Tropical fruit production and genetic

resources in Southeast Asia: Identifying the

priority fruit species - by M.B. Osman, Z.A.
Mohamed, S. Idris and R. Aman
Introduction
Strictly, the Southeast Asian region comprises of the countries in the Malay Archipelago
(including the Greater and Lesser Sunda, Moluccas, Philippines and New Guinea) and the
Indochinese Peninsula of continental Asia. It is essentially a constituent part of the large Asia-
Pacific region which consists of 30 countries. The region, with a multitude of climatic conditions
and agroecologies, is one of the most important centres of diversity of many species of tropical
fruits. A significant percentage of the world's total tropical fruit production occurs in this region,
within the overall range of distribution in the tropical rain forest belt (Fig. 1). Since adequate and
reliable data on various aspects of production and genetic resources are not readily available, for
the purpose of this paper, discussions are based on a few important tropical fruit producing
countries, namely, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and Malaysia.
The region is a major producer of the important tropical fruits, such as banana, mango, pineapple,
durian and rambutan. Some of the fruits have high potential but have remained under-exploited
and, are though cherished by the natives, are seldom marketed beyond the national or regional
boundaries.
Objectives of this paper are:
1) to briefly describe the status of the fruit production in a number of countries in the region,
2) to assess the available tropical fruit genetic resources, and
3) to identify few priority fruit species both for major and minor fruits of importance in the
region.
Fig. 1. World centres of diversity/origin of fruit-tree species (compiled and modified by
authors)
Fruit production in the Asia-Pacific and Southeast Asian Regions
The Asia-Pacific region produced about 26 per cent of the world's total fruit production during
1986-88 (Table 1). The region was a major producer of some of the important tropical fruits,
such as banana, mango and pineapple. Within the region, banana, citrus, mango and pineapple, in
that order, were the top fruits in terms of productivity, and together they accounted for about 56
per cent of the total fruit production in the region. Therefore, these four fruits are considered as
the major fruits of the region. The major producing countries for several of them were India,
Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Pakistan and Vietnam. Further, the region can be considered as
the most important producer of minor fruits, such as durian, mangosteen, langsat and rambutan.
During 1986-88, the. region produced more than 68 per cent share of the minor fruits in the
world market, and which included litchi and longan.
Based on the production figures in Table 2, the Southeast Asia region as a whole is still
considered relatively small vis-a-vis the major fruit production worldwide. However, several
countries in the region may be very important for the production of minor fruits, particularly
those which have shown strong growth rates.
Table 1. Annual production of some major fruits in Asia-Pacific and the world during
1986-88 ('000 tonnes)
Asia-
Pacific*
World Asia-Pacific as %
of world
Major producing countries
Banana 16 425 40 087 41.0 India, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand,
PNG, Vietnam
Citrus 12 609 63 295 19.9 China, Japan, India, Pakistan, Australia
Mango 11 381 14 563 78.2 India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Thailand,
Philippines
Pineapple 6 380 10 354 61.6 Philippines, Thailand, India, Vietnam,
Indonesia
Minor
fruits**
11 350 16 679 68.1
Total 83 996 326
886
25.7
Source: Adapted from Singh (1993).
*Comprises 30 countries.
**Minor fruits include durian, mangosteen, litchi, longan, langsat, rambutan, sugar apple, guava,
starfruit, etc.
Table 2. Total fruit production excluding melon, in several Southeast Asian countries
during 1979-88 ('000 tonnes)
Country 1979-81 1986-88 Av. Growth %
(1979-88)
Indonesia 4 103 5 775 3.9
Malaysia 962 1 146 2.2
Philippines 5 813 6 752 1.7
Thailand 6 309 5 394 1.9
Vietnam 2 587 3 831 5.0
Asia-Pacific 70 514 88 585 2.9
World 294 364 326 892 1.4
Sources: Adapted from Singh (1993).
Adequate and reliable data on fruit hectarages in the countries of the Southeast Asian region are
not available. However, for several countries, the available data are satisfactory and are used to
determine as to which of the fruits produced within the different countries constitute the major
and minor fruits on a regional basis (Fig. 2). The figure indicates that for the four countries,
namely, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and Malaysia, the fruit hectarages match very well with
the major fruits produced by them. During 1986-88, Thailand had the highest fruit hectarage
(36.7 per cent), followed by Indonesia (30.7 per cent), Philippines (25.7 per cent) and Malaysia
(6.9 per cent). Out of over 2.1 million hectares planted, only about 16.3 per cent (about 350,000
ha) were planted with minor fruits including a few non-tropical ones.
Fig. 2. Fruit hectarages in four Southeast Asian countries.
Major and Minor Fruits in Southeast Asia
The terms major, minor and rare fruits are relative in their meaning depending on whether one is
talking about their market availability, production, planted acreage or even other economic
considerations. In the international fruit markets, most tropical fruits are considered minor and
exotic compared to the temperate fruits, except for a few such as banana and pineapple. Durian,
for example, is a major fruit in Malaysia and Thailand, and is also popular in a number of other
countries in Southeast Asia, but durian is still unheard of in many parts of the world. In the
context of this paper, the major and minor fruits are loosely defined as those that are planted with
production in mind, but differing in their relative abundance, while the rare fruits are usually not
deliberately planted, and many are only found in the forests, and none or very few of them find
their way into the market. Most of the rare fruits are indigenous and endemic to the region.
A number of major and minor fruits have been introduced into the region, for instance papaya,
pineapple, guava, sapodilla and soursop from South America. Presently, the fruits produced in
the region are a good mix of indigenous and introduced fruits.
Based on the area planted, Table 3 lists the major and the minor fruits in different countries of
Southeast Asia. As can be observed, some fruit types, such as citrus, durian, jackfruit and annona
are categorized both under major and minor fruits as per their relative importance in a particular
country, and total area under cultivation. As expected, the list of minor fruits is longer than that
of major fruits. However, several fruits, such as papaya, durian, rambutan, Jackfruit, mangosteen
and Lansium are cultivated in majority of the countries.
Table 3. The major and minor fruits of Southeast Asia*
Classification
1
Indonesia
2
Malaysia
3
Thailand
4
Philippines
4

Major Fruits Banana Durian Banana Banana
Pineapple
Mango
Citrus
Rambutan
Banana
Rambutan
Pineapple
Champedak
Mango
Mango
Durian
Annona
Rambutan
Citrus
Jackfruit
Mango
Pineapple
Citrus
Minor Fruits Papaya
Lansium
Salak
Others
Lansium
Jackfruit
Mangosteen
Guava
Papaya
Citrus
Sapodilla
Starfruit
Lansium
Longan
Sapodilla
Guava
Mangosteen
Pummelo
Litchi
Papaya
Jackfruit
Lansium
Caimito
Avocado
Guayabano
Chico
Pili
Durian
Atis
Marang
Mangosteen
Tiesa
Starfruit
Annona
*For scientific names refer Appendix II.
1
Based on planted hectarage;
2
Based on 1986 data;
3
Based on 1988 data;
4
Based on 1987 data.
Sources: Adapted from Subijanto (1993), Polprasid (1993), Valmayor (1993), and, Ministry of
Agriculture, Malaysia (1993).
As presented in Table 3, the major and minor fruits of importance in Southeast Asia can be
summarized as follows:
Major fruits Minor fruits
Banana Annona* Lansium
Citrus Atis Litchi
Mango Avocado Longan
Pineapple Caimito Mangosteen
Durian Chico Marang
Rambutan Citrus* Papaya
Jackfruit Durian* Pili
Annona Guava Pummelo
Champedak Guayabano Salak
(soursop) Sapodilla
Jackfruit* Starfruit
Tiesa
*Also occur as the major fruits in some other countries; for scientific names, refer Appendix II.
Genetic Resources in Tropical Fruits
Southeast Asia - A centre of genetic diversity in tropical fruits
Rich plant diversity occurs in the tropical rain forests of the Southeast Asian region, which is
reported to have about 25 000 indigenous species of flowering plants. More than 500 species of
fruits are estimated to be found in the region. In fact, due to the varying agroecologies and socio-
economic influences, even the introduced fruit species, such as guava and papaya have
accumulated considerable diversity (Singh, 1993).
Southeast Asia has always been recognized as the centre of origin of a number of cultivated
tropical fruit trees. The region possesses a wealth and variety of tropical fruits, and is unrivalled
in terms of the variability of fruit genetic resources, particularly the large genera, such as Durio
(durian), Garcinia (mangosteen), Nephelium (rambutan), Artocarpus (champedak), Baccaurea
(rambai), Citrus (lime, pummelo), Syzygium (water apple), Mangifera (brinjai, bambangan),
Musa (banana), Lansium (duku, langsat), Salacca (salak) and others. Osman (1993) reported
over 200 different species for Malaysia alone, and these represent promising genetic diversity.
Species richness
In many countries in this region, fruits contribute as a source of food and also income. Although
a wealth of indigenous genetic resources are available, most are still growing in wild or in semi-
cultivated state, and their economic potential has not been fully realized. The extent of richness
of fruit species in Southeast Asia is indicated in Table 4 and Figs. 3-5 depict the distribution of
Durio, Nephelium and Mangifera. In many cases, systematic efforts to tap their potential have
been lacking or have not received due priority. Although a few indigenous tropical fruit types are
becoming relatively important, on the whole, many tropical fruits are still underexploited.
Table 4. Some fruit tree genera with a large number of species found in Southeast Asia
Genus No. of species

Garcinia 400
Baccaurea 80
Artocarpus 51
Mangifera 41
Parkia 40
Nephelium 30
Durio 27
Xerospermum 20
Lansium 15
Sandoricum 5
Source: Soepadmo (1978);

for Garcinia, 100-400.

Fig. 3. Geographical distribution of Durio species.
Fig. 4. Geographical distribution of Nephelium species.
Fig. 5. Geographical distribution of Mangifera species.
An example may be cited: Saw et al. (1991) made an inventory of 50 ha of primary lowland rain
forest in Peninsular Malaysia, in which about 340,000 trees with 1 cm dah or large were
measured and species identified. Out of 820 species, 76 were found to bear edible fruits. Wild
species of mango (Mangifera, 12 spp.), mangosteen (Garcinia, 13 spp.), breadfruit (Artocarpus,
10 spp.) and rambutan (Nephelium, 5 spp.) were found to be particularly diverse. The potential
value of the species as genetic resources is very large: 24 species are cultivated, 38 edible species
are congeneric with cultivated species and at least 10 other species bear non-edible fruits but are
related to cultivated ones. The Peninsular Malaysian rain forest thus is exceedingly rich in fruit
trees gene pools which are of potential economic value and useful for crop improvement.












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Total No. Of Online Applications For February - August 2010

No. Online Services Feb March Apr May June July Aug No. Of Records
1. Enquiries /
Comments
28 325 205 192 185 190 195 1320
2. Vacancies
Application
0 219 145 110 116 119 86 795
Total 28 544 350 302 301 309 281 2115









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The percentage of Australian smokers by age group and by sex is presented below. The age
group 25-29 year olds has the highest rates of smoking. A higher percentage of men smoke
compared to women in all age groups. Current smokers are defined as persons who smoke daily
or at least weekly.
Percentage of current smokers in sex and age groups, 2007
Age Men Women Total
18-24 21 18 19
25-29 30 26 28
30-39 25 21 23
40-59 23 19 21
60+ 12 10 11
Total 21 18 19
Between 1980 and 2007, smoking rates decreased in all age groups. This information is
presented in the graph below. Up until 2004, the proportion of adult smokers aged 18-24 has
been very similar to the proportion aged 25-29. In 2007, the proportion of 18-24-year-olds who
smoked dropped sharply and is now lower than all other age groups under 60 years. The fall in
smoking rates in this age group possibly reflects the decline in smoking among teenagers since
1999.



Source:
www.allcountries.org/.../226_current_cigarette_smoking.html