Sesame seed planting trials are taking place at several sites across Australia as industry figures look to boost production of the popular crop.
Sesame seeds are being planted at several sites across the country as industry figures look to increase production of the emerging crop.
Agricultural research and development body AgriFutures has identified a big appetite for sesame in Australia, which is being met by imports.
At Aaron Kiely’s farm at Emerald, his trial sesame crop is almost ready for harvest.
The cotton farmer also grows wheat and pulses and sees sesame as a game changer for the region.
“It’s an emerging crop, there’s definitely huge opportunity there,” Mr Kiely said.
“We’re looking at being able to rotate it and what the possibilities are with yields for dry land, and irrigated.”
Planting will soon be finalised at Tully in North Queensland, and is already complete at Kununurra in Western Australia and Katherine in the NT.
A fifth site is also being planned, for either NSW or southern Queensland.
Sesame is heat and drought-tolerant, making it suitable for some of Australia’s extreme conditions, but the industry has previously failed to take off.
Olivia Reynolds from AgriFutures said the trials followed a rise in consumer demand and research that identified less labour-intensive varieties of the crop.
“The game changer for sesame is that we have some new genetics available,” Dr Reynolds said.
“We’ve identified sesame as a high growth potential emerging industry.”
Sesame is cultivated for its edible seeds, which are used as an ingredient in meals, and for the oil, which is used in cooking.
In 2016, 7000 tonnes of sesame was imported into Australia, with that figure forecast to hit 10,000 tonnes by 2025.
“Sesame oil is commonly used in Asian cuisine and I’d say most Australian consumers would probably have a bottle of sesame oil in their pantry,” Dr Reynolds said.
“We’re seeing sesame grow globally as a result of changing tastes.”
The trials aim to work out what weeds and diseases affect the crop.
CQU researcher Tieneke Trotter, who is leading the project, said sesame was well suited to the Australian tropics.
“Sesame is showing really great promise in hot and humid conditions and can also withstand periods of drought,” Dr Trotter said.
“We’re saying sesame has got good potential for the north and we’re developing best-practices and recommendations for farmers.”
That includes working out what irrigation is needed.
The crop has been identified to rotate with cotton, another emerging crop in the country’s top end, but environmentalists are concerned expanded cotton production will pave the way for destructive land clearing.
Dr Reynolds doesn’t expect growing sesame will lead to biodiversity loss.
“We see sesame able to be planted under existing agricultural land,” she said.
“It’s a crop that perhaps is not as thirsty as some others.”
AgriFutures has invested $2 million in sesame research over the next five years.
