The Northen Territory’s iconic mangoes made more than $43 million for the industry last year, despite an unusually wet season, according to NT Primary Industry Minister Kon Vatskalis.

Northern Territory mango production for the 2010 season reached around 17 800 tonnes – representing about 2.4 million trays.

These figures were presented to the annual Northern Territory Mango Industry workshop at Acacia, where growers and representatives from the Department of Resources analysed the season to help make this year’s season even better.

“Our mangoes are iconic and that is because they are the best in the world,” Vatskalis said.

“We have a multi million dollar horticultural industry – in fact mangoes are the Territory’s largest horticulture crop, and despite a very wet season during the 2010 harvest, still produced 2.4 million trays for the industry.”

Mr Vatskalis said crop forecasting is part of the extensive industry assistance delivered by the NT Government.

“These workshops are so important to industry as they look at the future direction of research and development in the mango industry up here,’ Mr Vatskalis said.

“It not only predicts the size of the crop but also provides likely harvesting dates, allowing growers, pickers, packers and transporters to schedule harvest labour and transport to the southern markets.”

Other areas where Plant Industries staff provides research and assistance to the mango industry include the selection of improved mango rootstocks and production genetics, manipulating flowering, investigating pest and disease management and supply chain and market access issues.

Combining the Darwin and Katherine regions, the Territory now is the largest single production zone for mangoes in Australia.

Share