The previous project has now been successfully extended to Laos and Vietnam where suitable soil types and climates for growing temperate fruits have been identified and characterised. Trial blocks of the best varieties of low-chill stonefruit have also been successfully established at two sites in both countries.
The established experimental blocks of varieties at two sites in Thailand have now reached full maturity. The best varieties have been identified. In the 2002 harvest season, these varieties produced high-quality fruit which have been marketed through the Royal Project Foundation marketing arm, Doi Kam. The fruit has received good consumer acceptance because of their high sugar levels. The fruit were attractively presented in 1 kg packs and retailed for about $4 per kg.
Key management practises for growing temperate fruits in Thailand have now been developed. The major pests and diseases identified are similar to those found in Australia. Senior staff in both the Department of Agriculture and Royal Project Foundation have now been trained to identify the most serious pests and to undertake appropriate control programs. In Thailand, bait programs were highly successful in controlling the most serious pest, fruit fly. Preliminary studies on use of exclusion netting, to keep out fruit fly from stonefruit orchards, was also highly successful.
Commercialisation of temperate fruit production in Thailand is in progress. Plantings of temperate fruit have been made at several Hill tribe villages near Khun Wang and Chiang mai. World Vision has also been actively multiplying up trees to release to Hill tribe villages. The Royal Project Foundation is examining ways of value-adding through processing of plums for jams and dried fruit products.
At both the Khun Wang and Royal Ang Kang Stations, eco- and agro-tourism facilities are being improved so as to help supplement incomes of the Hill tribe villagers. `Pick your own peaches' is one idea that is being evaluated.
Meetings were held in Hanoi between ACIAR project staff and the Deputy Prime-minister of Vietnam. The DPM also visited the Maroochy Research Station at Nambour Queensland. The Deputy Prime-minister is highly supportive of the work being conducted by ACIAR on temperate fruits in his country and appreciates the co-operation between his and the Australian Government. The Vietnamese Government plans to increase the plantings of low-chill stonefruit to 10 000 hectares.
ACIAR temperate fruit trial sites in both Laos and Thailand were visited by the Australian Ambassadors for these respective countries. In Thailand our trial sites were also visited by the Prime-minister and Deputy Prime-minister of Thailand. The Thai Government appears to be keen to improve the welfare of Hill tribe peoples and to lessen their dependency on producing drugs for a living.

Year 2 (01/07/2002-30/06/2003)
Over 1300 stonefruit trees of 25 varieties of peach, plum, nectarine, persimmon have been sent to Vietnam and Laos. About 70% of these trees have now been field-planted at four arboreta sites in Vietnam and two arboreta sites in Laos with a wide range of chilling;

Vietnam is aiming to double its temperate fruit production area to 10,000 hectares within the next 5-10 years. In addition to growing low-chill temperate fruits, it has been observed that Vietnam can also grow high quality medium-chill cultivars of stonefruit. High quality medium-chill plum cultivars Black Amber, Simca and Fortune are performing well at Sapa. Under good management systems these varieties should produce late-season fruit in July and will complement the early-season production (March-May) from the lower-chill regions.

Local germplasm has also been identified in both Laos and Vietnam, which may be suitable for breeding because of its disease resistance and quality characteristics.

Non-astringent persimmon has been identified as a potential new commercial crop for Vietnam, Laos and Thailand. Better-adapted rootstocks have been identified in Vietnam. These appear to be better suited to the red ferralitic soils than the commonly used Australian rootstocks which have failed to establish quickly in Thailand on similar soil types. The cultivar Fuyu has been identified as the best variety for commercial production.

Important temperate fruit germplasm has been identified in Laos and Vietnam. Many local selections have resistance or tolerance to some of the major leaf diseases. Germplasm of two selections has been imported in Australia and will be incorporated into the low-chill peach-breeding program.

Commercialisation of temperate fruit production in Thailand is in progress. The peach cultivar Tropic Beauty has performed well and is being commercially produced by Hill tribe villagers near Ang Kang and Khun Wang. Recently established cool storage facilities in Ang Kang and the use of refrigerated trucks to transport the fruit to the larger cities of Chiangmai and Bangkok has ensured that high quality fruit is reaching the consumer. Agro-tourism is also being successfully developed in these regions, with temperate fruits being a major tourist attraction.

Key management practises for growing temperate fruits in Thailand, Laos and Vietnam have now been developed. The major pests and diseases identified are similar to those found in Australia. Senior research and extension staffs in the collaborating agencies in Thailand, Laos and Vietnam have been trained to identify the most serious pest and disease problems and to undertake appropriate control programs.

Extension officers and farmers have also been trained in pre-harvest production methodologies. Further training is need in supply chain management and quality assurance programs.

In Thailand and Vietnam, bait programs were highly successful in controlling the most serious pest, fruit fly.

Varieties introduced from Australia as part of the ACIAR project are receiving double the price of locally produced varieties, because of their higher quality. For example, nectarines, which no one had eaten before in Laos, were sold at 5000 k/kg in Nong Het and 8000 k/kg (about AUD1.20/kg) in Phonsavan. In Thailand, high quality Tropic Beauty peaches were retailing for AUD4/kg in the Chiangmai markets.

Nine training courses were conducted in Thailand, Laos and Vietnam in 2002-03 for local technicians, extension and research officers and farmers from Lao Cai, Son La and Ha Giang provinces in Vietnam, Nonghet province in Laos and Ang Kang, Thailand. Trainees were taught cultivation, orchard management and crop protection techniques for low-chill temperate fruit trees.

Year 3 (01/07/2003 - 30/06/2004)
The project was externally reviewed in April 2004, and will be extended in Thailand and Laos to consolidate and refine low-chill fruit production technologies in Laos and encourage their uptake in Thailand and Laos. Technology refinement and extension in Vietnam will be supported by ACIAR through a new project, PHT/2002/086 Improving postharvest quality of temperate fruit in Vietnam and Australia.

Germplasm

Over 1 300 stonefruit trees of 25 varieties of peach, plum, nectarine, persimmon have been sent to Vietnam and Laos. This is in addition to the 2 000 trees sent to Thailand in the previous ACIAR project PN 94/947. About 70% of the trees sent to Lao and Vietnam have survived field-planting at 2 arboreta sites in Lao and 4 arboreta sites in Vietnam. These sites have a wide range of chilling;

Vietnam
Moc Chau 150 chill units
Bac Ha (350 chill units)
Sapa (700 chill units)
and Dalat (100 chill units)

Laos
Nonghet (300 chill units)
Ponsavan (150 chill units)

In addition to growing low-chill temperate fruits, we have identified that Vietnam can also grow high quality medium-chill cultivars of stonefruit. We observed that high quality medium-chill plum cultivars Black Amber, Simca and Fortune are performing well at Sapa. Under good management systems these varieties should produce late-season fruit in July and will complement the early-season production (March-May) from the lower-chill regions.

Non-astringent persimmon has been identified as a potential new commercial crop for Vietnam, Laos and Thailand. Better-adapted rootstocks have been identified in Vietnam. These appear to be better suited to the red ferralitic soils than the commonly used Australian rootstocks which have failed to establish quickly in Thailand on similar soil types. The cv. Fuyu has been identified as the best variety for commercial production.

Important temperate fruit germplasm has been identified in Laos and Vietnam. Many local selections have resistance or tolerance to some of the major leaf diseases. Germplasm of two selections has been imported in Australia and will be incorporated into the low-chill peach-breeding program.

A range of plum and nectarine varieties was identified as having tolerance to drought. These varieties were better adapted to low-input systems found in these countries.

New orchard management technologies

Key management practises for growing temperate fruits in Thailand, Laos and Vietnam have now been developed.

A complete management decision package has been developed for growing temperate fruits (persimmon and stonefruit) under subtropical environments of Australia and Asia. User-friendly, basic and advanced manuals have been written for both the farmer and for the extension officers to assist in the transfer of new technologies. These manuals summarise over 20 years of research and development into these fruits.

Low-input technologies for growing stonefruit and persimmon have been developed for Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. These include:

deficit irrigation,
mulching,
new orchard hygiene systems eg spot spraying,
new tree training and management systems eg post-harvest topping
use of exclusion netting and fruit bagging to eliminate fruit fly.

Low-chill stonefruit when grown under subtropical environments often make excessive growth, which reduces yield and fruit quality. Fruit size can be increased by as much as 30% where shoot extension growth is restricted to <10 cm at stone hardening. Our studies have shown that a new growth retardant prohexadione - Ca (Regalis) is highly effective in restricting growth and improving fruit quality. It overcomes the disadvantage of soil applied growth retardants such as paclobutrazol, which are not effective on some soil types, and where residue build up can be a problem.

Crop loading studies showed that the level of crop loading could be significantly increased where shoot extension growth was controlled and where tree nutrition, in particularly nitrogen was improved.

New training systems have been trailed in Thailand and Australia. In Australia the open Tatura trellis system is giving exceptionally high yield and fruit quality. In Thailand, the palmette and pillar systems produce high quality fruit and the trees are easy to manage. The ethylene inhibitor, AVG, was highly effective in increasing fruit firmness and sugar concentrations. The chemical must be applied within 1 week of first harvest. Further research is needed to develop `super sweet' fruit using new varieties, exclusion netting, open Tatura trellising system, growth retardants and ethylene inhibitors.

In Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, soil moisture stress during the early stages of the fruit development period appears to significantly restrict growth and, provided the level of stress is not too great, can have a similar effect to using growth retardants. However, excessive stress can reduce fruit size.

In Thailand, exclusion netting appears to have reduced water usage leading to improved tree health particularly under drought conditions experienced in 2004.

New pest and disease control strategies

The major pests and diseases identified are similar to those found in Australia. Senior research and extension staffs in the collaborating agencies in Thailand, Laos and Vietnam have been trained to identify the most serious pest and disease problems and to undertake appropriate control programs.

Exclusion netting proved to be highly effective in eliminating fruit fly and a wide range of other pests form the orchard. It also had the additional benefits of improving sugar concentrations of the fruit by as much as 40%, presumably due to the higher heat units accumulated under the netting and due to better partitioning of carbohydrates to the fruit.

In Thailand and Vietnam, bait programs were highly successful in controlling the most serious pest, fruit fly.

Commercialisation and Economic performance

Commercialisation of temperate fruit production in Thailand is in progress. The peach cv. Tropic Beauty has performed well and is being commercially produced by Hill tribe villages near Ang Kang and Khun Wang. Recently established cool storage facilities in Ang Kang and the use of refrigerated trucks to transport the fruit to the larger cities of Chiang mai and Bangkok has ensured that high quality fruit is reaching the consumer. Agro-tourism is also being successfully developed in these regions with temperate fruits being a major tourist attraction. Vietnam is aiming to double its temperate fruit production area to 10 000 hectares within the next 5-10 years.

Varieties introduced from Australia as part of the ACIAR project are receiving double the price of locally produced varieties, because of their higher quality. For example, nectarines, which no one had eaten before in Laos, were sold at 5000 k/kg in Nong Het and 8000 k/kg (about $1.20A/kg) in Phonsavan. In Thailand, high quality Tropic Beauty peach were retailing for $4A per kg in the Chiang mai and Bangkok markets.

Information dissemination and Extension

Extension officers and farmers have also been trained in pre-harvest production methodologies. Further training is need in supply chain management and quality assurance programs.

Nine training courses were conducted in Thailand, Laos and Vietnam in 2002 - 2003 for local technicians, extension and research officers and farmers from Lao Cai, Son La and Ha Giang provinces in Vietnam, Nonghet province in Laos and Ang Kang, Thailand. Trainers for these courses were Dr. Alan George and Mr. Bob. Nissen. Trainees were taught cultivation; orchard management and crop protection techniques for low - chill temperate fruit trees.

Two international workshops on production technologies for temperate fruit were held in Chiang mai in November 2002 and April 2004. The Thai Research Foundation, ACIAR and Royal Project Foundation funded the conference. Over 80 scientist and extension agents attended with 8 Asian and Oceania countries represented (Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand).

LAO PDR

Marketing
With temperate fruits, nectarine was the preferred fruit for marketing in Lao PDR in contrast to Thailand where peach is preferred. Prices received for the newly introduced varieties (about $1.50A per kg) are quite high compared with local selections.

Existing field site - Nonghet
Trees exhibit signs of poor shoot extension growth due to a combination of drought and over cropping. Farmers are still reluctant to heavily thin trees to get adequate size. The concept of thinning is foreign to Lao farmers as they see it as wasteful. Unfortunately, excessive crop loads can lead to a decline in tree health and eventually death.

New planting site - Plain of Jars
A new field site was selected on the Plain of Jars on a commercial property with excellent soil structure and good drainage. The Plain of Jars region has suitable topography, soil types and water availability for large scale horticultural production. About 200 trees of seven, introduced varieties of peach, plum, nectarine and persimmon were planted.

New field site - Kang pho Reseach Station
Similar to the commercial orchard planting on the Plain of Jars, a new block of about 160 stonefruit and persimmon trees was established at the Kang pho Research Station. The soil type at this site is less suitable for horticultural production because of its clay texture. Trees will need to be heavily mulched to encourage surface feeding.

Establishment of fruit nursery at Ponsavan
A small nursery has been set up at the PAFO Horticultural sub research Centre near Ponsavan. We inspected the new nursery infrastructure and recommended methods to improve the facility. We also demonstrated how to germinate 6,000 peach rootstock seed, which were introduced as part of the project, and how to prepare a well drained potting mix.

Follow-up training visits by Thai experts
The training in Lao PDR was ably assisted by the two Thai DOA experts, Mr Uthai Noppakoonwong and Mr Pichit Sripinta. Mr Pichit Sripinta will visit Lao PDR again in November to assist the regional extension officers in training and managing the peach demonstration sites.

Study tour to Australia
It was agreed that the Plain of Jars farmer, Mr Sompet, regional extension officer Mr Bounleth and senior Research Mr Thongchanh Bounthala will undertake a study tour of about 10 days to Australian stonefruit and fruit tree orchards in October 2005.

THAILAND

Extension methodologies workshop
An extension methodologies workshop was conducted at the Royal Project Office in Chiang Mai. The workshop was attended by farmers and extension staff from DOAE, Highland Project and Royal Project Foundation. A better understanding of the constraints to expanding temperate fruit production in Thailand was developed. Further meetings are planned to better co-ordinate extension activities across agencies.

Farmer demonstration sites - Khun Wang province
Four farmer sites have been established near Khun Wang research stations with between 150 to 250 trees have been planted on each site. The oldest trees, at one site, are now 3 to 4 years of age and producing good quality fruit. Tree age of the other sites ranges from 2 year-old to recently-planted. The main variety being tested is peach cv. Tropic Beauty. To increase returns most of the farmers have interplanted with cash crops including flowers, coffee, or vegetables.

Farmer demonstration sites - Ang Kang province
About 100 peach trees cv. Tropic Beauty have been established at four farmer sites in Ang Kang Province, bordering the Myanmar border. These trees are between 1 to 2 years of age and will fruit next year. One farmer has implemented exceptionally high management practices.

World Vision project CTE/2000/165
A meeting was held in Chiang rai with the Australian and Thai project leaders for World Vision project CTE/2000/165. This was followed up with a visit to field sites of stonefruit at Ban Kon Village and neighbouring sites. Overall there had been a significant improvement in the management of the sites. Over 400 trees of newly introduced varieties such as peach cv. Tropic Beauty have been successfully established and fruited. Mr Bob Nissen conducted training for 7 farmers and 3 World Vision extension staff. Mr Pichit Sripinta, Thai DOA research officer has conducted monthly visits to the sites to supervise and train the World Vision extension officers.

LAO PDR

Productivity and economic performance

The high returns from temperate fruits have created a lot of interest in these crops which subsequently has seen these crops promoted for future development. New temperate fruit production systems have been extended to 4 new districts in Xiengkhouang Province and one new province, Huaphan. A small nursery, which will be used to propagate temperate fruit and other subtropical fruit species, has been established near the Regional Agricultural Office in Ponsavan.

We estimate that farmers at Nonghet, near the Vietnamese border are picking about 10-12 kg of stonefruit per tree with a return of $1.50A per kg. At a tree density of 600 trees per hectare this will provide an income of about $6 000 - $8 000 per hectare, about twenty times their current income of $300 per annum. Even higher returns could be achieved if farmers adequately thinned their trees and applied some basic management practices.

Improving orchard management

In 2005-06, unseasonable drought severely affected the establishment of some orchard blocks. The new demonstration block of stonefruit, established on the Plain of Jars near Ponsavan, on a commercial farmer's site, suffered severe water stress with a significant loss of trees. Although the region has a plentiful supply of water, which is held in small dams, farmers lack expertise and funding in designing and installing suitable irrigation systems. The project is intending to rectify this problem in 2006-07 by installing a suitable irrigation system for the Plain of Jars site.

Training and communication

Good communication links have now been established between the Thai and Lao research and extension officers. Through their biannual trips to Lao, the Thai researchers have successfully trained the Lao extension officers in temperate fruit technologies. Two training workshops and field days were held in 2005-06, which were both attended by over 20 participants. A group of 4 Lao scientists and one farmers undertook a study tour of low-chill temperate fruit growing region of Queensland and NSW in October 2005.

THAILAND

Productivity and economic performance

In Thailand, the DOA has established stonefruit demonstration orchards at four farmer sites in Khun Wang Province and at four sites in Ang Kang Province. Trees vary from 2 to 4 years of age. Older trees have commenced cropping. Peach cv. TropicBeauty has produced high quality fruit. For example, one farmer has achieved yields on 4 year-old peach trees of about 120 fruit (18-20 kg per tree). Because the quality of fruit was high, with about 30% of the fruit extra grade, this farmer received on average 80 baht/kg ($3A per kg).

At the ACIAR demonstration block on Royal Ang Kang Research Station, we estimated that trees of peach cv. Tropic Beauty carried about 120-150 fruit per tree, with an average fruit weight of 150g (18-22kg per tree). Because of the steep slope, and the necessity to use benches, the planting density is low, about 400 trees per hectare. We estimate yields to be about 8 tonnes per hectare. Using an average price of 80 baht per kg, returns of $23 000 per hectare have been demonstrated.

Improving orchard management

A visit to the World Vision demonstration plots at Ban Kon Pan Village near Chiang rai in northern Thailand showed significant improvements in orchard management and consequently fruit quality. Newly introduced varieties such as peach cv. 'Tropic Beauty' had performed well. This variety appears to be well adapted to the region.

Training and communication

An extension methodology workshop was held in Chiang mai Thailand to examine ways of improving delivery of temperate fruit methodologies to farmers. The meeting was attended by farmers, extension agents from the Royal Project Foundation, Highland Project and by the DOA and DOAE. As a consequence of the extension methodology workshop, an improved understanding on the best extension methodologies to use to improve the delivery of temperate fruit technologies to Thai farmers was developed. Further meetings are planned to improve the co-operation between different extension agencies

On our annual visit, Mr Bob Nissen demonstrated various aspects of orchard culture such as tree pruning, thinning and harvesting to Thai farmers and extension officers. The Thai DOA extension officers visit farmer sites monthly.

Marketing

In July 2005, Dr Alan George, Bob Nissen and Mr Uthai Noppakoonwong attended the ISHS International Conference on supply chains. The conference highlighted the lack of understanding of marketing and supply chain management by extension agents and the need to implement quality assurance systems too access export markets.

Sensory evaluation studies were conducted at both Royal Ang Kang and Khun Wang Stations. Our analyses showed that four of the newly introduced stonefruit varieties are well accepted by Thai consumers. Our studies showed that Thai consumers prefer large, highly coloured fruit with high sugar concentrations and low acid.