Mango farmers pin season hopes on sourcing local workers

ABOUT 600 of the 1737 connections made on the Government’s JobsHub filled farming positions, according to NT Farmers Association chief executive Paul Burke – and there will be an additional 2500 jobs available when the Territory’s mango season heats up.

Sklivos Produce workers Roula Skliros and Tina Skliros preparing for the mango season. Picture: Katrina Bridgeford

About 600 of the 1737 connections made on the Government’s JobsHub filled farming positions, according to NT Farmers Association chief executive Paul Burke.

And there will be an additional 2500 jobs available when the Territory’s mango season heats up.

“There’s jobs out there because the NT is in the middle of rockmelon and watermelon season,” Mr Burke said.

“We’ll start to see by the first of June the mango industry starting to gear up. Some of the mango seasons need between 2000-2500 workers, so there will be a lot of opportunities for local jobseekers because of the dip in seasonal workers from overseas.”

It comes after Prime Minister Scott Morrison revealed an estimated 21,400 jobs would be lost in the NT by mid-2020.

More than 4000 Territory businesses have signed up to the Federal Government’s JobKeeper payment to retain staff.

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Of the 4021 NT businesses that applied, 140 came from the agricultural, forestry and fishing industries.

The most, 689, came from the construction industry.

NT Mango Industry Association president Leo Skliros said many farmers were struggling to meet the new COVID-19 requirements.

“Everyone’s trying to do a COVID-19 management plan for their farms otherwise they won’t be able to have more than 10 people on during a harvest,” he said.

“You’re allowed to have more if you’ve got a plan in place but that means we’ll have to spend a lot more on workers’ accommodation because they can’t be too close.

“Hopefully there will be more locals looking to work on farms this year.

“That will also mean we won’t have that accommodation on farm issues because people will be living locally.

“That might be a saving grace for us this year.”

Last year’s mango season crop yielded about 4 million trays.

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Mr Skliros said the mango season might start in September this year, later than normal.

“We had a late wet season which means most of the trees are still a long way from flowering,” he said.

“But there are a few farmers who are out picking some green varieties right now.

“Since the world is going into recession we don’t know how much money is going to be around for people to spend on things like mangoes. It’s a wait and see game.”