Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2018) 7(11): 2135-2142 2135 Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2018.711.240 Exploitation of Climate Resilient Minor Tropical Fruit Crops for Nutritional and Livelihood Security in Fiji Islands A.K. Tiwari 1* , D.S. Mishra 2 , Salesh Kumar 1 and D.M.C. Champathi Gunathilake 1 1 Fiji National University, College of agriculture, Fisheries and forestry, Koronivia, Fiji Islands 2 Central Horticultural Experiment Station, Godhra, India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction Fiji is a relatively small island country in South Pacific Ocean comprising of more than 330 islands. The majority of the population is settled on the two largest islands Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, (Figure 1) creating a center of economic activity for the country, having 90% of the population and 87% of the land area. Economic activity is dominated by agriculture, as is employment, with this sector directly employing 28% of the population and many more are employed indirectly. Earlier agriculture was main occupation contributing to economy, but now it ranks third. The agriculture sector was once dominated by International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 7 Number 11 (2018) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com Fiji enjoys a tropical maritime climate, but a sizeable areas of this pacific islands also comes under dry areas, earlier sugarcane was grown on large scale, but due to constraints now it is slowly substituted by other enterprise, among them horticulture has emerged as major enterprise, but establishment of orchard is a long term investment and its fruit comes many year after planting, so a careful need is to be taken before establishment of orchard, a number of minor tropical fruits are grown in Fiji islands like ber, custard apple, bael, guava, jamun, jackfruit, kavika, lasora, nandau, mulberry, passion fruit, starapple, tamarind, tarawau, mulberry who are not only rich in their nutritional value, and can be utilized for preparation of various nutrient enriched product, providing earning to the farmer as well as processor. These minor fruits has inherent capacity to survive and perform well under changing climate, and inclement weather but no attention has been paid to these crops, popularization of these crops in disadvantaged areas suffering due to erratic rainfall, soil and marginal land not only provide a substantial employment as well as livelihood security to the farmers. Keywords Minor fruits, Sustainable, Livelihood, Value addition Accepted: 15 October 2018 Available Online: 10 November 2018 Article Info