by Parthasarathi Biswas, Indian Express   Ahead of another mango season, the Pune fruit market is staring at a likely loss. Traders and farmers have not forgotten last year’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) raids that destroyed lakhs of mangoes for using calcium carbide to hasten the ripening process. They saidContinue Reading

by Marc Nkwame, Daily News   A programme aiming to assist banana and sweet potato growers in Tanzania, Uganda and Ethiopia in securing reliable markets was launched here, targeting to benefit nearly 100,000 families in Tanzania alone.   The four-year initiative dubbed ‘SeFaMaCo,’ short for ‘Seed-Farmer-Markets Consumer,’ funded by BillContinue 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