News (Page 235)

Minister of Agriculture, Labour and Social Security, Derrick Kellier, says the Government intends to explore financing for new agro-parks in Western Jamaica.   The proposed locations for the agro-parks are located in Shettlewood (Hanover); Sunderland (Trelawny); Enfield (Westmoreland) and Seven Rivers (St James).   To date over $611 million hasContinue Reading

by Melissa Shipman, The Packer   The U.S. pineapple industry is starting to change as various large players are shifting their positions in the market.   Early in 2014, Coral Gables, Fla.-based Banacol Marketing Corp. sold some of its Costa Rican pineapple farms to Dole. In 2015, Banacol isn’t planningContinue Reading

by Vincent Mabatuk, Standard Digital News   Even after losing a lot of money in trial and error ventures, Paul Kendagor would not stop experimenting with farming. His latest passion is grafted mangoes of which he is a pioneer in his Noiwet Village, Mogotio sub-county in Baringo County.    Continue Reading

By Carmen Brown, ABC    Passionfruit prices are skyrocketing, following a poor summer harvest in Australia’s key production regions.   About 4,000 tonnes of the pulpy fruit is grown nationally each year, with Queensland farmers contributing 60 per cent of the $12.3 million crop.     Other major growing areasContinue Reading

by Rob Wright, Fraser Coast Chronicle   Lychees will hit the supermarket shelves late this season, after a slow start for northern growers.     Harvest usually begins in northern orchards in October, but this season’s crop launched in late November and delivered small- to medium-sized fruit.   But theContinue Reading

Ceballos Agro-industrial Company had the previous year revenues by more than USD 200 million, thanks to guava processing in small industries.   Such results were due to the production and sale in all provinces and frontier market of five million candy bars made with the fruit, plus juices and mini-doses,Continue Reading

by Ling Yuhuan, Global Times   Twenty years ago, when the Malaysian businessman Loh Wee Keng came to Beijing for the first time, he carried some special “souvenirs” from his homeland: durian. However, the spiky tropical fruit seemed not so readily welcome here as in Malaysia. The pungent smell madeContinue Reading

Executives representing the top Hass avocado companies in the United States and South Africa announced during Fruit Logistica in Berlin the establishment of the U.S.-South Africa Avocado Committee.   The committee’s primary purpose is to work with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to obtain the necessary approvals to allow forContinue Reading

by Charles Njeru, Fruitnet   Burundi, one of the world’s largest banana producers, is reportedly increasing its exports of the fruit and could potentially catch up with its more established neighbouring suppliers Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon.   World Bank figures show that the East African country produced around 1.6m tonnesContinue Reading

by Binod Bhandari, eKantipur   Banana growers who have been earning a good income after going into commercial farming are worried after their crops were attacked by a disease that has led to reduced output.   According to the farmers, the plants have been turning pale, the stems are infested withContinue Reading

By N. Gopal Raj, The Hindu   A compound found in litchi seeds might be responsible for a mysterious brain disease that strikes many young children in Muzaffarpur district of Bihar each summer, according to two independent groups of researchers.     “Eating litchis is absolutely not dangerous for adultsContinue Reading