by Matt Bran, ABC Rural

 

In the shade of a mango plantation, an hour’s drive south of Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh, a group of Australian researchers are busy checking trees.

 

The team includes researchers from the New South Wales and Northern Territory Department of Primary Industries, and they’ve spent the last 18 months visiting Cambodia to work with the local mango industry. The project, funded by the Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research (ACIAR), is helping to improve the yields and viability of the Cambodian mango industry, but also giving Australian researchers experience with potential threats.

 

“We’ve been shocked at the level of damage that some of these pests [in Cambodia] can create,” said Mark Hickey, from the NSW Department of Primary Industry. “Last March, we travelled from one end of Cambodia to the other, and most of the orchards were blackened with the after-effects of a leafhopper which attacks the [mango] flowers.

 

“Another spectacular pest for entomologists, but not one farmers want to see, is a borer called longicorn, which moves in and attacks weakened trees. And they’re huge – the larvae can be longer and thicker than your middle finger.” Mr Hickey says the aim of the ACIAR project is to also help small and medium-sized landholders in Cambodia improve the health of their plantations, increase yields and hence increase their income.

 

Deputy director of the Cambodian department of plant protection and phytosanitary, Chhun Hy Heng, says Cambodia has about 30,000 hectares of mangoes and the government is keen to see the industry improve and expand. He says in future years it’s hoped Cambodia will be able to export its mangoes into Asian countries such as China and Korea.

 

“Through the ACIAR project we want to learn, build our capacity… and improve for the future, for our people and for the growers,” he told ABC Rural. “It’s a policy of the government that in the future, as an ASEAN member, we have a plan to export [mangoes] overseas, but we need to improve our capacity, improve our quality and then, hopefully, Cambodia can start exporting to the international market.”

 

Australian researcher Mark Hickey says the sharing of knowledge is helping both the Australian and Cambodian mango industries. “There are simple gains we can make by working with these farmers to increase their livelihood,” he said. “And I think the net benefit for Australia is getting an understanding of things like double-cropping which they’re doing here in Cambodia.

 

“We’re looking at pest and diseases, so for our physiologists and our entomologists, it’s like a big research opportunity, which we get for a very low cost.” Similar mango ACIAR projects are being conducted in the Philippines and Pakistan.

 

Source: ABC Rural

 

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