Growing for Export Horticulture in the Northern Territory

Growing for Export Horticulture in the Northern Territory

These factors have created valuable niche markets that have seen the value of horticulture in the Northern Territory rise significantly since 2005. Then the industry was worth AUS$99 million; this year the industry is expected to contribute AUS$176.1 million to the Territory’s economy.

Territory growers enjoy an important competitive advantage in their capacity to produce a variety of vegetables and fruits outside the normal southern seasons and achieve premium prices. In dry central Australia, the table grape industry has enjoyed this advantage for the past 20 years and remains the mainstay of the Territory’s arid zone horticultural activities. New growers are testing the feasibility of growing other fruit and vegetable crops in the region, including pumpkins, watermelons and pomegranates. New farms have recently been opened on land owned by Indigenous Australians, providing income and employment opportunities for young workers.

While table grapes are the principal horticultural crop of the arid southern region of the Territory, mangoes are the principal export crop of the wet tropical north. The Territory mango season is the earliest in northern Australia, producing a valuable niche market in southern population centres. The large size Kensington Pride variety, the most prominent species grown, is also popular across Asia as an export product. 2011 was the best season on record, with 33,400 tonnes of Territory mangoes shipped by road, rail and air, valued at $80 million.

Melon production has been slowly increasing up to around $50 million, but with demand could readily increase. Citrus fruits and vegetables are also major crops produced across the Darwin and Katherine regions. Smaller volume crops are increasingly produced, including Asian vegetables, bananas, rambutan, dragon fruit and other tropical varieties. The nursery and cut flower sectors are significant, with orchids and heliconias shipped to florists in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.

The Territory’s horticultural industry has the capacity to continue its recent growth, not only by exploiting the natural seasonal advantages farmers enjoy in the north, but also through the government opening up new areas of land and focusing efforts on productivity improvements.

Like other Territory agricultural sectors, field crop production has also grown over the past five years, driven primarily by the increase in hay and silage production in the Katherine, Daly and Darwin regions. Hay production specifically has grown steadily over the past 15 years in line with the growth in the export of live cattle from the NT. It has become a significant component of the Territory’s rural economy, with hay and grain crops generating $18 million in 2010.

The Territory’s forestry industry is growing in importance. Some 30,000ha of acacia are being grown on the Tiwi Islands to Darwin’s north, and a further 10,000ha of African mahogany has been planted south of Darwin with aspirations to achieve 40,000 ha. This mahogany is destined to be used in fine furniture in 15 to 20 years’ time. These plantings will reap future rewards as the world continues to face increasing shortages of high quality hardwood.

A critical element of maintaining quality productivity and the integrity of Territory horticultural production is the strength of our bio security framework.

Australia enforces some of the strictest quarantine measures in the world because the country relies heavily on its livestock, agricultural and horticultural industries, which collectively inject billions of dollars into the national economy and provide employment for thousands of workers Australia-wide.

As an island continent, Australia has been largely protected from the devastating exotic pests and diseases that have become the curse of many other countries throughout the world. However, the Australian quarantine system takes every possible precaution to guard against exotic incursions that have the potential to decimate our plant and animal industries. The Northern Territory, like all other Australian jurisdictions, has its own stringent quarantine laws in place to prevent existing plant and animal diseases from spreading to new areas.

Consistency of supply is a prerequisite all customers demand of Territory producers. Those producers are continuing to find new ways of expanding their seasons as well as securing new markets for their products. Research is an important part of that process, and it is a facet of the industry underpinned by the Territory Government.

The Northern Territory Government maintains an outstanding scientific research capacity with more than 50 staff members engaged in research, diagnostic, extension and regulatory activities. They have gained a nationally recognised reputation in tropical systems science, maintaining a network of well managed research and demonstration facilities aimed at profitable and sustainable primary industries.

Growth in the horticulture sector cannot occur without available land. Of the 1.3 million hectares that constitute the Northern Territory, less than 0.5 per cent has been cleared to produce food. Even when the ecologically sensitive, the protected, the culturally important, the richly biodiverse and the agronomically inappropriate areas are taken into account, prospective areas suitable for horticultural production remain.

The Territory’s challenge is to identify and specifically research those areas to ensure the level of knowledge required to bring them into sustainable production is achieved. When access to water, suitable soils, and infrastructure are taken into account, these prospective areas exist in mosaics throughout the Territory, creating valuable investment opportunities.

“These plantings will reap future rewards as the world continues to face increasing shortages of high quality hardwood.”