STONEFRUIT growers will be asked to consider paying triple the current statutory levy, which has been unchanged for more than a decade.

Summerfruit Australia Limited chairman Ian McAlister said the increase was vital if the peak body was to address the priority issues of foreign market access and lifting domestic per capita consumption.

  • Have Your Say in the form below

Mr McAlister said the proposed rise, which would result in 1c/kg being paid to research and development and 2c/kg for marketing, was both reasonable and timely, given expected increases in production as new plantings matured.

"We're promoting a $250 million industry with a budget of $400,000," he said.

"It's minuscule when you compare it to someone like (confectionery giant) Mars, which spends 9 per cent, and they're the people we're competing against.

"We know advertising works and with a budget of $2 million we could make a difference."

The compulsory levy of 1c/kg on fresh stonefruit was introduced in 1994-95.

Previous attempts to increase it have been rejected - by the Federal Government in 2000 - and growers from Swan Hill, Cobram and Renmark, who formed a rival body, Australian Summerfruits Producers Association, which tried to abolish the levy in 2003.

Other fresh fruits attract levies of between 1c/kg and 7.5c/kg, including table grapes (1c/kg), bananas (1.7c/kg), apples (1.845c/kg), pears (2.099c/kg), cherries (7c/kg), and avocados (7.5c/kg).

A consultant's report recommended the stonefruit levy be at least doubled, to help the industry counter the traditional post-Christmas price slump, which can cost growers $18 million.

SAL chief executive John Moore said the organisation had been hampered by a lack of funds for marketing programs.

Growers paid $968,236 in levies during 2008-09, giving SAL a budget of $1.565 million, of which it spent $1.242 million, including $436,424 on marketing.

Mr Moore said a considerable sum had been invested in this year's domestic marketing campaign, which continues next week when comedian Mark Mitchell takes his character Con The Fruiterer on a national tour.

Swan Hill Summerfruits Development Association president Michael Tripodi said growers would have to be convinced of the value of paying a higher levy.

He said SAL deserved credit for running a tight ship.

"But growers will want to know what the extra money would be used for before agreeing to the increase," he said.

"Until we see what they propose to spend the money, the answer is no."