Mission of PROCINORTE's Tropical and Subtropical Fruit Task Force

Canada, Mexico and United States are countries that share many interests in agricultural affairs. The three countries have been commercial partners for many years, and most recently they have been working under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) umbrella.  The three countries are natural commercial partners sharing several common problems in agriculture. Some of these problems are related to food safety and quality, control of pests and diseases, and other issues concerning food exports and imports.  One very important mechanism to facilitate the institutional and technical integration of Canada, United States and Mexico is PROCINORTE under the umbrella of the Inter American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), Northern Regional Center.  PROCINORTE is a cooperative Program in Research and Technology for the Northern Region, with an Umbrella Task Force that determines common research priorities.  Within PROCINORTE, several initiatives or task forces have been formed.  The Tropical and Subtropical Fruits Task Force was established in 2002.  The main goal of this task force is to improve production, consumption and trade of tropical and subtropical fruits in the entire PROCINORTE region. Specific objectives are to: 1) encourage the communications and collaboration among scientists working in quality, safety, and production of tropical and subtropical fruits; and 2) identification of common problems and opportunities associated with tropical fruit production and quality and work jointly in research projects to solve these.  A summary of activities carried out by the Tropical and Subtropical Fruits Task Force is presented here.