Cultivating the tropics in the Mediterranean

Cultivating the tropics in the Mediterranean: an agroecological challenge for the future of Sicilian and Mediterranean agriculture?

The images of mango, avocado, papaya, banana, coffee, passion fruit, guava, cherimoya, loquat, pitaya, and other tropical and subtropical plants grown in Sicily today tell a story that goes beyond simple botanical curiosity.
They reveal a silent, yet already visible, transformation: some Mediterranean regions, and in particular some suitable areas of Sicily, are becoming veritable agricultural laboratories, where various tropical and subtropical species, including mango, avocado, papaya, guava, passion fruit, and cherimoya, are being tested, cultivated, and progressively integrated into Mediterranean production systems.
Some Sicilian experiences with mango and some trials with pitaya confirm the growing agronomic and economic interest in these crops (Massaad et al., 2026; Testa et al., 2018; Trivellini et al., 2020).
This transformation, however, is not limited to contemporary agronomic observations.
In Sicily, there are historical and landscape traces and pictorial sources that help us understand, with a broader perspective, the historical and cultural representation of the vegetation present in the Sicilian landscape over the past centuries.
A significant example is Francesco Lo Jacono’s View of Palermo, painted in 1875 and preserved at the “Empedocle Restivo” Modern Art Gallery in Palermo.
In this work, the descriptive attention to the natural elements of the Palermo countryside conveys the image of a complex agricultural landscape, in which the plant component also takes on historical, aesthetic, and identity-building value. Naturally, a pictorial source is not equivalent to experimental agroecological data, but it can provide cultural evidence useful for understanding how certain species gradually entered the Sicilian agricultural landscape.
This transformation, however, must be interpreted consciously. I mean, a slogan like “the tropics arrive in Sicily” can be extremely evocative, but also scientifically weak.
Sicily will not become a tropical region from an agricultural perspective.
Rather, it is more accurate to say that, within the Mediterranean climate, some coastal, hilly, or foothill areas, characterized by particular microclimatic, thermal, soil, and water conditions, may become compatible with the cultivation of certain tropical and subtropical species, especially if inserted into well-designed agroecological systems (Altieri et al., 2015; Gliessman, 2015; Massaad et al., 2026; Wezel et al., 2020).
The question, therefore, is not simply whether it is possible to grow mango, avocado, papaya, banana, guava, cherimoya, coffee, or Japanese loquat in Sicily.
Some of these crops are already partially established; others are in the experimental phase; Still others require careful selection of farm sites, protected systems such as unheated greenhouses, windbreaks, nets, or shade cloth, and, last but not least, careful water management (Cárceles Rodríguez et al., 2023; Durán Zuazo et al., 2021; Massaad et al., 2026; Trivellini et al., 2020).
The real question, therefore, is: can these crops contribute to the construction of more diverse, dynamic, resilient, profitable, and sustainable Mediterranean agroecosystems, or do they risk simply becoming new monocultures with high water demands and high dependence on external inputs?
This question is central because agroecology does not evaluate a crop only on the basis of its potential yield, but in relation to its function within the agricultural system, its compatibility with local resources and its capacity to contribute to the overall resilience of the agroecosystem (Altieri et al., 2015; Gliessman, 2015; Wezel et al., 2020).

BEYOND THE CONCEPT OF “EXOTIC CROP”
For many years, agriculture has been divided into rigid categories: Mediterranean crops on one side, tropical and subtropical crops on the other.
Olives, grapes, citrus fruits, almonds, carob trees, figs, and cereals on the one hand; mangoes, avocados, papayas, bananas, loquats, coffee, guavas, and cherimoyas on the other.
This separation is useful from historical, geographical, climatic, and technical perspectives, but today it is no longer sufficient to interpret the evolution of Mediterranean agricultural agroecosystems (Massaad et al., 2026; Wezel et al., 2020).
Today, climate change, rising temperatures, the greater frequency of extreme events, water shortages, market evolution, and the growing demand for fresh, functional, and local products require a more dynamic vision of agriculture.
In this scenario, agroecology proposes to view crops not as isolated elements, but as components of complex systems, in which soil, biodiversity, water, landscape, market, and local knowledge continuously interact (Altieri et al., 2015; Gliessman, 2015; Wezel et al., 2020).
A recent systematic review of tropical fruits in the Mediterranean basin highlighted that scientific interest in mango, avocado, papaya, guava, lychee, passion fruit, and cherimoya is growing, but also that research is still fragmented, inconsistent, and often focused on certain production aspects, while the long-term ecological, water, landscape, and systemic effects remain less explored (Massaad et al., 2026).
This finding is particularly important because it shows that the expansion of tropical crops in the Mediterranean cannot be interpreted solely as a commercial phenomenon, but requires a broader and more multidisciplinary scientific assessment (Massaad et al., 2026; Wezel et al., 2020).
The introduction of tropical and subtropical crops in the Mediterranean cannot be assessed solely in terms of technical feasibility of planting and production.
It must be evaluated in agroecological terms: pedoclimatic compatibility, water efficiency, biodiversity, soil microbiota, production stability, integration with traditional crops, farm resilience, sustainability, and reduction of external inputs (Altieri et al., 2015; Gliessman, 2015; Wezel et al., 2020).
A plant species is not simply a production machine.
It is a living component of a complex agroecological system.
It interacts with the soil, its microbiota, local flora and fauna, its phyllosphere, and the agricultural landscape as a whole (Altieri et al., 2015; Gliessman, 2015; Wezel et al., 2020).
From this perspective, the value of a crop depends not only on its geographical origin, but on its ability to integrate coherently into the local ecological and agroecological context.
A tropical crop grown intensively, on bare soil, with high irrigation pressure, high external fertilization, and low functional biodiversity can become a problem.
The same crop, inserted in a complex agroecological system, with rational soil management, high organic matter, adequate intercropping, high microbiotic complexity, presence of mulches, management of irrigation and structural biodiversity, can instead become a component of diversification (Altieri et al., 2015; Gliessman, 2015; Wezel et al., 2020).

NOT ALL TROPICALS ARE THE SAME
One point to clarify immediately is that not all tropical and subtropical species have the same degree of adaptability, the same water requirements, the same cold tolerance, and the same economic interest in Sicily and the Mediterranean (Massaad et al., 2026).
Referring generically to “tropicals” therefore risks creating a category that is too broad, technically unhelpful, and potentially misleading from an agronomic perspective.
Mangoes and avocados are currently the most established and most discussed crops in Sicily and the Mediterranean. Mangoes, in particular, have been the subject of specific economic studies on small-scale Sicilian farms, with results indicating their potential economic viability in favorable soil and climate areas, albeit with the necessary caution regarding site selection, water availability, and market stability (Testa et al., 2018).
Furthermore, in the case of mango, recent literature highlights the importance of rational irrigation strategies, especially in subtropical and Mediterranean environments exposed to water stress and climate variability (Durán Zuazo et al., 2021).
Avocado is a crop of great commercial interest, but also one of the most sensitive in terms of water sustainability.
Indeed, literature on the Mediterranean-subtropical context highlights the need for carefully planned irrigation strategies, deficit irrigation techniques, soil monitoring, and rational water management to reduce consumption and improve water efficiency (Cárceles Rodríguez et al., 2023). This means that avocado cannot be promoted across the board, but must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, based on the farm’s water balance, soil quality, actual water availability, and overall agronomic sustainability (Cárceles Rodríguez et al., 2023; Wezel et al., 2020).
Papaya, on the other hand, can thrive in some particularly mild areas or in protected systems, but is sensitive to cold and environmental stress. Banana can be grown in some favorable microclimates, but requires attention to wind protection, water availability, soil fertility, and low-temperature management (Massaad et al., 2026).
Coffee, on the other hand, should be treated with greater caution, given current scientific data.
It can have experimental, educational, symbolic, and perhaps productive value in greenhouses.
The Japanese medlar (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.) deserves specific attention.
Although now perceived as a familiar presence in many Sicilian landscapes, the Japanese medlar is a subtropical species native to East Asia, particularly China, which has gradually acclimated and integrated into various Mediterranean contexts (Liu et al., 2016).
Studies conducted on local cultivars, established and grown in Sicily, have evaluated the fruit’s qualitative, sensorial, and nutritional characteristics, confirming the interest of the local germplasm and its full place within a dynamic Mediterranean fruit growing system (Farina et al., 2016; Gentile et al., 2016).
In this sense, the Japanese medlar represents a particularly interesting case: a species not originally Mediterranean that, over time, has been absorbed into the Sicilian productive, food, and cultural landscape to the point of becoming perceived as part of the local agricultural norm (Farina et al., 2016; Gentile et al., 2016).
This demonstrates that Mediterranean agricultural identity is not a static entity, but the result of a long agroecological, cultural, and nutritional stratification.
For this reason, speaking generically of “tropical crops” is too simple. We need to distinguish at least four levels:
1. species already more consolidated or with greater evidence of application in Sicily and the Mediterranean, such as mango and avocado (Cárceles Rodríguez et al., 2023; Durán Zuazo et al., 2021; Testa et al., 2018);
2. subtropical species already historicized and strongly integrated into the Sicilian agricultural and cultural landscape, such as the Japanese medlar (Farina et al., 2016; Gentile et al., 2016);
3. promising species that still require more careful evaluation, such as papaya, pitaya, passion fruit, guava, lychee, and cherimoya (Massaad et al., 2026; Trivellini et al., 2020);
4. more experimental species or those more dependent on protected systems, specific microclimates, or advanced technical management, such as coffee and banana in many Sicilian conditions. In the case of coffee, the literature particularly highlights the strong influence of temperature, shading, water availability, and cropping system on the quality and secondary metabolism of the crop (Ahmed et al., 2021; Charbonnier et al., 2017; Haggar et al., 2021).

SUSTAINABILITY DEPENDS NOT ONLY ON THE SPECIES, BUT ON THE ENTIRE AGROECOLOGICAL SYSTEM
The most frequent criticism leveled at tropical crops in Mediterranean areas concerns water consumption. This is a legitimate criticism.
It should neither be downplayed nor demonized.
The Mediterranean is increasingly exposed to prolonged droughts, heat waves, reduced water availability, soil salinization, and growing competition between agricultural, civil, industrial, and ecosystem uses of water.
In this context, introducing crops with high water demands without rigorous planning would be agronomically risky and agroecologically questionable (Altieri et al., 2015; Cárceles Rodríguez et al., 2023; Durán Zuazo et al., 2021).
However, agroecology teaches that sustainability cannot be assessed by considering a single isolated factor.
It’s not enough to ask whether a crop consumes a lot or a little water.
We must ask ourselves: in what soil is it grown?
With what irrigation system?
With what level of organic matter?
With what vegetation cover?
With what planting density?
With what actual farm water availability?
With what energy balance?
With what supply chain model? (Altieri et al., 2015; Gliessman, 2015; Wezel et al., 2020).
The question to ask, therefore, is not just how much water a crop requires, but how the species’ specific water needs interact with the agroecosystem’s ability to conserve, accumulate, distribute, and efficiently use water resources.
In the case of mango and avocado, for example, the literature highlights the importance of targeted irrigation strategies, deficit irrigation, soil monitoring, and adapting agronomic practices to the Mediterranean-subtropical context (Cárceles Rodríguez et al., 2023; Durán Zuazo et al., 2021).
A degraded, compacted, organic matter-poor soil left bare loses water, loses structure, reduces infiltration, increases evaporation, and makes the crop more dependent on irrigation.
Conversely, a soil rich in organic matter, protected by mulches and plant covers, populated by a diverse microbial community, and inserted into a complex agricultural landscape can increase water-holding capacity, improve resilience to stress, and reduce system vulnerability (Altieri et al., 2015; Gliessman, 2015; Wezel et al., 2020).
This does not mean that agroecological design magically eliminates the typical water needs of avocados, mangoes, papayas, or bananas.
This would be incorrect. It does mean, however, that agroecological design can improve water use efficiency, reduce losses, increase system stability, and make cultivation more sustainable only when compatible soil and climate and water conditions exist (Altieri et al., 2015; Cárceles Rodríguez et al., 2023; Durán Zuazo et al., 2021; Gliessman, 2015).

SHORT SUPPLY CHAINS: OPPORTUNITY, BUT NOT AUTOMATICALLY SUSTAINABLE
Today, many tropical fruits consumed in Europe travel thousands of kilometers before reaching the final consumer. This involves transportation, refrigeration, controlled ripening, packaging, logistics, and long lead times between harvest and consumption.
Local production of some tropical and subtropical species in the Mediterranean could contribute to the creation of shorter supply chains, reduce some logistical impacts, offer fruit harvested at a later stage of ripeness, and increase the economic resilience of some rural areas (Massaad et al., 2026; Testa et al., 2018).
But here too, we must be rigorous. “Local” does not automatically mean “sustainable.”
Local production can have an environmental advantage if it reduces transportation, refrigeration, and waste, but this advantage can be negated if the crop requires high water consumption, energy for heating, intensive external inputs, synthetic fertilizers, plastics, high external inputs, or management incompatible with local resources (Poore & Nemecek, 2018; Weber & Matthews, 2008).
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies show that the environmental impacts of food products vary greatly depending on the production system, cultivation method, soil use and management, input management, and supply chain, not just the distance traveled by the product (Poore & Nemecek, 2018; Weber & Matthews, 2008).
In other words, geographical distance matters, but it is not enough to define the sustainability of a food.
For this reason, in the case of Sicilian tropical fruits, sustainability must be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
Data is needed on water, energy, yield, fertilization methods, soil management, plant protection inputs, planting duration, post-harvest, distribution, and final price (Poore & Nemecek, 2018; Weber & Matthews, 2008).
Short supply chains can be an advantage, but they cannot become an excuse.

NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS AS A KEY TO ADAPTATION
The sustainable cultivation of tropical and subtropical species in the Mediterranean requires a paradigm shift.
It’s not simply a matter of replacing lemons, oranges, olive trees, or vineyards with mangoes, avocados, papayas, or bananas.
This would be a poor and risky approach.
The real challenge is to design more complex agricultural agroecosystems, capable of integrating traditional species and new crops into more dynamic and resilient production landscapes (Altieri et al., 2015; Gliessman, 2015; Wezel et al., 2020).
From this perspective, Nature-Based Solutions can play a central role, provided they are understood not as simple isolated technical interventions, but as solutions inspired and supported by natural processes, capable of simultaneously addressing productive, environmental, and social challenges (Nesshöver et al., 2017).
Organic mulches, farm compost, green manures, cover crops, intercropping, flower strips, hedgerows, agroforestry, farm ponds, local microbial inoculum, reduced tillage, and increased functional biodiversity are not simply ancillary techniques.
They are agroecological design tools that, if integrated systemically, can also be interpreted as Nature-Based Solutions applied to agricultural management and the resilience of agroecosystems (Altieri et al., 2015; Gliessman, 2015; Nesshöver et al., 2017; Wezel et al., 2020).
In the case of Sicilian tropical plants, these solutions can further improve soil structure, increase infiltration and water retention, reduce surface evaporation, protect roots from thermal extremes, promote microbial life, increase the presence of beneficial insects, reduce dependence on external inputs, and improve production stability in the medium to long term (Altieri et al., 2015; Gliessman, 2015; Wezel et al., 2020).
All of this is useful for designing more complex Mediterranean agroecological systems. Shade, biodiversity, and plant stratification are agronomic tools and not just landscape elements.
This is particularly evident in agroforestry systems, where managing light, plant cover, and species interactions can influence productivity, microclimate, quality, and resilience, as also shown in the literature on coffee agroforestry systems (Charbonnier et al., 2017; Haggar et al., 2021).

FROM TROPICAL MONOCULTURES TO AGROECOLOGICAL MOSAICS
The greatest risk, in my opinion, is not introducing tropical crops.
The greatest risk is introducing them with the same reductionist logic that has already weakened many Mediterranean agroecosystems.
If mango, avocado, papaya, or banana become new intensive monocultures, grown on bare soil, with high irrigation, low biodiversity, high dependence on external inputs, and weak territorial roots, the crop change does not represent a true agroecological transition (Altieri et al., 2015; Gliessman, 2015; Wezel et al., 2020).
If anything, it would simply become a commercial substitution. True innovation, however, must consist in building agroecological mosaics: that is, systems in which tropical and subtropical species coexist with olive, citrus, almond, carob, grapevine, fig, pomegranate, aromatic plants, cover crops, multifunctional hedges, and ecological infrastructure.
In such a system, mango, avocado, papaya, banana, passionflower, coffee, and other species become components of a more complex landscape, not automatic substitutes for traditional Mediterranean crops (Altieri et al., 2015; Gliessman, 2015; Wezel et al., 2020).
To conclude this concept, I would like to mention the case of the Japanese medlar.
This plant is historical proof that some subtropical plants, if compatible with the local ecological and cultural context, can be progressively integrated into the Mediterranean landscape to the point of becoming part of its productive identity (Farina et al., 2016; Gentile et al., 2016).
The Japanese medlar thus demonstrates that Mediterranean agriculture is not static, but evolves through processes of adaptation, selection, acclimatization, and cultural assimilation.
Therefore, an agroecological approach could help avoid two opposing errors: the ideological rejection of tropical and subtropical crops and the uncritical enthusiasm for any new crop.
The first error prevents us from seeing the opportunities for adaptation and diversification; the second risks transforming innovation into a new form of production simplification, water-demanding and dependent on external inputs (Altieri et al., 2015; Massaad et al., 2026; Wezel et al., 2020).

A NEW MEDITERRANEAN MODEL?
The future of Sicilian and Mediterranean agriculture will likely not be characterized by the replacement of traditional crops with tropical species.
More realistically, we will witness the emergence of even more diversified agroecological systems, in which historic crops and new species can coexist in more complex and ecologically robust production landscapes (Altieri et al., 2015; Gliessman, 2015; Massaad et al., 2026; Wezel et al., 2020).
Olives, vines, almonds, carob trees, figs, and pomegranates must not be replaced. They must be reimagined within more resilient systems. Likewise, tropical and subtropical crops must not be presented as “the solution” to climate change.
In some contexts, they can become tools for adaptation, diversification, and productive and economic innovation only if inserted within a coherent agroecological design (Altieri et al., 2015; Testa et al., 2018; Wezel et al., 2020).
The goal should be to build a Mediterranean agriculture capable of dynamically adapting to climate change, maintaining soil fertility, biodiversity, territorial identity, responsible use of resources, and profitability.
Climate tropicalization should not be accepted as fate, nor naively celebrated as a commercial opportunity.
It must be managed with advanced agroecological methodologies, ecological prudence, and systemic design (Altieri et al., 2015; Gliessman, 2015; Wezel et al., 2020).

CONCLUSIONS
The tropical and subtropical crops grown in Sicily represent much more than a botanical curiosity.
They signal a profound transformation of Mediterranean agriculture.
Their introduction is neither positive nor negative.
It depends on many factors: species, site, soil, water, agronomic management, market, supply chain, biodiversity, and the production model adopted (Massaad et al., 2026; Poore & Nemecek, 2018; Testa et al., 2018; Wezel et al., 2020).
If grown with intensive and simplified practices, these species can increase pressure on resources and generate new fragilities.
If, however, they are integrated into complex, biodiverse agroecological systems, consistent with local resources, they can contribute to production diversification, business resilience, the reduction of some dependencies on long supply chains, and the construction of new Mediterranean agricultural models (Altieri et al., 2015; Gliessman, 2015; Wezel et al., 2020).
The key is to understand what ecological, productive, and economic functions certain tropical and subtropical species can perform within Mediterranean agricultural systems designed using agroecological principles. The real challenge is not growing mangoes, avocados, papayas, or bananas in Sicily.
The real challenge is to do so without wasting water, without depleting soil and biodiversity, without erasing the Mediterranean agricultural identity, and without transforming innovation into a new dependence on external inputs (Cárceles Rodríguez et al., 2023; Durán Zuazo et al., 2021; Gliessman, 2015; Wezel et al., 2020).
In this sense, the tropical species grown in Sicily can become a testing ground for a much broader question: are we capable of agroecologically designing a more complex, more dynamic, and more respectful Mediterranean agriculture?

Francesco Di Lorenzo
Agronomist

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