A MUNDUBBERA couple are taking the term export market to a new level and funding an overseas project growing and building similar farms to their own in Southeast Asia.
Allen and Susan Jenkin established Ironbark Citrus in 1990 now spanning 170 hectares and featuring 94,000 mandarin trees with all fruit exported into Asia.
Like many horticulture farms the couple utilise seasonal workers but once work on their farm has finished they move on and the couple wanted to use the knowledge and experience they had gained establishing their business in Australia to help others.
Their vision was to build a citrus nursery overseas and plant trees with local farmers which would see fruit packed and exported as trees came into production.
While Laos farmers have access to land and water, and are experienced subsistence farmers, they often do not have the capital or access to knowledge and markets to establish commercial crops like citrus.
Mr and Mrs Jenkin established a loan fund, providing loans to establish and maintain their orchards until they begin to produce incomes. Repayments will begin when the trees start to crop, and should be paid back after three years.
The couple investigated locations in a number of areas including Papau New Guinea and Indonesia but in 2014 they visited Laos and settled on starting the venture, known as Ironbark Lao.
For those people in the local area the concept was unfamiliar, Mr Jenkin said.
They have since built four citrus nurseries to produce trees for farmers using disease free seed and budwood imported from Australia and almost 12,000 trees have been planted on the properties of 29 participating families since 2015.
Some trees were spotted flowering as early as February which would mean a harvest in August or September but the quality and quantity of the fruit is still unknown.
Good wet rice land is not suitable for growing citrus so the participating farmers tend to be those on ‘poorer land’, which happens to be excellent for growing citrus.
Much of it was left vacant due to undetonated weapons in the ground as the area was heavily bombed in the Vietnam War and now requires a UXO clearing before it can be farmed.
Adding to the difficulties of the venture is the threat of HLB (Huangbongling – citrus greening) and citrus canker which has already plagued the industry in Asia.
Ms Jenkin said while the project was now entering a scale up phase, success was still not assured as different citrus varieties were still being trialled to decide which will perform best in Laos.
“The beauty of the project is that, if the model works...you could do the same thing with any crop in any country,” she said.
“I am surprised that government isn’t more interested in what we are doing because their current policy is all about using business to deliver aid outcomes, and that is exactly what we are doing.
“You could do pineapples in Philippines, you could do anything with anything as long as you chose a crop that grows in the environment.”
While they may not have fruit in a box yet it seems the venture is having a positive influence in other ways.
Ms Jenkin said in just the second year of the project one of the participating farmers decided to also grow chilli commercially and with a small amount of advice and assistance he has since expanded with cucumbers and eggplants.
“It’s nothing to do with me,” Ms Jenkin said.
“It’s them just talking an opportunity and running with it.
“The day we can go to Laos and just wander in and admire the orchards, with the business totally run by Laos people and we don’t have to do anything, that’s the goal.
“The whole idea is to help Lao people improve their own lives, it’s all for Laos people.”
Ironbark Lao is building up a workforce of skilled nursery workers who manage and run the nurseries, and provide advice to the participating farming families.
A local man, Xaysavath Xayalath, is managing the project.