These plant profile notes should equally be relevant in assisting the wild harvest industry.

An initial principal objective of this research project was to increase opportunities for Aboriginal communities in Central Australia to benefit from involvement in bushfood industries by developing effective and reliable systems for cultivating selected bushfood species and harvesting, handling, transporting and storing their produce.

From the establishment of the trial at Pantharrpilenhe a model for future enterprises on Aboriginal communities has evolved. This model needs to be further explored and developed into a user friendly package that is easily understood, provides step by step guidelines and relevant information related to service provision, funding, training, technical assistance and marketing opportunities.

With sustained research the opportunity exists for the development of an “Australian Native Foods Information Kit.” With reference to this research project the information would be specific to plant species from Central Australia.

The development and packaging of this information kit would rely on the further development of the Pantharrpilenhe trial project and the need to develop collaborative links with others working in the field of Central Australian native foods.

The kit would serve to be both comprehensive while being practical and would serve to provide valuable information sought after by communities interested in establishing native food enterprises and by current producers of these horticultural commodities

Any such kit would include a check list or step by step process of how to establish a production horticulture native foods enterprise, funding and support services, a species list with information on yields and returns, establishment costs, management techniques and tools, key issues within the industry, potential problems and solutions and a list of all industry organisations, support services, funding bodies, product suppliers and relevant references

The species selection for this trial research project has been based on native foods currently recognised and being marketed and those considered to have potential within the industry.

Working with and consulting with Aboriginal people in Central Australia who for centuries have recognised and utilised a diverse range of plant species for a variety of purposes, the undeveloped potential appears considerable. Listening to and respecting the notable contributions made by people like Peter Latz, Rod Horner and Arpad Kalotas, and, liasing with product suppliers there appears to be considerable scope to expand the current range of Central Australian native foods being wild harvested or commercial cultivated.

In the wattle seed industry most attention is currently paid to Acacia victoriae while Ac. colei, Accoriacea subsp sericophylla and Ac. murrayana all are highly productive species considered to have a big potential in the wattle seed industry.

Similarly while the focus has been on Solanum centrale other solanum species have potential both within and outside the condiment and sauce industries. Solanum chippendalei for example is a pleasant tasting species possibly suitable for the glazed fruit industry and as a delicacy for the restaurant trade. It’s fruit is also large, almost the size of an apricot. Similarly Solanum cleistogamum, the sweetest of all the solanums, has various potential marketing opportunities.

The need to develop improved cultivars and explore a range of marketing opportunities exists with both recognised native food species and the currently little known species.

Research into the development of new cultivars needs further to be supported by the confirmation of appropriate management techniques and tools to improve quality, yields and to reduce production or more specifically harvesting costs.

Much has been written about the potential yields available from specific native foods of Central Australia. Much of this information is based on figures either relevant to wild harvesting or to particular species cultivated outside Central Australia.

While this report sheds some preliminary light on production yields in the first year of establishment, with particular reference to Solanum centrale and Cucumis melo ssp. agrestis, continued research is required to confirm actual yields on one, two, three and four year old plants and on the influence various watering and fertilising treatments may have on increasing annual yields and being able to induce repeat cropping over a season.

Issues of trellising specific species, companion planting, cultivating crops on natural stands, monitoring climatic factors, factors affecting fruiting and innovative low technology harvesting techniques are all areas requiring further research.

The issue of water management is an issue Australia wide. Much can be gained by exploring the potential benefits of water harvesting, an underlying management technique adopted and incorporated into the Pantharrpilenhe project. The development and efficient management of low pressure irrigation techniques also adopted needs further promotion and understanding within the horticulture industry.

The Pantharrpilenhe “bush tucker” project has provided the opportunity for an Aboriginal community in Central Australia to play an important research role in the emerging Australian native foods industry.

In reality the Australian bushfood industry is largely based on traditional knowledge, however it would appear that few Central Australian Aboriginal people have or are benefiting from the opportunities emerging with the development of this industry. People gaining benefits are largely confined to the area of wild harvesting.

It is hoped that from this research project the people behind the Pantharrpilenhe project and other Aboriginal communities in Central Australia can embrace and become important components of the Australian native foods industry. With increased opportunities built on aboriginal involvement in the establishment and development of the Australian native foods industry it is hoped that increased recognition, employment opportunities and income generation are realised.

While there is some speculation as to the full potential of the native foods industry, specifically to the potential of the current main food species generated from Central Australian species, it is not unrealistic to assume over the next decade that demand will increase significantly particularly as further marketing opportunities are explored and community awareness of the value of “bush foods” is promoted.

With the potential to bring new species and improved cultivars into production, improved efficiency of production and quality of produce, increased marketing and the development of a coordinated approach to production and collection the potential for expansion of the industry is considerable. The doubling or tripling of volume and value of production is deemed conservatively quite achievable within the short term in the Central Australian context.

Centralian College as the current principal research consultant of the “Cultivation and Sustainable Wild Harvest of Bushfoods by Aboriginal Communities in Central Australia” project has been involved with the project for nine months only. Reference should now be made to the revised objectives schedule.