Worldwide opportunities for sesame seed

Mr McDonald was one of a number of speakers at the Crop Consultants Australia (CCA) annual conference in Narrabri. He highlighted the increasing number of plusses growing sesame seed offers to farmers.

He said the global sesame seed market is expected to reach A$26 billion by 2025, and the Australian sesame industry has been identified for its potential as a high-growth industry.

He said the recent introduction of new high-yielding, non-shattering varieties with high-quality seed and adaptation to local conditions is a boon for the sesame industry, boosting growth as the crop can now be mechanically harvested.

Sesame was first trialled in Australia in the late 1800s, with more success within a CSIRO breeding program in the 1980s and 1990s.

What works with cotton is the leading question, he said.

"Irrigation is imperative to start a new industry, to have continuity of supply. It's about working with another crop, and that crop is cotton. It's got have soil and nutrient benefits, is low risk, fits in with existing rotations, and is an affordable crop to grow and easy to market.

"It's got to have an existing market within the world."

Mr McDonald said the sesame plants' agronomy offered several challenges.

"There are about 400,000 seeds per kilogram. With our canola plates, we were chasing two to two-and-a-half kg/hectare, but it was difficult to achieve those seed rates," he said. "It was more like a kilo to the ha," he said.

Harvestability of the new non-shattering breeds further promised sesame's future in crop rotations.

There was an excellent result on the four sites we had," Mr McDonald said.

"It was a low-cost crop, a bag of DAP/ha on a really ordinary start. We weren't that convinced we were going to succeed, so we didn't spend a lot on it.

"When it came to harvest, we had an excellent result on the four sites. The plant has a great taproot.

Mr McDonald said about six million tonnes of sesame seed is harvested worldwide.

"About 95 per cent of that is done by hand," he added. "Probably the most important thing is that there is a massive existing market.

He said the significant producers of sesame are Sudan, Ethiopia, Pakistan, India and Namibia.

"Currently, the price is sitting at around $2000/tonne. Demand is driven by China, the US, Japan and other western countries, who are looking for a cleaner product, which Australia can produce."

Most whole sesame seed and sesame products are imported into Australia, predominantly from Africa and Asia. In 2020, Australia imported more than 13,000 tonnes worth $57.25 million.

With sesame valued at up to $2000 tonnes at farmgate and ideally suited to Australia's hot and dry conditions, Mr McDonald said it was an attractive option as a high-return break crop in broadacre farming systems, reducing reliance on imports and bolstering local production.

A new national Sesame Central Research and Innovation Hub has been launched at the Central Queensland Innovation and Research Precinct (CQIRP) based at CQUniversity in Rockhampton, Queensland.

Sesame Central is a collaboration between AgriFutures Australia, the Cooperative Centre for Developing Northern Australia (CRCNA) and CQUniversity (CQU). The aim is to provide a coordinated approach to sesame research in Australia, addressing practical challenges growers face and communicating research findings to stakeholders throughout the sesame supply chain.

Find out more about CRCNA's Great Northern Spices Program by clicking at: bit.ly/45grwio