Tamil Nadu Agricultural University

1906-2005

Coimbatore - 641 003

India
Date: 12.09.2005

Dr. C. Ramasamy
Vice Chancellor

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India’s diverse agro-climatic regions facilitate production of wide variety of fruits.
Even though India leads the world in production of mango, banana, sapota and acid
lime, in terms of productivity, it ranks far below than many countries. With trade barriers
becoming narrower in the post WTO era, it is of paramount importance that the agricultural
and horticultural production are kept at a higher level in a sustainable and competitive
manner despite the increasing pressure on land and water. Our present status of export
of fresh fruits is insignificantly low despite the climatic advantage we possess. Production
problems and challenges faced by the grower need to be addressed constantly and
urgently to keep production levels from falling. It is timely that the short course
Management of Production Problems in Tropical Fruit Crops’ sponsored by ICAR is
organized at the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University to provide an update on various
production problems of tropical fruit crops like banana, mango, papaya, grapes, sapota,
citrus, guava, jack, aonla etc. to the researchers, teachers and extension personnel of
horticulture from different parts of India.

As I understand, the program covers all relevant aspects like production strategies
including biotechnological approaches, micro irrigation and fertigation, pests and disease
management, post-harvest handling etc. I congratulate the contributors of the various
topics and the editors for bringing out this compendium, which will not only be useful
to the participants of the short course but also to the students of horticulture, researchers,
teachers of state agricultural universities, extension workers, private establishments,
enthusiastic growers with scientific approach and various agencies involved in
promoting fruit production.

C. Ramasamy