Tropical tree fruit research and development in the Philippines and northern Australia to increase productivity, resilience and profitability

Abstract

The Philippines contains an extensive collection of tropical fruits, both indigenous and introduced (Coronel 2011) that contribute towards the livelihood of small holder farmers and village food security. The Philippine Government considers that jackfruit, durian and pomelo are emerging industries relative to their established export industry counterparts, such as banana and mango (PCAARRD, 2012) and thus they are being targeted for further research and development to assist their development and export potential.

Recent statistics report that the approximate production areas occupied by jackfruit, pomelo and durian are 14,400, 5,300 and 18,800 ha with associated production volumes of 48,400, 33,400 and 77,500 metric tonnes respectively. The minor crops production data are small in comparison to major export tropical fruits such as banana (450,000 ha producing 9,100,000 tonnes) and mango (190,000 ha producing 825,000 tonnes) (Anit, 2012). Development of jackfruit, durian and pomelo beyond the current domestic supply is limited by low yields associated with disease, poor crop and postharvest management and the lack of processed product to build reliable production and export supply chains.

The Australian tropical fruit industry (lychee, rambutan, pomelo, jackfruit, durian and others), whilst small in comparison, has an excellent collection of genera, species and associated varieties. The industry has developed substantially in the last 20 years and incorporated many advanced technologies. Significant inroads into production, postharvest and supply chain management have been made.

In this project, jackfruit primarily was used as the model crop for investigations on the benefits of nursery hygiene, production technology and processing for industry development.
The primary objectives of the project were multifaceted and included investigation into integrated disease management solutions, investigation of crop management options to
improve yield and fruit quality and improved processing options.