted in Colombo, Sri Lanka on 5-6 August 2015, in conjunction with the Symposium on “Sustainable production and marketing of tropical and subtropical fruits, with  focus on potential superfruits” on 3-4 August 2015. More informationContinue Reading

The workshop on ‘Enhancing Market Access for Tropical Fruits in East Africa and GCC Countries through Quality Improvement, Proper Post Harvest Handling and Pest and Disease Management’ at the Grand Holiday Villa Hotel, Khartoum, Sudan from 4-5 March 2015 was jointly organized by the International Tropical Fruits Network (TFNet), MinistryContinue Reading

Minimal processing of fruits is becoming popular due to the increasing consumer preference for ready-to-eat convenient foods, the proliferation of supermarkets and expanding middle class.     The process involves peeling or dehusking, cutting and packaging the fruit in a hygienic setting before it is stored or distributed in aContinue Reading

  In 2012, the estimated world banana and other tropical fruit production were 101 million tonnes and 20 million tonnes respectively. Besides banana, mango was the main fruit produced accounting for almost 40 percent of total production followed by pineapple 25 percent, papaya 10 percent and avocado at 4 percent.Continue Reading

A knowledge sharing workshop on ‘Supply Chain and Marketing of Agricultural Crops’ was conducted at the Yezin Agricultural University, Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar from 18 to 19 December 2014. The workshop was jointly organised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, Myanmar, Yezin Agricultural University and the Center on IntegratedContinue Reading

The global banana industry, is currently under threat from a wilt disease caused by Fusarium oxysporium cubense Tropical Race 4. The fungus, which affects the Cavendish and other banana varieties bananas is already present in some Asian and African countries including China, Malaysia, Indonesia,Philippines and Mozambique. Due to the devastatingContinue Reading

The banana wilt disease caused by the fungus Fusarium oxysporium cubense (Foc) Tropical race 4, is a major problem for growers in mainly Asian countries. The disease, which affects mainly the Cavendish variety, was first observed in Taiwan in the 60’s, before spreading to farms in Indonesia, Malaysia, North Australia,Continue Reading

The International Tropical Fruits Network (TFNet) was invited to participate in the 70th Session of Committee on Commodity Problems (CCP) in the Food and Agriculture Organization headquarters in Rome, Italy on 7-9 October 2014.   The CCP aims to review the issues affecting production, trade, distribution, and consumption of internationalContinue Reading

In the current agricultural scenario, there are more opportunities for tropical fruits to compete in markets that have traditionally been for temperate fruits. However, participation from tropical fruit growers are somewhat restricted by the difficulties faced in complying with international regulations and consumer trends, besides ensuring consistent supplies, logistical constraintsContinue Reading

One of the recent issues regarding agriculture is the growing concern of climate change, which is affecting food production therefore affecting food security. Besides grain crops and staples, fruits, especially tropical fruits have been singled out as important food crops that need to be improved and developed to complement andContinue Reading

TFNet has been invited to participate in the “Informal Technical Consultation on Banana Fusarium TR4 during CCP” on 8 October 2014 at the Food and Agriculture Organization Office  in Rome, Italy.   This consultation will be a follow up of TFNet’s side event panel “Mitigating and adaptation measures for theContinue Reading