AN innovative plan to plant red papaya among their coffee plantation is paying dividends for Mareeba farmers Ian and Marion MacLaughlin.
The successful owners of Skybury Tropical Plantation established their coffee plantation on the Tablelands 30 years ago, and in 2003 made the bold decision to intersperse their crop with the little known red papaya variety.
Fifteen years on, they produce 2.5 million tonnes of the tropical fruit annually and expansion plans are on the cards as its popularity takes off.
Skybury Coffee business development manager Paul Fagg said they were Australia’s biggest grower of reds, which were distributed across the eastern seaboard.
Mr Fagg said he sees potential in expanding their market, as only about 16 per cent of Australians eat papaya on a regular basis.
“We just saw a huge potential in that market, it is a very healthy fruit, filled with lots of good things,” he said.
“It has more Vitamin C than oranges, more potassium than bananas, it really is a superfood as far as tropicals go.”
Mr Fagg said while the yellow variety was initially more popular, the red had taken over due to its superior eating quality.
“We have also moved to propagate all papaya from tissue culture as well, which is quite unusual in a global context, but it ensures the consistency and quality of the fruit.
“We have worked hard to develop our own variety in terms of quality and consistency. It is all in the taste, not the appearance.
They farm their coffee and papaya over 160 hectares, with the papaya grown and picked year round.
Mr Fagg said it took about six months from planting to harvesting and each tree had about an 18 month lifespan.
“We inter-plant papaya with coffee so they grow together and the coffee really thrives in that shade environment.
“It’s a really great farming system, with the water input on that same land going to two crops.”
Mr Fagg said they had invested about $4 million over the last few years to develop a cloning facility.
They are focused on growing the market, and their capacity to meet demand. Mr Fagg said they were looking at greater penetration into the major retailers to draw a wider consumer base.
“It has changed over the years, that now 90 per cent of our income is derived in papaya, while initially, we made our name on coffee.
“We’ve still export 50 per cent of our coffee, but really, we’ve taken that passion for coffee into papaya, and pushed the boundaries in the industry.”
And their hard work is paying off, with Skybury Red Papaya’s recently taking out a national Delicious award for their fruit.
“It’s great that people in the food industry are recognising our quality produce, not just for papaya, but in general it helps to put our region on the map as producers of outstanding tropical fruit.”
