2.3. PRESENT STATUS OF THE FRUIT INDUSTRY AND ISSUES ON ORGANIC FRUIT PRODUCTION IN SRI LANKA

H.M.S.Heenkenda, Research Officer - Horticultural Crop Research and Development Institute - Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is a tropical island of 6.5 million hectares (about 65,000 sq. km) with 22 different agro-ecological zones based on annual rainfall and temperature regimes. All the agro-ecological zones are grouped into 03 namely dry, intermediate and wet zone. The dry zone receives annual rainfall of 900-1,750 mm, the intermediate zone receives rainfall of 1,750-2,500 mm while the wet zone receives 2,500-5,000 mm. Major agro-ecological zones are further divided into 3 regions broadly on the basis of elevation as up country (900 m<), mid country (300-900 m) and low country (300 m>)

Tea, rubber and coconuts are the major commercial plantation crops grown in Sri Lanka (Table 1). Land area devoted for fruit crop production is also comparable with the major commercial crops grown. Present average extent under fruit crops is about 90,000-110,000 ha (Table 2). Out of which, 46% is under banana cultivation. Annual total fruit production is about 640,000 Mt of which about 58% is locally consumed, 30-40% is lost due to poor postharvest handling and 2% is exported (Table3.). Private sector operates entire fruit exportation.

Table 1. Major crops, extents and production

(Source: Department of Census and Statistics, 2000)

Table 2. Status of the fruit sector:

Table 3. Fruit exports.

Ecological conditions of the island favours cultivation of wide range of fruit crops. The range of the agro-ecological zones has blessed the island with diverse tropical and temperate types of fruits scattered all over the country. About 50 fruit spp. grown of which 20 spp. are common and 12 spp. are prioritized for research and development. The priority fruit crops are banana, pineapple, papaya, passion fruit, mango, citrus (sweet orange and mandarin), avocado, melon, woodapple, guava, pomegranate and pear.

Distribution of fruit cultivations across the island indicates that about 90% of the total fruit extent is found in home gardens (Table 4). The crops in home gardens are left to grow on their own. Neither agrochemicals nor chemical fertilizers are used in home garden fruit cultivation systems. However, lot of organic manure is applied to the fruit trees depending on the preference of the grower. The fruit cultivation in home gardens and small scale cultivations can be considered as ecological cultivation since they are grown without any artificial fertilizer, agrochemical or any other artificial material without emphasizing fruit quality.

However, the Department of Agriculture give more attention to curtail the use of agrochemicals and chemical fertilizer mixtures while promoting use of organic manure through national programmes of Integrated Pest Management programmes and Integrated Plant Nutrition Systems (IPNS) with financial assistance of international agencies (FAO, FADINAP). These changes have created an environment to think about the present world trend of organic agriculture.

Table 4. Distribution of fruit cultivation

The term 'Organic' can be used only for the certified organic produce thus assuring the consumer that the product has been produced following the organic farming principals and standards. Organic agriculture does not use any synthetic material, chemical or fertilizer in the agricultural practices. It is an environmentally friendly, economically viable and a sustainable system. Continuously monitoring an efficient management are essential prerequisites of organic agriculture. Various standards are being followed for organic products depending on the country.

Organic fruit production is one of the many approaches for a sustainable production system. As the FAO defines, organic agriculture is a holistic production management system, which promotes and enhances agro-ecosystem health, including bio-diversity, biological cycles and soil biological activity. There are other requirements to fulfill this holistic approach using agronomic, biological, and mechanical methods as opposed to using synthetic materials.

Sri Lanka is also exporting organic products such as tea, coffee, spices, essential oils, herbs, cashew, desiccated coconut, fresh and processed fruits and vegetables. There are about dozen of leading companies involved in export of organic tea, coffee and spices. They mainly export the organic products to European Countries and United States of America. The organic tea export from Sri Lanka commenced about 15 years ago by the private sector. Later the organic agriculture extended to coffee and spice crops too. Development of local quality standards is a long felt necessity as the demand for organic produce continuously increasing.

A policy plan has been developed by Lanka Organic Agriculture Movements (LOAM) with the assistance of are being developed by the Sri Lanka Association for Organic Agriculture with the take in action to developing local standers. With in assistance of the government ministries. A policy plan and implementation process on the organic agriculture in the island was been developed and submitted to the government for approval. Supply of organic produce in Sri Lanka is met by the plantations, out grower systems and commodity based growers organized by a few reputed private business establishments (Kodikara, 2002). The fruit production sector is practically managed as ecological cultivations more towards organic system but the organic standards are not confirmed through monitoring and certification. Certification of the organic produce of Sri Lanka is entirely done by international agencies accredited to the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM). Some of these agencies are:
NASAA: National Association for Sustainable Agriculture
IMO: Institute of Markatology, Switzerland
OGFA: Organic Growers and Farmers Association, United Kingdom
SKAL: Netherlands
Naturaland: Germany
Bio Swiss: Switzerland
Demeter International: Germany

Enthusiasm for organic agriculture in the country is growing with the enhancement of the demand for organic fruits in local market as well as in international markets. Private sector is promoting organic fruit production programmes without waiting for the action of the public sector to take. A number of local business establishment and Non- Government Organization (NGO) carryout production programmes to supply organic fruits. The situation is creating a new environment to change conventional farming to organic farming to and appreciable quantity. More emphasis is given for organic fruit production in small to medium scale fruit farms recently. The most of the existing orchards of perennial fruit crops, being a perennial nature, can be used for organic fruit orchards with a proper production programme. Monitoring of the production process to meet the organic standards is an essential prerequisite to obtain the organic certification without which the product is not qualified as 'organic'

Formal studies to develop organic fruit production sector have not been properly organized in Sri Lanka. However, a number of independent research projects on various aspects related to organic fruit production have been conducted by the Department of Agriculture, Universities, Non Governmental Organizations, and few private companies. The work was done in isolation.

There seems to be no common objectives focused on to as there is no state policy developed on organic fruit production. In this regard, neither national body to coordinate nor the control for the national interest on organic food industry until recent time. Many development steps have been taken recently such as developing Sri Lankan standards for Organic Products by Lanka Organic Agricultural Movement (LOAM) and organizing organic fruit production.

Besides, there is a vase potential for organic fruit production in Sri Lanka that can be met with a little effort as the extent of fruit cultivation is gradually increasing (Heenkenda. 1996) (Table 5.). Data on present situation, constraints and potential of the fruit sector in the island will assist the development of organic fruit production programmes and organic standards for certification.

Banana, pineapple, rambutan and papaya are cultivated in a commercial manner while the other fruit crops come from cultivations done in a non-commercial manner. There are a few number of commercial fruit orchards in intermediate and dry zone of the island. The coconut plantation sector has accommodated commercial scale pineapple and banana orchards as intercrops.

Ecological adaptability of those fruit crops has been seriously considered for releasing and recommending the varieties (Fig. 1). The more suitable varieties identified for a particular agro-ecological region give high yields of good quality fruits with less management problems (Heenkenda,1993). Under such conditions, application of agro-chemicals and chemical fertilizers are not generally practiced as the varieties have better adaptability for those ecological conditions.

Table 5. Major fruit crops and extents:

(Source: Census & Statistics, 2000)

Fig 1. Ecological adaptability major fruit crops in the island.

However, the average yield per unit area per annum is very low due to many reasons (Table 7). Poor management level, warm climatic conditions, non systematic cultivation and tree management, unattractive economics, high cost of production, insufficient infrastructure facilities, lack of knowledge of the growers, unavailability of information at the farmer level are some of the interrelated contribute the situation.

Table 7. Potential yield & field situation:

In addition to the major fruit crops, there are large number of under utilized fruits in Sri Lanka for development (Heenkenda & Medagoda, 2001). They are commonly found in home gardens, natural reserves and forests. Anona (Soursop etc), Anona (sweetsop etc.) (Anona spp.), Beli (Aegle marmelos), Durian (Durio zibethinus), Goraka (Garcinia zeylanica and Garcinia quaesita spp), Grapefruit (Citrus paradisi), Hin naran (Citrus crenatifolia), Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus), Jambu (Zisigium spp), Lanzones (Baccauria motieyana), Laulu (Chrysophyllum spp), Longan (Euphoria longana), Lovi (Flacourtia inermis), Madan (Syzigium cumini), Mandarin (Citrus reticulata), Nas naran (Citrus japonica), Nelli (Emblica officinalis), Psedium catlleianum, Psidium friedrichsthalianum, Pumello (Citrus grandis), Rata nelli (Phyllanthus acidus), Sapodilla (Achras sapota), Tamarind (Tamarindus indica), Uguressa (Flacourtia spp), Veralu (Elaeocarpus serratus), Woodapple (Ferronia limonia)

Most of the under utilized fruit species are traditional health foods with high medicinal and nutritional values. Wide range of diversity is present among them due to seed propagation over centuries and grown in wide ecological conditions. Most of them are resistant to pests and diseases. So that they are suitable for organic fruit production.. They can to also tolerate extreme ecological conditions such as drought, flood, wind and high temperature although the fruit yield and quality characteristics are inconsistent due to diverse genetic make up.

Wet zone of the country is highly populated and the area that can be devoted for fruits cultivation is less. Although land is available in dry and intermediate zone adequate irrigation facilities are required to produce quality fruits with good colour and flavor. A good broad base for organic fruit production can be developed in that area. There are many pests and disease attacking fruits (Table 8). Minimizing pests and diseases can be achieved by restoring bio-diversity and allowing the orchard to attain new ecological balance. Cropping patterns would contribute the purpose.

The Department of Agriculture has developed technologies to minimize the use of synthetic materials for fruit production as well. The intensive agricultural systems are dependents of synthetic chemicals and fertilizers heavily. Abrupt deviation from the use of agrochemicals, chemical fertilizers and other synthetic materials in agriculture leads collapse of the production system. If the deviation process is adopted gradually, an efficient organic agricultural system can be developed. The Department of Agriculture has undertaken initiative activities by developing recommendations helpful in developing organic agricultural production programmes. Among them Integrated Pest Management (IPM) system and Integrated Plant Nutrition System (IPNS) are most productive for many agricultural systems in the island.

The progress in research and development programmes in organic fruit production is promising. The Department of Agriculture has developed and recommended agro-techniques useful for any organic fruit production programme although the techniques are not purposely focused for organic programmes. All these recommendations are useful in development of standards for organic fruit production process.

1. Selection of suitable varieties:

Selection of ecologically adaptable fruit crops and varieties is vital for successful production programmes. The most suitable crops and their varieties have been recommended for different ecological regions.(Table 6 and fig 1)

2. Land development, land preparation and field planting:

Except for pineapples, land development for other fruit crops does not employ farm machinery. Land clearing, soil conservation, and field preparation (digging and filling pits) and drainage system are developed manually. Soil conservation measures such as contour land preparation and planting, drainage and runoff control, and methods for rain water harvesting are implemented during land development stage e.g. banana, sweet orange, rambutan, durian, avocado and strawberry cultivation in higher elevations in Badulla, Nuwara Eliya, Kandy and Matale districts. Entire operations of land preparation, selection of suitable planting material and field planting are also done manually. The operations are labour intensive and costly but assures the basis for sustainable fruit production. Land use evaluation systems of the Department of Agriculture has identified the most suitable crops for particular area (Somasiri et. al. 1997)

No artificial material is recommended of temporary shelter for the plants established in the field. Leaves of coconut (Cocos nucifera), palmyra (Borassus flabellifera), kekuna (Aleurites triloba) gliricidea (Gliricidia maculata), and wild sunflower (Tithonia diversifolia) are used for shading the plants soon after planting. Live supports are recommended for passion fruit trellising (Heenkenda and Punchikumari,1991)

3. Plant nutrition and soil moisture management:

Soil moisture management and plant nutrition are important aspects of fruit production seasonality of sweet oranges could be changed by irrigation (Wijesekara and Heenkenda, 2001). Use of organic manure is one of the main requirements of organic fruit production. Department of Agriculture has extensively investigated the composition and potential of available organic material to be used as organic manure (Table 8). Many potential raw materials have been recommended as organic manure for fruit crop production and plant propagation.

Table 8: Organic materials suitable for organic manure production

a). Green manure (Nagarajah and Amarasiri, 1977).

b). Crop residues and wood wastes (Ariyaratne, 2000):

Except for large-scale cultivations of pineapple, papaya and banana, chemical fertilizers and foliar fertilizers are not used for fruits in the island. However, large quantities of organic manure are applied as a basal dressing and top dressings (Table 9) (Ariyaratne, 2000). Herath et.al.(1977) demonstrated that the use of organic for banana increases yield significantly.

c). Natural organic materials (Ariyaratne, 2000):

Mix the materials of high C:N ratio with the materials of low C:N ratio. Some green manure and plant residues may harbor pests and diseases. If the orchard is free from such problems, the plant residues from the same orchard can be used as organic manure. However, composting should be done away from the cultivation.

4 Biological control of pests and diseases:

Pests and diseases are common problems of fruit cultivation (Table 10). However, good understanding of the common pests, diseases and weeds will assist in management of them within an appreciable limit. Environmental balance can be achieved through the understanding about them and their natural controlling factors

Table 9. Recommendations of organic nutrition of fruit crops (Ariyaratne, 2000).

* Pineapple crop residues should be recycled with utmost care as pineapple wilt virus may be transmitted through mealy bugs.

Introduction of bio-control methods for coconut leaf beetle (promecotheca cumingi) by parasite wasp Dimmoikia javanica, to control salvinia by the beetle Cytobagus salviniae. (Kudagamage, 1999). Augmentation and Inoculation of natural enemies have been successful in controlling brinjal borer Leucinode orbonalis by mass culture and release of Trathala flavoorbitalis. Bio control agents for white flies and thrips are being worked out. There has been recent interest in the use of entomopathogenic organism as bio control agents of pests (Sivasubramaniam and Kudagamage, 1977). There are few surveys done to identify pathogenic agents of insect pests and nematodes. Bio- control agents are raised in mass scale on tea waste, paddy husk and molasses. In the laboratory and green house studies revealed that different isolates of Trichoderma could be effectively used to control Schelorotium ralfsii (Cocoyam root rot) (Kudagamage, 1999). However, the work done and the progress in biological control of pests and diseases is insufficient.

Table 10. Common pests and diseases attack major fruit crops in Sri Lanka.

(1) Many spp: Bactrocera corrects, B.kandiensis, B. zonata
(2) Many spp: Idioscopus niveosparus, I. Clypealis
(3) Many spp: Papilio memon, P.polytes

The conventional fruit production systems of the island can be easily converted into organic production systems. The cost of conversion is a fixed capital so that it should be accounted. Cost can be minimized by selecting appropriate lands, understanding the history of the land, natural extremes that affect the land, pests and diseases and limitations of the land. Thereafter, follow the relevant standards and basic guidelines of IFOAM. A conversion plan and a schedule are compulsory for effective management system to minimize the sudden yield drops, to rejuvenate and conserve the soil, to improve and conserve bio-diversity and to formulate weed and plant management schedule.

Conversion of the traditional orchards to organic management system should take certain important steps. All the records should be maintained to date and labels or tags for identification. The conversion should follow the certification requirements at the proper time and the inspection should be done according to the schedule.

Constraints of fruit production :

However, a sound programme for organic fruit production can be developed only with a good coordination and control. National interest on development of organic fruit production constraints of the sector.

* Inferior varieties with inconsistent characters.
* Weather dependant production systems
* Seasonality of production and drastic price fluctuation.
* Inadequate supply of good quality planting material
* Inefficient resource management practices
* High incidence of pest and disease
* Inadequate marketing facilities and poorly operated distribution network
* Inadequate storage facilities
* Higher percentage of postharvest losses
* Limited processing and value addition activities
* Limited availability of land and support services for large scale commercial production
* Low productivity and high cost of production.

Policy needs:

The authorities should attend to develop policy on organic fruit production.

* Formation of a National Unit for administration and control of organic agriculture
* National level Certification and inspection bodies under the above unit
* Registration of producers, collectors, traders and exporters of organic products
* Renewing system for the registration
* Develop local standards
* Legal status of quality control in local market
* Promotional programmes for production/ conversion to organic
* Organize small-scale producers
* Identify Research priorities
* Human resource development
* Data base development
* Coordination with relevant local and international authorities.

Research needs:

Research programmes for development of organic fruit production sector should be focused onto following areas and confirm the standards and guidelines of IFOAM

* Varietal development (exploration, characterization)
* Rootstocks and Propagation techniques
* Change seasonality
* Productivity improvement
* Cropping patterns
* Conversion of traditional cultivations in to organic.
* Bio-diversity restoration and conservation
* New areas for cultivation
* Plant nutrition and water management
* Plant protection (Pests and diseases, natural enemies)
* Quality improvement
* Postharvest techniques
* Value addition/ preservation
* Medicinal & other uses.

The policy and research needs must address the constraints through well defined short, medium and long term program as LOAM has proposed. Priority for organized fruit production and national level is a timely important need.

References:

Ariyaratne, R.M. 2000. Integrated Plant Nutrient Management System for fruit crops. In: IPNS programme for crops. DOA and Fertilizer Secretariat.

Census and Statistics Department. 2000. Annual Report. Colombo.

Hearth, H.M.E. , M. E. R. Pinto and R. M. Ariyaratne. 1977. The response of 'Embul' banana to organic manuring. Tropical Agriculturist. CXXXIII (2): 1170-129

Heenkenda, H.M.S. 1996. Untouched Treasure in Sri Lanka: The Fruits. Annual Magazine. Sri Lanka School of Agriculture, Kundasale. 108-111.

Heenkenda, H.M.S. 1993. High quality fruits: postharvest treatments are insufficient. Govikam Sangarawa 33:

Heenkenda, H.M.S. and H. M. S. Punchikumari. 1991. Alternate trellising materials for passion fruit (Passiflora edulis Sims) vines. Trop. Agric., 147: 11-18.

Kudagamage, C. 1999. Non pesticidal control methods of pests of food crop sector in Sri Lanka. Proceedings of the First National Workshop on Alien Invasive Species in Sri Lanka. Ministry of Forest and Environment. Colombo.

Kodikara, K.D.N. 2002. Current status and constraints of organic agriculture in Sri Lanka. Unpublished report.

Nagarajah, S. and S.L Amarasiri. 1977. Use of organic materials as fertilizers for lowland rice in Sri Lanka. In. Soil organic matter studies. Vol. 1. International Atomic Energy Agency. IAEA, Vienna, Austria. 97-104.

Ranaweera, A.S. Managing Director, Bio-foods. ltd. Udaperendeniya, Sri Lanka. Personal communication

Somasiri, S. D., B. Weeratunga. W. Ratnayaka and M. Sikurajapathi. 1990. Crop Recommendations for adoption in Grama Niladhari Divisions of Sri Lanka. Department of Agriculture, Peradeniya., Sri Lanka.

Wijesekere, R. S. and H.M.S Heenkenda. 2001. Flower induction of sweet orange (Citrus sinensis L. cv Bibile Sweet) through soil moisture management. ASDA: Annals of the Sri Lanka Department of Agriculture. 3: 333-342.