Horticultural production systems.

This chapter examines the diversity of horticultural production systems practised in the tropics. With this knowledge, it will then be possible to review the variety and relevance of the specific production practices employed in the successful growing of vegetables and fruits and flowers in the tropical environment. The chapter explores the variety of horticultural production systems in the tropics, starting with the most basic of subsistence and leading to the most technologically demanding of sophisticated export systems, but first it considers some of the producer decision making conditioned by the production system and a discussion of a proposed functional grouping of horticultural species. Some sections consider field-based then glasshouse or protected practices, followed by hydroponics and organic systems. A summary of the key features of semi-intensive and very intensive production systems is also presented.