INTRODUCTION - Tropical Fruits - page 2

TROPICAL FRUITS
Most botanical families have at least one species of tropical fruit (Table 1.1).
In tropical America, more than 1000 fruit species are described, though only
100 are found in local markets. Asia has about 500 tropical fruit species, the
Indian subcontinent about 300, with about 1200 in Africa. Of these fruits
only a few are found in local markets and fewer are exported. Ninety per
cent of the export market is made up of citrus, banana and plantain, mango
and pineapples (Table 1.2). A further 5% is made up of papaya, avocado
and dates. The remainder is made up of more than 20 species, ranging from
breadfruit and litchi to mangosteen, passion fruit and coconut. More than
90-95% of tropical fruits are not exported from the producing country but
are consumed locally.
The most common tropical fruits in trade come from three major areas:
Central and South America (papaya, avocado, pineapple, guava), Asia
(most citrus fruits, litchi), and South and South-east Asia (banana, mango,
mangosteen, durian) (Gepts, 2008). Only one important tropical fruit is native
to Africa and that is the date, though the continent has many other tropical
fruits. Fruit species were selected by man and distributed widely throughout
the world, based upon various factors, which included the crop's adaptability
to dif erent environments, the fruit's seed storage life, ease of plant propagation
(seed, cuttings, plants), the size and shape of the plant, a multiplicity of uses
other than as a fresh fruit (cloth, medicinal, wood) and having an agreeable
taste. Many tropical seeds are recalcitrant and cannot be dried and must be
transported as cuttings or plants to be introduced to new areas.
As people migrated, often the crops with which they were familiar were
taken along. The spread to areas surrounding that of their origin probably
began early. For example, the mango, a native of the Indo-Burma region,
had spread to all of South-east Asia by the end of the fourth century CE.
Arabs traders in the Indian Ocean probably took mangoes to the east coast
of Africa around 700 CE. The orange was also moved, most likely by Arab
traders, to the Mediterranean and southern Europe. Opportunities probably
also existed to move some tropical fruits (e.g. pineapple) around the warmer
areas of Central and South America. The European discovery of America led
to a rapid exchange of tropical fruit crops between the Old and New Worlds.
Bananas were carried to Santo Domingo from the Canary Islands in 1516. The
Portuguese spread tropical fruits from their colony in Brazil around the Cape
of Good Hope to Goa in India, Malacca in Malaysia, China and Japan. The
Spanish had a regular galleon service from Mexico to the Philippines between
1565 and 1815. The Dutch, British and French ships also spread tropical
fruits around the globe.