Australian persimmon growers have developed a $2 million export opportunity with Singapore thanks largely to a marketing strategy devised at the University of Queensland's Gatton College.
The strategy has already been used as a model for other emerging Australian horticultural industries, according to its architect and persimmon project leader, Natural and Rural Systems Management Department senior lecturer Dr Ray Collins.
The persimmon project attracted $500,000 in research funds from the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, the Federal Government's Export Marketing Skills Program and growers from five mainland states.
It began in 1983 with the planting of Gatton College's 1200 trees and the help of four research teams working simultaneously. A Queensland Department of Primary Industries team at Nambour examined aspects of growing; dean of Gatton College's Applied Science Faculty Associate Professor Dave Simons led a postharvest team; Dr Collins led the marketing team, and head of the College's Food Studies Department Richard Mason led a food processing team.
Dr Collins said the strategy empowered growers to take responsibility for their product from the farm through to the final market place.
'This is an emerging industry which has not followed traditional new industry development paths. I have already been approached by several other Australian horticultural industries wishing to establish similar strategies,' he said.
'The brand-based strategy ensures supply reliability and quality consistency and replaces market chain ?middle-men' with agencies working with and for growers, essentially meaning more money for growers,' Dr Collins said.
As part of the strategy, the Australian Persimmon Export Company (APEC) was formed. It now represents 40 growers from five states (or 75 percent of the Australian industry), is governed by its own grower-based board, and has appointed a paid executive director.
APEC now owns two persimmon brands - Sweet Gold and Golden Star - which have become the best-selling brands in Singapore during the Australian supply months from February until June each year. At other times of the year, Singapore imports persimmons from Japan, the United States, Israel and New Zealand.
The strategy, based on co-operation between growers rather than competition, also involves a roster of growers who take turns to live in Singapore for up to a fortnight during the supply months.
'This person works out of the importer's office and checks each day's shipment before the persimmons are seen by buyers. He or she takes a sample of each growers' consignment, prepares a detailed quality report and faxes it to the particular grower. In the afternoons, he or she promotes the product to retailers,' Dr Collins said.
'This part of the strategy symbolises the growers' commitment to getting it right and also relieves the importer of most of the worries about quality.
'The strategy ensures the customer gets what he or she wants, engendering brand loyalty in the process.'
The persimmon industry strategy was a major departure from normal practice among Australian producers, Dr Collins said.
'Normally, Australian growers wave goodbye to produce at the farm gate and because they are spread around the nation in competition with each other, are often at the mercy of opportunistic and occasionally unscrupulous ?middle-men',' Dr Collins said.
'There is no check on produce quality once shipments arrive at foreign destinations and a problematic shipment can damage the entire industry's reputation.'
Persimmons, native to China and popular in the northern hemisphere, were introduced to Australia in 1900 and non-astringent varieties are now grown relatively disease-free in environments from the Atherton Tableland to Perth.
The industry will soon be worth around $10 million based on the present 200,000 trees planted.
Dr Collins, who recently completed his PhD based on the persimmon strategy, said traditional persimmon varieties contained an astringent chemical during their ripening phase, making them virtually inedible until very ripe and soft.
This created marketing problems because they could not be harvested until they were at an advanced stage of ripeness, he said.
'But the non-astringent persimmon, developed relatively recently, loses its astringency before it is fully ripe, allowing early harvesting,' he said.
Persimmons are favoured in Asia where they are regarded as a traditional fruit and eaten during family meals. They retail for A$1.50-A$3.50 each.
For more information, contact Dr Collins (telephone 0754 60 1328).
