The papaya fruit is original from Tropical America, where it was already cultivated before Columbus arrived. From there, the Spanish navigators extended its culture to other areas. At present it is widely cultivated in different regions like Hawaii, Australia and South Africa.

Nowadays it is mainly cultivated in South America, Asia and Africa, as shown in this table:

Continent	Tons	%
Africa	1,021,615	14
Asia	1,642,760	23
Oceania	18,708	-
North America	792,296	11
South America	3,752,056	52
Total	7,227,435	100

Source: FAO Production Yearbook, 2000

The following table includes the 10 countries with larger production of papaya. In first place we find Brazil, representing approximately 45% of the total production. It is followed by Nigeria, India, Mexico and Indonesia.

Country	Tons
Brazil	3,300,000
Nigeria	748,000
India	644,000
México	636,119
Indonesia	450,009
The Congo	213,000
China	179,443
Peru	165,000
Thailand	119,000
Venezuela	89,522

Source: FAO Production Yearbook, 2000

Among the papaya export countries, the leader is Mexico, followed by Malaysia and Brazil, as shown in the following table:

Country	Tons
Mexico	59,959
Malaysia	37,000
Brazil	15,709
The United States	5,939
Belize	4,300
The Netherlands	2,788
Jamaica	2,600
India	2,505
Guatemala	2,200
Ghana	1,374

Source: FAO Trade Yearbook, 1999