SYDNEY, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Farmers in Northern Australia have begun retail trials for a new variety of mango, and so far the results have yielded sweet success.
"We're over the moon with the quality of the fruit, the flavor, the shelf life, all very positive," Queensland State mango farmer Brad Bowen told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Sunday.
In the making for two decades, red mango varieties are a result of a 20-year research project involving Australia's national science body, the CSIRO, and the agriculture departments of Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia.
Known by the breeding codes NMBP 1243, 1201 and 4069, Bowen said the summer fruit has the flavor of traditional yellow-skinned varieties such as Calypso, Honey Gold, R2E2 and Kensington Pride.
"They tend to be the one I go to when any family and friends come - we always give them one of the new varieties and they say it's their favorite," he said.
Facing oversupply issues on the domestic market which has driven the prices down in recent years, the industry is hoping to export around 20 percent of the new red mango crops.
"We've had about 1,000 trays in total this year so it's still very small numbers," CEO of Australian Mangoes Robert Gray said.
"We expect over the next couple of years, we'll be getting a few thousand from each farm across the regions, so we'll be able to assess them more thoroughly."
With slightly firmer flesh, good shelf life and smaller seeds, Gray added that "hopefully they'll also allow us to expand into new markets and new consumers who aren't currently engaging in mango supply.
