CURRENT STATUS AND FUTURE OUTLOOK OF THE GLOBAL HORTICULTURE AND POSTHARVEST INITIATIVES

Fruits and vegetables hold great promise for alleviating poverty and improving the health and well-being of people in developing countries. In other words, horticultural food crops can and should be important components of dealing with the world food crisis, not just staple grain crops. Our host country, Turkey, is an excellent example of extensively enjoying horticulture for domestic consumption and export markets. In fact, the United Kingdom re-fresh Directory for 2008 includes more than 50 fruits and vegetables available to UK buyers from Turkey. United Nations maps based on FAOSTAT data illustrate that the Economic Poverty Index and the Nutritional Poverty Index place many Sub-Saharan and South Asian countries in the most critical status of both of these indicators. According to data from the World Vegetable Center, the consumption of vegetables in Sub-Saharan and South Asian countries is about one-fourth of that of developed countries. United Nations FAO maps that illustrate vegetable and fruit availability reveal that, in general, horticultural food crops are less available in many of these same Sub-Saharan and South Asian countries. FAOSTAT data for residents of Sub-Saharan Africa indicate that fruits, vegetables and spices account for less than 20% of their diets while nearly 60% is provided by cereals and starchy roots. Vegetable consumption over the past quarter century has remained fairly low in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asian countries while it has nearly doubled in developed areas of the world. These unpleasant realities can be opportunities for production and postharvest horticultural scientists.