The mango season in Australia's Northern Territory has just finished, wrapping up one of the longest seasons on record. The season started early and finished late, creating difficulties in maintaining staff and training. About 3.2 million trays of mangoes have been produced, with 60,000 trays trucked to southern markets last week.
Due to the transient nature of the workforce, many growers experienced staffing problems, supply development manager Boyd Arthur, from the Australian Mango Industry Association reports:
"For instance, some growers had a month off in between their start and finish. To maintain staff and re-introduce new staff, not only is it very costly, it is also very challenging to tap into those resources.
"It has been very challenging for the industry, but hopefully [growers] have all pulled through on top."
Mr Boyd said recent rains in the Top End slowed down the last weeks of picking and caused a reduction in the forecast for the Northern Territory as it is difficult to get the remaining fruit off the trees.
Despite not reaching the record volumes of last year, Mr Boyd said producers should be pleased with the volume of fruit, as prices have been good.
"It has been very challenging at the Australian Mango Industry's end as well, keeping everybody engaged with mangoes at the marketing end.
Source: www.abc.net.au
