Promotion Of Underutilized Tropical Fruit Processing And Its Impact On World Trade

Most of the underutilized fruits of the tropics are often available only in local markets and practicallly unknown in other parts of the world. A large number of these fruits have the ability to grow under adverse conditions and are also known for their therapeutic and nutritive value. Because of their curative properties, these fruits have been used in traditional systems of medicine since time immemorial. In addition, quite a few of these fruits have excellent flavour and very attractive colour.There is always a market demand all over the world for new food products, nutritious and also delicately flavoured. Consumers today are becoming increasingly conscious of the health and nutritional aspects of their food. The tendency is to avoid chemicals and synthetic foods and choose therapy and nutrition through natural resources. The underutilized tropical fruits have an important role to play in satisfying these demands. Many of these fruits are highly perishable and difficult to store in the fresh form. Some of them are not easy to eat out of hand. A few are not acceptable as a fresh fruit, because of high acidity and/or strong astringent taste. However, all these fruits have unlimited potential in the world trade in their processed form. This will provide an opportunity to consumers all over the world to enjoy these tropical fruits in the form of processed products. Apart from processing, market potential and strong campaigning is necessary to create awareness and consciousness among the producers and consumers of underutilized tropical fruits. This paper deals with the processing of some of the important tropical fruits which have tremendous potentialities in the world market.