Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 8.5
A large scale (50 ha)
papaya farm, South Edge,
Queensland. (©Diczbalis)
establishment of avocado orchards in Chile, Israel, Spain and South Africa is pri-
mary based on the export markets of North America and Europe whereas Mexico,
the largest producer of avocado (1.0 Mt annum), is primary aimed at the domestic
market. (Anon
no date
; Naamani
2007
).
Papaya (
Carica papaya
), with a centre of origin between southern Mexico and
Nicaragua, is widely produced throughout the tropics and subtropics (Chan and Paull
2006
). It is the third largest tropical fruit crop with 11.22 Mt or 15.4 % of total tropi-
cal fruit production (Evans and Ballen
2012
). India is the largest producer of papaya
with an estimated 4.7 Mt produced in 2010. In 2009, world exports of papaya were
279,684 t mainly from Mexico, Brazil and Belize. Papaya orchards, although not at
the size of some crops, are being “plantationised” with orchards in Australia up to
50 ha (Fig.
8.5
). These large production units need a large skilled labour force and a
high level of mechanisation to efficiently harvest, sort and pack the crop.
Litchi (
Litchi chinensis
) and longan (
Dimocarpus longan
) are grown on a large
scale in southern China (Yen and Paull
2006
; Zee and Paull
2006
) with orchards
as large as 2,000 ha (Fig.
8.6
). Many of the larger schemes were initiated under
the direction of regional and provincial governments during the 1980's (Zhang
1977
). The farms are state-managed with the workforce drawn from the surround-
ing villages. Similarly, rambutan (
Nephelium lappaceum
) is grown in plantations
in Guatemala with 35,000 plus trees managed by the company, Lafinita. The avail-
ability of a relatively cheap labour force combined with a high level of technical
and managerial inputs are common ingredients to a successful export orientated
plantation.
Tree nut crops are increasingly becoming “plantationised” as the drive to in-
creased efficiency of production, with the aid of technology and mechanisation.
Nut crops, in particular Macadamia, are one of the case studies examined later in
the chapter.
