American folk hero Johnny Appleseed helped settlers plant successful orchards in the 18th Century and now CQUniversity's Professor David Midmore and Dr Surya Bhattarai are helping the world's small-scale vegetable producers introduce low-cost drip irrigation to ensure viable crops.

Whereas Johnny Appleseed (real name John Chapman) travelled the length and breadth of the land to talk to settlers, David and Surya's influence is via their project leadership of a 'More Crop Per Drop' booklet able to be distributed on the world wide web. LINK HERE to see a copy of the new book

Dr Surya Bhattarai shows how tomato plants can benefit from irrigation

This 'drip irrigation' manual is being published and promoted by the World Vegetable Centre* to show farmers how to use a simple gravity feed to bolster crop success.

Contact with the World Vegetable Centre was facilitated by CQUniversity's Professor David Midmore who has previously worked for the Taiwan-based organisation and who also contributed to the booklet.

Surya was able to use an Australian Government Endeavour Fellowship to work on research projects at the World Vegetable Centre in Taiwan for six months and he also based his manual on field projects in Cambodia.

Although focused on explaining the molecular-level workings of sophisticated oxygation irrigation (bubbling oxygen through irrigation water pipes), Surya also prepared his tips of relevance to small-scale producers.

The cover of the new manual available to small-scale producers across the world

* AVRDC - The World Vegetable Center is an international nonprofit research institute committed to alleviating poverty and malnutrition in the developing world through the increased production and consumption of nutritious, health-promoting vegetables.

Professor David Midmore has also been integral to the project