BANGLADESH: Watermelon farming faces dearth of sweet water

Irrigation problem grips the watermelon farmers in Kuakata area in Kalapara upazila district as there is no suitable source of sweet water in the area.

A Vietnamese company has revealed plans to grow up to 10,000 hectares of dragon fruit in the Northern Territory of Australia.

Nyoman Sepel Diantara, a prominent figure among salak (snake fruit) farmers in Sibetan village, Karangasem, selected seeds of the sweet gula pasir variety on Sunday for conservation.

The Agriculture and Agro-based Industry is developing a traceability system called ‘Mi-Trace’ for the export of frozen durian to China.

Tran Huu Hiep, head of the committee’s Economic Division, said the fruit areas would be located in the provinces of Vinh Long, Tien Giang, Ben Tre, Dong Thap, Soc Trang, Tra Vinh and Hau Giang, and Can Tho City.

The 3-kilometre detour off the Barmer-Munabao Road is a typical desert. The driver of the SUV that we have hired to reach a farmland in the middle of Rajasthan’s scorching Thar desert struggles to keep the tyres from veering off into the sand.

Western Australia’s southern mango growers have lost nearly a quarter of their crop due to sunburn.

Mango traders expect a good business with mangoes this year as it is the ‘one year’ for the fruit according to its alternate bearing nature.

In 2013, Vietnam, for the first time, earned $1 billion from fruit exports. A lot of Vietnamese fruits have become popular in the world market, including dragon fruit, mango and rambutan.

ARGENTINA: Pomegranate development going strong

With 250 hectares of GlobalG.A.P.-certified pomegranate farms, Granadas Argentina has more than tripled its plantation area since it began growing the fruit in 2009.

Fruit growers in the deep south province of Yala have been hit hard by severe drought.

Passion fruit production in Kwale County is expected to shoot up threefold this harvest season after the successful introduction of high-yielding and drought resistant varieties.

When a banana flown half-way round the world costs half the price of a locally-grown apple, many in Britain wonder whether Latin American banana producers are getting a fair deal.

New Zealand’s avocado industry is moving to establish foothold in the Indian market, as momentum gathers for a bilateral free trade agreement between the two countries.

More than 600 delegates from 25 countries gathered in San José, Costa Rica to attend the V International Banana Congress, organised by National Banana Corporation Corbana, which it kicked off on Tuesday.

Farmers in Sindh are suffering the worst effects of climate change on their banana, tomato, seasonal vegetable and fruit crops in the wake of an unexpected wave of extreme cold.

High prices for fresh fruits and vegetables are associated with higher Body Mass Index (BMI) in young children in low- and middle-income households, according to new research.

Peruvian mango exports will reach 140,000 tons at the end of the 2013 – 2014 season, about 40% increase, said the Peruvian Association of Mango Producers and Exporters (EMPA).