Group photo of organizers, speakers, guests, and participants
The 2023 DFNet workshop, titled "Tropical Fruits: Global Status, Value Addition, Expansion Prospects," was successfully held on May 3-5, 2023. The workshop was organized jointly by the FFTC and the Taiwan Agriculture Research Institute (TARI) - Fengshan Tropical Horticultural Experiment Branch, in collaboration with DFNet members from Plant and Food Research (PFR) in New Zealand and Creative House Corp in Japan.
Panel discussion on the value addition, consumer perspectives and market expansion of tropical fruits value chains
The workshop held on May 3 featured nine distinguished speakers from various countries, including Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam. These speakers presented the latest developments in tropical fruit production and value addition programs in the Asian and Pacific region.
Following the workshop, a two-day field visit to Pingtung and Taitung was organized. The speakers, along with invited guests, including diplomatic mission offices in Taiwan (Korea, Netherlands, New Zealand and the Philippines), as well as researchers from research institutes, participated in the field trip. The field trip aimed to provide exposure to agrotourism and processing activities, value-added products, enhanced productivity, farm-to-table initiatives, and community development projects related to pineapple, cocoa, durian, rice, dragon fruits, and agrifood education.
Organic-certified pineapple orchard of Minchuan Ecological Leisure Farm
Exchange ideas and thoughts on farm management at durian orchard
The workshop garnered significant interest, with nearly 100 participants attending both online and onsite. Participants represented various countries, including Taiwan (48%), Bangladesh, Fiji, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, and Vietnam. The majority of attendees were from the public sector, universities, and international organizations.
To ensure broader accessibility, the workshop was conducted through online platforms, including Webex with simultaneous translation. Additionally, the workshop was livestreamed on FFTC's Facebook page, allowing public access to the proceedings. The workshop presentations and papers will soon be made available on FFTC's workshop pages.
- For more information, please visit: https://km.fftc.org.tw/workshop/23
- To watch the livestreamed videos in Chinese, please follow the link: https://fb.watch/ktIAhk8Xlm/
Dr. Wen-Li Lee explained the environmentally friendly farming of pitaya adopted in Ayu Orchard
Participants were immersed in the plantation history and food culture of rice in the Rice School in Guanshan, Taitung of eastern Taiwan.