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Rural Industries Research & Development Corporation |
Thirty Australian Champions
Shaping
the future for rural Australia
edited by Keith Hyde
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RIRDC's major publication documenting the experience of thirty outstanding Australians who, through their business enterprise, vision and perseverance, are making a significant contribution to the welfare and economic growth of rural and regional Australia. Each chapter is presentedf as a separate html file which you can view, download and print.
Zappala Tropicals
After producing sugar cane all their lives, the Zappala family from Bellenden Ker in North Queensland, some 50 kilometres south of Cairns, began thinking about diversifying. They started to investigate alternative crops as income insurance for when the price of sugar was low. They figured there was not enough land to produce cattle so the other option was fruit trees. But which fruit trees?
Choosing the Right Fruit
Their choice was to concentrate on tropical fruit trees that would only grow on the tropical coast from Tully to Cooktown so that there would be very limited scope for over-production. "We had seen rambutan growing in the Philippines when we were there in 1976 and thought that rambutan might be a good proposition," lan Zappala explains. They sampled and closely monitored the fruit set and yield of a seedling rambutan tree growing in Nurse Olga's backyard close by in the township of Babinda. "We also investigated mangosteen and started to take a keen interest in durian as another potential tropical crops."
In 1982, they planted their first tropical fruit trees originating from countries all over the world. Four years later, after a severe cyclone, they eliminated some of the unsuitable varieties of trees and also ventured into tropical flowers, as they recover quickly after a cyclone. "That it has done is that instead of running a cane farm where you work extremely hard for about three quarters of the year, we now work seven days a week all the year round and have had to develop marketing skills as well to sell our new produce.
Below from left: Alan, Ivy and Joe Zappala.
“In 1992, we had a visit from the Director and the Deputy Director of MARDI [the Malaysian Agriculture Research and Development Institute], Dr Mohamad bin Osman and Dr Chan Ying Kwok. They invited us to visit Malaysia to deliver a paper at a durian seminar at which MARDI was releasing a new durian variety. So I wrote the paper on Australian durians — which wasn't hard because the durian industry was still developing at that time — and Dad delivered the paper.
Champion Qualities
- Early identification of need to diversify
- Existing farm base
- Focus on quality
- Focus on high-value products
- Maintenance of cash flow while diversifying
- Industry leadership in collaborative research
At the durian seminar,
the Zappalas made contact with a durian grower from Perak, in western Malaysia.
After a visit to their plantation, they were really impressed by the health
of their durian crops. A good deal of the Zappalas'initial information
on growing durian was sourced from this contact. It is a good relationship
that still exists between the families. Alan says, "It's a relationship
that's built on trust and mutual respect.
“When we came home, we really started working on durian," recalls Alan.
The Plantation
Zappala Tropicals Pty Ltd is a family company consisting of Joe and Ivy (Alan's parents)and Alan Zappala. Together they grow approximately 10,000 tonnes of sugar cane each year and manage a tropical fruit orchard of about 1,000 durians, 600 rambutans, 1,500 jackfruit (used for windbreaks)and 100 mangosteen, plus tropical flowers, heliconias and ornamental ginger on their 140-hectare farm.
Their farm abuts the highest mountain range in Queensland, the Bellenden Ker Range, which in 1999 received 5. 3 metres of rain. It is some of the wettest farmland in Australia and is ideal for the tropical fruit crops they are growing but does result in lower sugar yields in some seasons.
Left: Alan Zappala inspects young durian in the nursery shade house.
Durian planting material had been previously imported by the Queensland Department of Primary Industries (QDPI)in the 1970s and 1980s but not all the initial importations into Australia went smoothly. Many of these original imports, sourced from Singapore, were misidentified. "After five, six or seven years of waiting for a tree to fruit," Alan says, "we ended up with a fruit where the label was correct but the tree wasn't. So in 1992 we went back to the farms in Malaysia, identified and tasted the fruit, then asked for bud wood from those trees to take the guesswork out of the whole equation."
The Zappalas imported 40 clones of durian through Australian quarantine from Malaysia between 1992 and 1996. Their major plantings began in 1993 and 1994, as soon as the durian left quarantine. Durians do not set fruit for six or seven years, with the trees producing their best fruit after 10 to 12 years. However, one of their most promising new varieties, when only five years old, produced 45 kilograms of fruit per tree last year.
Developing the Industry
The Zappalas applied for Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) research project support to evaluate durian growth habit and yield under Australian conditions. "We wanted to be part of an Australian durian industry," says Alan, "but it was always going to be difficult with 500 tonnes of frozen fruit coming in from Thailand. We knew there was consumer demand, it was just up to an Australian durian industry to start producing to satisfy that demand."
Their RIRDC project application was approved with the only variation being that RIRDC required a complete industry strategic plan in the first year of the project. "That was one of the best things that could have happened," says Alan. "It united all the growers and gave direction to the whole industry. There are now regular meetings. Even industry newsletters have developed. The whole thing has sky-rocketed."
RIRDC and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR)are currently collaborating on a major multinational project to control Phytophthora palmivora; one of the durian industry's major concerns. Research is also being conducted on mulches, organic manure and fruiting activity. "The rate at which we are progressing is very good. The researchers and the growers are collaborating, so that by the time we as growers reach the next step, the problems will hopefully be solved."
Left:
A large mature durian tree in full fruit.
Alan estimates that Australia now has some 12,000 durian trees planted on farms." 12,145 at the last census," says Alan. North Queensland has about 60 per cent of this total, with the Northern Territory making up the remainder. By comparison, Thailand has about 1.6 million trees; an industry 3,000 times larger than Australia's. "The Malaysian industry is a bit smaller," says Alan, "but Thailand is easily the world's largest producer."
1999 was an interesting year for the Australian durian industry. In the Northern Territory, the harvest normally starts in October and runs through to January. In Queensland it usually begins in January and finishes in July. Some varieties will have mature fruit after 90 days, others at 110, and even some at 140 days. "There was a late flowering at South Johnstone and other orchards around Innisfail. These trees had ripe fruit until the beginning of the Northern Territory's season," says Alan. "I season like that will bring a really good return for producers."
The Strategic Plan
Alan considers the strategic plan for the durian industry developed as part of the RIRDC project to be a positive step. Meetings of durian growers were held in South Johnstone, Mossman and Darwin, where discussions were facilitated by QDPI and issues were raised and prioritised. “If we had just gone in with a blank piece of paper we would still be arguing about issues," says Alan, "but because an executive group had done some background work on the industry's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, we got the job done. It's a pretty comprehensive document, addressing strategies and actions for each of the farm management, industry development and marketing issues identified."
A workplan to implement the issues and decisions that the growers had discussed was also developed as a part of the strategy. "It's no use having all these fancy plans if nobody does anything about it," lan says. Each durian strategic issue was linked to a person or a small group of growers, or an organisation such as QDPI or the Northern Territory Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (NTDPIF)and a date and timeframe was set, with progress reviewed yearly, or more frequently if appropriate. Similar plans were later devised for rambutan and mangosteen. "It was good because so many of the growers already understood the planning process," he says.
Alan recognises that his experience with strategic planning in the sugar industry and Babinda Cane Protection and Productivity Board, which operates under the Queensland Sugar Act, had provided him with skills that were also applicable to a new industry. He readily acknowledges the considerable support they had from QDPI, NTDPIF and seed funding from RIRDC to make it all happen.
The Durian Market
The Zappalas have not sold any durian to southern markets yet, but expect to do so over the next couple of years. The ten tonnes they have produced over the last four years has all been sold and consumed locally in North Queensland or the seeds used to propagate new planting material. In 1999, the Australian durian industry sold about $300, 000 worth of fruit through the domestic market.
Left: Apricot beehive ginger
“Some of those trees from the eighties and early nineties are now producing good fruit," lan says, "but we think that a lot of these newer ones which we've imported will prove to be even better fruit. We're refraining from marketing fruit if we're not 100 per cent happy with the quality, because we don't want to damage the market before we get started. Hopefully, after all the research we're doing on varieties, we might end up with 15 varieties, which will extend the season."
The Zappalas expect their main domestic market for the future to be the Asian communities in Sydney and Melbourne. Strong local markets also exist in Darwin and Cairns.
Critical Issues
Some of the critical issues Alan sees for the fledgling durian industry include continued unification of all Australian growers, and continuing research, development and networking, not only between local growers but also with funding bodies.
As well as the fungal disease Phytophthora palmivora, insect pests are a concern. Fruit spotting bug can inflict severe damage to developing fruit. "The fruit spotting bug affects 28 crops in Australia," lan says. "We have to develop alternative controls to the chemical, Endosulphan ®. We should examine avocado or any similar research options to see if they can be made compatible for our industry. We've got to work smarter, not harder."
A shortage of quality planting material has been a significant problem for the industry. Research shows that advanced planting material has far better survival rates. "If you can get nursery stock to a metre high before you plant it," says Alan,"Then the tree has a much better chance and it will fruit earlier."
The Australian Durian Industry, with Alan as response coordinator, has been involved in an ongoing industry debate with the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS)about proposals to allow imports of fresh durian from Thailand. They responded to a draft proposal that recommended fresh durian be allowed into Australia from April to December from anywhere in Thailand. "We are extremely concerned that the risk analysis hasn't been thoroughly conducted," he says. "There are some 60 recognised insect pests and 10 recognised diseases of durian in Thailand. So our industry appealed the AQIS Import Risk Analysis process. We're looking at an industry here that will be worth $12 million to Australia by 2010. We are currently free of the pests and diseases that Thai and Malaysian growers have to deal with on a daily basis. Sugar is in a severe decline at the moment on the tropical coast of Queensland and we need other crops to support these rural communities."
Left:
A heavy crop of young fruit in the rambutan orchard at Zappala Tropicals.
The Zappalas have young plants in their nursery to plant some 2,000 to 3,000 additional durian over the next couple of years, but at this stage, given the AQIS decision, they are "hastening cautiously"
The Zappala Approach
The focus of their personal research is on the identification of new varieties. An exciting discovery during last year was the Malaysian durian variety, Red Prawn, from Penang. They have found that Red Prawn can withstand temperatures down to 7.3 degrees Celcius and still remain healthy. "What this means is that Red Prawn could be grown as far south as Ingham," Alan says, "which would help these areas and extend our season every year. Furthermore, it's an extraordinary variety that's a competition winner with superior flavour, colour and texture."
Left:
Alan inspects one of his prized Kemi alpina ginger flowers.
The Zappala durians have been planted at a ten by six metres spacing. Heliconias have been planted between the rows of young durian to make best use of the area while waiting for the trees to bear fruit. Irrigation is above-ground so that both crops are watered with the same system. "The heliconias are giving us cash flow while waiting for the durian," lan says, "and we're finding that the insect damage is a lot less because we're creating a micro-environment." All this work will be documented for RIRDC by Yan Diczbalis from QDPI at South Johnston Research Station and the Zappalas. "We're also collecting phenology data for tropical Queensland by monitoring the flushing and flowering habits of 50 project trees."
The critical messages from the Zappalas'tropical fruit enterprise is the importance of personal research, forethought, quality contacts and the structure of the industry. "The industry strategic plan must be a living document" lan says. "It needs to be implemented by growers, it shouldn't just sit on a shelf."
Alan readily acknowledges that, while their family has taken a lead role in the new industry, there are others who have been growing durian for over 20 years. There are 45 durian growers in North Queensland now, and about 15 in Northern Territory. The Northern Territory plantations are generally bigger than those in Queensland, but Alan is adamant that orchard size doesn't matter, as long as the growers are all committed and switched on. "There are plenty of troops behind the scenes working just as hard as us. In no way is this a one-man or one-family band. The growers all love durian and love eating durian. I guess some of them are probably durian addicts. Maybe we've got it wrong, maybe not enough of our product will get to the market, but you can be assured that all Australian growers will be giving it their best shot!”
