Tomato farmers in the Sydney Basin are reaping the benefits of research with a distinct international flavour that is certain to appeal to the taste buds of consumers in Australia and Cambodia.

The project is a partnership between NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI), two Cambodian Institutes, the AVRDC World Vegetable Centre in Taiwan, and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research.

Their main focus is improved varieties and post harvest management.

"The project has been running now for two years, and we are starting to see some real change occurring in the vegetable production systems used both here in Australia and Cambodia," NSW DPI project leader at Gosford Horticultural Institute (GHI), Mark Hickey, said.

"The Cambodian component is looking at a wide range of vegetables, including tomatoes, chilli and leafy vegetables, while here in Australia the focus is cherry and grape tomatoes grown by farmers in Western Sydney.

"New tomato varieties that have shown promise in trials run in the field and in the GHI greenhouses are now being grown by some farmers of Cambodian origin in Western Sydney in small plots on their farms.

"These growers are contributing to the project by providing information on how they rate the varieties.

"At the same time, we have run a series of workshops on improved harvest and handling practices relevant to these new varieties.

"And there’s a lot of enthusiasm from both the marketplace and the growers themselves for these potential new products."

Dr Suzie Newman, post harvest researcher at Gosford, is leading the post-harvest work in the project.

She helped establish Cambodia’s first horticultural post harvest laboratory, which has allowed researchers at the Cambodian Institute of Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) to conduct post-harvest research on tomatoes and other vegetables.

Mr Hickey explained that the links formed with the AVRDC World Vegetable Centre and Cambodia had promoted an exchange of information.

"A key objective is to provide training opportunities for the Cambodians, and we recently hosted a group of four Cambodian scientists to examine vegetable research at Yanco in the Riverina, and Gosford," he said.

"CARDI researcher, Nin Charya, is currently studying at the University of Sydney, and also collaborating with the Western Sydney research trials."