News (Page 194)

by Yzza Ibrahim, Fresh Plaza   Chinese authorities have recently destroyed about 35 tons of bananas that were shipped from the Philippines, and the Filipino banana industry is trying to resolve the issue so that a similar thing doesn’t happen in the future. The incident is bringing up tensions that haveContinue Reading

  Due to the strength of the US dollar against the Euro and sterling, Fyffes has decided to look for low to mid single-digit increases (in cent terms) in the banana price charged to its customers. Retailers will ultimately determine whether the price increase is passed on to the consumer.Continue Reading

  The Department of Agriculture in the Philippines will write a comprehensive road map for the banana industry, to address longstanding concerns and ensure the export product’s survival in the global market.   The road map plan comes after a shipment of about 2,700 boxes to China was recently interceptedContinue Reading

  Bangladesh has seen bumper pineapple and watermelon yields this season, but low and middle-income bracket consumers aren’t benefiting from an abundance of the fruit as prices remain beyond most of their reach.   Middlemen in the supply chain are being blamed for the increase in prices of the fruits atContinue Reading

by Gabrielle Easter, Fruitnet   Grower-owned body Horticulture Innovation Australia (Hort Innovation) has invested A$330,000 into a Griffith University research project on Australia’s papaya industry.   The research will look at quality, yield, colour, flavour and sweetness of papayas, and will work in consultation with the papaya industry to develop newContinue Reading

  Mangoes have started to arrive on market stalls in the city of Tamil Nadu and with their arrival, officials from the city’s Food Safety and Drug Administration Department are asking traders not to use calcium carbide to artificially ripen the fruits.   District Designated Officer T. Anuradha, who conductedContinue Reading

  One of Canada’s top climatologists believes that if the increasingly warm weather becomes the norm, there could be some interesting effects on agriculture, and not necessarily negative ones.   “I think what we’ll see are opportunities for growing crops that will be similar crops now but maybe a differentContinue Reading

by Nichola Watson, Fresh Plaza   Imports of citrus from Peru were late this season for importer Pacific Produce, “We are normally first,” explains Rob Cullum from the company.  “Local prices were good and the European market was not, due to Moroccan and Spanish nadercotts still on the market and alsoContinue Reading

  Demand for Ecuadorian organic bananas is not growing at the desired pace, mainly because of the lack of momentum in the production and product promotion. Currently, the main exporters are large multinationals and small independent exporters. “Compared to the production of conventional bananas, the organic banana harvest takes placeContinue Reading

  Ugandan farmers focus on producing more financially profitable crops like maize, beans, bananas and potatoes, as well as others. However, this means that so called ‘orphan’ or traditional food crops are disappearing, and for some smallholder farmers they could in fact be better positioned to grow these instead.  Continue Reading

by Matthew Jones, Fruitnet   After a bumper year for both production and export volumes in 2015, New Zealand kiwifruit shipments are expected to enter a short-term period of consolidation in 2016, according to a USDA Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) report.   Total production (all varieties) climbed to 475,000 tonnesContinue Reading