ISHS Acta Horticulturae 425: II International Pineapple Symposium
PINEAPPLE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN A WORLD MARKET |
| Author: | K.G. Rohrbach |
| Abstract:
The research and development (R&D) required to commercialize pineapple production and utilization as a human food progressed through three quite distinct phases. The first was prehistoric up to the discovery of the new world, and included domestication, culture, and selection of specific cultivars. The second included the development of cultivation practices, primarily under greenhouse conditions, and cultivar dispersal throughout the tropical world. The third phase, primarily in Hawaii, involved commercialization with emphasis on processed products. In the last 20 years, we have entered a fourth phase in which the market is worldwide, emphasis is on fresh fruit, and competition for market share is intense and profits are modest. In Hawaii R&D resources have decreased significantly from the peak during the phase of commercialization because information on most cultural practices is adequate. Specific intractable problems such as nematode, insect, and disease susceptibility, flowering control, and fruit-quality problems await application of new technologies such as genetic engineering. These new scientific plant technologies require major resource commitments and involve relatively high risks regarding payoff. Because these are worldwide problems, new funding sources and mechanisms of cooperative R&D must be found. This paper documents historical R&D resources and successes in Hawaii during the phase of commercialization, outlines current R&D issues, and suggests potential mechanisms for future cooperative funding of R&D. | |
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