We live in an era when more people live in cities than in rural regions. Most of the fastest growing cities in the world are located in the tropics. These are sources of competition for energy, land and water but also opportunities of new markets and challenges for tropical horticulturists.

Breeding strategies and Best Agricultural Practices are (or will soon be) impacted by climate change and as tropical conditions move polewards. Is tropical horticulture resilient enough to withstand these challenges? How can we as horticulturists improve our production and postharvest practices and at the same time protect the environment and mimimize our inputs?

The world population will exceed 9 billion by the 2040s and by 2050, half of the world’s population will reside in the tropics. The problem is already with us with many of worlds poorest people live in tropical regions. What changes are necessary in our prioroties for development, research and education to secure a safe, adequate and secure food supply.. As horticulturists, we need to work together to realize the potential of tropical horticultural crops to meet the needs of our world.

There have been some real success stories in production of tropical horticulture production. China and Vietnam produce large quantities of fruits and vegetables to feed their populations and export horticultural produce to other countries. Thailand is well known for its production and export of tropical fruits. There have been many recent advances in tropical plant breeding in countries such as India and Brazil. More than 3000 fruits grow in the Brazilian rainforest. In the Asia Pacific region >400 species of tropical fruits and nuts are grown commercially or are harvested from forests and are important for income and nutrition, medicine, timber, fuel & livestock feed.

The tropical regions are home to many high value and highly nutritious food crops. For example, the Kakadu Plum (Terminalia ferdinandiana), which is indigenous to northern Australia, has the highest vitamin C content of any plant and contains 3000 to 5000mg of vitamin C per 100g of fruit. Much of the diversity of tropical fruits has yet to be studied in detail and used either directly or via breeding and selection to produce new food crops. In comparison to the vast effort that has been applied to the improvement of production practices in temperate horticultural crops, much essential research is yet to be applied to tropical species. There is great potential to develop and more effectively use this resource to the benefit of the world. Now is the era for tropical horticulture!