Institutional Constraints to the Competitiveness of the South African Citrus Exports

This paper examined the dual institutional constraints arising from the market liberalisation of the South African citrus industry and the stringent food safety health and private standards associated with the globalisation of the agri-business industry. The aim of this paper was to explore the institutional challenges influencing the competitiveness of the South African citrus industry in the export markets. It also explored the implications of the institutional environment on market access. The logistic regression model was used to analyse the statistical data while simple ranking was used to indicate the new and emerging forces affecting the profitability of the industry in recent years. The results show that access to market information, economies of scale, compliance with strict food safety and quality standards, lack of proper infrastructure including transport and challenges of managing a business within the international business environment exerted significant effects on the competitiveness of the industry as well as the ability of domestic producers to enter the export markets. There is need for government intervention especially aligned to investing in infrastructure. Coupled with the support of private institutions, the government needs to support the exporters and producers in complying with private standards.

A Study on Input-Output Efficiency of Citrus in Jiangxi Province

This paper analyzes the citrus input-output efficiency by using the DEA-Malmquist productivity index methods based on the data of six counties in Jiangxi Province from 2010 to 2013.The result shows that TFP of Jiangxi citrus is at low level overall,but the development is rapid.Technological progress is the driving force to promote productivity growth.Based on the static analysis study of six counties in 2013,it is found that the available input factors on the whole are in an ideal condition,and the citrus input factors in a few counties are redundant.Therefore,according to the results,the following policy recommendations are proposed:speeding up the intensive production of citrus in Jiangxi Province,to maximize the scale effect;adjusting the input ratio of various factors of production,so as to improve the citrus input-output efficiency.

Colletotrichum species associated with cultivated citrus in China

There have been considerable advances in the understanding of species concepts in the genus Colletotrichum.This has lead to the need to carry out fresh surveys of Colletotrichum species associated with important hosts.Colletotrichum species are associated with Citrus plants as saprobes,important pre-harvest and post-harvest pathogens,as well as endophytes.In this study,a total of 312 Colletotrichum strains were isolated from leaves,shoots and fruits of cultivated Citrus and Fortunella species with or without disease symptoms across the main citrus production areas in China.The morphology of all strains were studied and multilocus(ACT,TUB2,CAL,GAPDH,GS,ITS)phylogeny established.Strains were from four important species complexes of Colletotrichum,namely C.gloeosporioides species complex,C.boninense species complex,C.acutatum species complex and a final group including C.truncatum,which was rare on Citrus species.The species belonging to the C.gloeosporioides species complex comprised C.gloeos porioides and C.fructicola,the C.boninense complex comprised C.karstii and a new species C.citricola and the C.acutatum complex included a new species,C.citri.The ability of strains to cause anthracnose on citrus fruits was tested by inoculation and strains of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides,C.fructicola and C.truncatum were pathogenic.