Located in the South Pacific and composed of over three hundred islands, Fiji is well known for its rugby and as a tourist destination. Holidaymakers from New Zealand, Australia, South Korea, Japan and China frequently travel to this island paradise for vacation, creating a huge domestic demand for fruits. However, aside from papaya and pineapple, locally-grown fruit are of uneven quality. Due to the lack of diversity, the country also imports temperate fruit such as pears, apples and kiwi to supply the tourism industry. To assist the country in improving the quality of fruits and vegetables and stabilize supply, the International Cooperation and Development Fund (TaiwanICDF) has cooperated with the Government of Fiji to promote the Vegetable Production, Marketing Extension and Capacity Building Project since 2015. The Taiwan Technical Mission (TTM) in Fiji introduced sophisticated cultivation techniques and successfully produced a guava over 1 kg, nicknamed "green pearl".

During initial research and development, the TTM in Fiji found that the local guava variety is already well adapted to Fiji’s climate and grows rapidly. Through the introduction of cutting-edge cultivation techniques by Taiwanese experts, Fijian farmers are now able to produce guava fruit that is sweet, crunchy and of high quality that is well accepted in the local market.

For farmers, participation in TTM-led guava fruit cultivation and other related projects not only enabled them to substantially increase in their income, the fruits and vegetables they produced also became local highlights. Principal Research Officer (Horticulture) of the Fiji Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. Shalendra Prasad, has announced that the Ministry of Agriculture intends to cultivate guava as a commercial crop in 2017. In an interview with the local print media, he expressed his appreciation to TTM for introducing this new variety of guava and is confident this can be a new crop for Fiji.

• Update: 2018/03/05
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