The biggest tropical fruit event for this year – the 4th International Symposium on Tropical and Subtropical Fruits was held at the Convention Hall, Agriculture Institute, Bogor, West Java, Indonesia, from 3 – 7 November 2008. The symposium was organised by the International Society for Horticultural Sciences, Ministry of Agriculture, Republic of Indonesia, Bogor Agricultural University, Ministry of Research and Technology, Republic of Indonesia and the Indonesian Horticultural Society. The symposium was officiated by H.E. Anton Apriyantono, the Minister of Agriculure, Republic of Indonesia, while the keynote address was given by Dr. Ahmad Dymiati, the Director General of Horticulture, Ministry of Agriculture, RI.
H.E. Minister of Agriculture, Republic of Indonesia delivering his opening speech
Fruit display at the exhibition held at the convention hall
The four day event saw concurrent oral presentations which took place in 3 halls with topics related to breeding, pest and disease management, agronomy, post harvest, processing technology, food safety, production technology, physiology and marketing and economics. Besides oral presentations, there was also a poster session highlighting the various aspects of tropical fruit research and development. More than 200 participants from 28 countries attended the symposium. A visit to the biggest tropical fruit garden in the world – the Mekarsari fruit garden, was organised on the 3 rd day of the symposium. The 264 hectare fruit garden boasts of 100,000 trees, representing 78 families, 400 species and 1437 varieties. It is a center for research and development, conservation, education, reforestation and recreation. A fruit exhibition, which showcased tropical fruits from the different provinces in Indonesia was also held at the convention center. At the symposium, TFNet was represented by its CEO, Technical Officer and Project Officer. The TFNet CEO delivered an oral presentation on ‘Trends in Production and Trade of Tropical Fruits in Asian countries’ while TFNet’s Technical Officer presented a paper on ‘Plant Variety Protection Testing in Asian countries’.
Cultural performance during the official dinner
Participants visiting the Mekarsari Fruit Park