Cotton gin to be built in Kununurra
13/11/96 Primary Industry Minister Monty House said today a commercial cotton industry in the Kimberley has become a reality with the announcement that a cotton gin would be built in Kununurra.
13/11/96
Primary Industry Minister Monty House said today a commercial cotton industry in the Kimberley has become a reality with the announcement that a cotton gin would be built in Kununurra.
Mr House said the announcement was great news for the Ord River agricultural region, the cotton industry and the region as a whole.
"Without this gin we would not be able to proceed with our development of the Kimberley cotton industry," he said.
The Minister said the establishment of a cotton gin in the region would allow the processing and marketing of the trial crops and in turn generate the required financial returns to allow the trial areas to be gradually expanded.
"For some time we have realised that while the results from small-scale trials have been very promising, the future viability of the cotton industry, in particular the development of sustainable pest management strategies, could only be tested by gradually scaling up the size of the research plots," he said.
"In December last year, I informed the major processors and marketers within the Australian cotton industry of the opportunities for small-scale processing and marketing in Western Australia and invited them to work with the Government to develop the industry.
"As a result of that invitation, the Ord River District Co-operative and Colly Farms Cotton have formed a joint venture to establish a small-scale cotton processing facility at Kununurra."
A number of existing Ord River farmers have now been encouraged to participate in the cotton trial program under the guidance of Agriculture WA and CSIRO.
"It is now expected that subject to necessary regulatory approvals for transgenic cotton at the Ord, the research team will be able to expand their trials to between 200ha to 250ha in 1997," Mr House said.
Agriculture Western Australia and the joint venture partners have reached a three-year agreement that the proceeds of trial cotton grown by Agriculture WA at the Frank Wise Research Institute will provide the necessary underwriting to commission the cotton gin and maintain a relatively economical processing and marketing service to other existing Ord River farmers participating in the trials.
"It is anticipated that the trials will continue to be scaled up prior to the development and release of Ord Stage II land and at that time cotton may become a major industry for the region," Mr House said.
He said the recent trials of transgenic 'Bt' cotton by Agriculture WA had shown very promising results.
Bt cottons had an introduced gene which resulted in a naturally occurring protein being excreted throughout the plant structure which was toxic to cotton's greatest enemy - heliothis caterpillars.
This protein allowed the plant to protect itself against attack but at the same time was non-toxic for other insects.
"Many people associate cotton with the high pesticide use seen in the Ord district 30 years ago, however the use of Bt cotton means crops are sprayed usually no more than the average horticultural crop, if at all," Mr House said.
"This year's work has shown that the introduction of transgenic Bt cottons has dramatically cut pesticide applications for the control of heliothis caterpillars - in some cases by up to 80 per cent."
Media contact: Nicole Trigwell (09) 481 2044.
