Mango industry capacity building program (MG10016)

This is a final research report from Hort Innovation’s historical archives. Please note that as these reports may date back as far as the 1990s, the content and recommendations within them may be superseded by more recent research.

What was it all about?

This project underpinned a wide range of activities which were designed to address the industry development needs of the Australian mango industry. The key areas of activity within the project included industry development, communication, crop forecasting, and biosecurity.

Prior to the commencement of the project, an industry development needs assessment was developed concurrently with the development of the industry’s strategic plan. The industry strategic plan had 4 priority areas.

The 4 priority areas were:

• Industry Profitability
• Orchard production and fruit quality
• Information and knowledge
• Management and growth

Through this project, the delivery on these priority areas was focussed on 4 activity areas. These activities areas were:

• Industry Development (including industry benchmarking)
• Communications
• Crop Forecasting
• Biosecurity

This project, and through linkages to other projects and activities, had been instrumental in delivering a range of outcomes for the industry.
These activities and outcomes include:

1. A significant industry wide benchmarking project that provided participating businesses the opportunity to gain a greater understanding of the income streams and costs associated with mango production. This project provided participating businesses the opportunity to look at their own practices and compare them with other businesses.
2. Respected communication, including the quarterly publication Mango Matters, monthly email bulletin AMIA Activities, which had been renamed ‘The Slice’, and the industry website, which hosted a range of information including daily reporting of wholesale prices throughout the season.
3. Events such as the biennial national mango conference, held in 2011 (Darwin) and 2013 (Cairns), an annual export forum (2012, 2013 and 2014) regional pre and post-harvest meetings in key production regions as well as wholesale markets, and study tours to China and Brazil/Peru.
4. Reliable crop forecasts to provide the industry with prior knowledge of the timing of harvest for each main production region as well as estimates of production volumes. This allowed greater planning in preparation for the season for all industry participants.
5. An awareness and alertness of biosecurity issues. The Australian mango industry, in partnership with State, Territory and Federal Governments, managed incursions of Mango Malformation, and remained alert for potential incursion of pests such as Red Banded Mango Caterpillar and Mango Leaf Gall Midge.
6. Improved access to crop protection products, such as Scholar, Actara, and chemicals that have been under review, such as dimethoate and fenthion.