Adapting to climate change in the tropical fruit industry: a technical guide for pineapple producers and exporters

Book excerpt: Climate change is impacting global food production systems, making the challenge of feeding the world’s growing population more difficult than ever before. The tropical fruit sector is particularly at risk from the negative impacts of climate change driven by rising temperatures, extreme weather events, and associated challenges such as water stress and increased pests and diseases. This poses significant risks for the long-term sustainability of production and trade of important tropical fruits including pineapple. Recognizing these challenges, the Responsible Fruits Project has developed this technical guide on climate change adaptation for the pineapple export industry. The guide is for producers and exporters of pineapple who are interested in learning more about climate change in the context of their own business systems. It was developed through a consultative process with pineapple companies and producer organizations participating in the Responsible Fruits Project. The purpose of this technical guide is to: • Provide up-to-date information on recent and predicted climate change effects and trends in key pineapple producing and exporting countries. • Identify climate change risks and impacts on the production and trade of pineapple. • Identify adaptation practices and recommendations that may help to address these risks, minimize negative impacts and build resilience. • Share good practices adopted by companies to address specific climate-related production risks in a sustainable manner. • Identify gaps in information, research and technical solutions needed to strengthen the availability and adoption of adaptation practices.