Feedback
Bananas
Growing bananas in Queensland
Bananas are Australia's largest horticultural industry and highest selling supermarket product.
Most production is located in north Queensland regions:
- Kennedy
- Tully
- Innisfail
- Atherton Tableland
- Mossman
- Lakeland
- Hopevale.
The common varieties of bananas are:
- Cavendish
- Lady Finger
- other niche varieties.
Best management practices
The best management practices (BMP) cover:
- environmental guidelines
- on-farm biosecurity.
These voluntary national guidelines encourage continuous improvement and best practice in the banana industry. Both BMPs include a self-assessment checklist and information resources. They're available as a downloadable document or an online questionnaire.
Use the Better Bunch app to record everyday farm practices for your best management practices (BMP). The app is available free if you've completed the online version of the BMP.
Visit Better Bananas for research and case studies.
Economics and business management
- Economic forecasts for Queensland's banana industry.
- Economic case studies and research for banana growers.
Grants and funding
Access grants for on-farm improvements from the Australian Banana Growers' Council.
Maintaining fruit quality
Freshcare offer training courses to give growers and packers the tools to identify and manage food safety and quality risks.
Damage to fruit quality can happen at all points along the supply chain, caused by:
- rough or excessive handling
- inappropriate packing
- packaging failure
- poor temperature management.
Biosecurity
- Movement restrictions apply to banana plants, and banana pest carriers.
- Read the Banana industry biosecurity guideline (PDF, 408KB). The guideline covers management of yellow Sigatoka.
- Create your on-farm biosecurity management plan to reduce the risk of introducing or spreading an infectious disease, pests or weeds.
- Preventative biosecurity measures can help contain outbreaks if they do occur.
- Encourage visitors to use the Farm Check-In tool when entering your agricultural property to minimise the spread of pests and diseases.
- Learn how to identify Panama disease tropical race 4 (TR4).
Pests
- Banana aphid
- Banana flower thrips
- Banana fruit caterpillar
- Banana rust thrips
- Banana scab moth
- Banana weevil borer
- Banana-silvering thrips
- Banana-spotting and fruit-spotting bugs
- Cluster caterpillar
- Fruit piercing moths
- Queensland fruit fly
- Spider mite
- Two-spotted mite
- Sugarcane bud moth
Diseases
- Anthracnose
- Rhizome soft rot
- Banana leaf rust
- Leaf speckle
- Crown rot
- Fruit speckle
- Yellow Sigatoka
- Burrowing nematode
Reportable pests and diseases
- Banana freckle
- Black Sigatoka
- Bunchy top
- Panama disease TR4
- Banana bract mosaic virus
- Moko disease (PDF, 617KB)
- Oriental fruit fly
Industry associations
- Australian Banana Growers' Council (ABGC)
- Hort Innovation (Horticulture Innovation Australia Limited)
- Australian Bananas
- Growcom
- Australian Banana Industry Congress
Land management for banana farmers
Learn how to adopt farming practices that reduce soil, nutrient and pesticide run-off.
Protect reef catchments
- Use our property search tool to find out if your farming business is within the Reef catchment and subject to the Reef protection regulations.
- Read about best practice for producers in the reef catchment areas.
- Find out about grants and funding to support producers in the Reef catchments.
- Learn from other farmers trialling new farming practices.
- Watch case studies about innovative farming practices.
Improve soil health
- Managing soil erosion (PDF, 1MB)
- Nurturing the soil and neighbouring wetlands on a banana farm in the Wet Tropics (PDF, 600KB)
- Banana root and soil health user's manual outlines simple tests to measure soil health using an on-farm testing kit
- Erosion and sediment control guide (PDF, 2.8MB)
- Fertiliser placement guide (PDF, 1.2MB)
Reduce nutrient losses and sediment run-off
- The Best Practice Management Environmental Guideline provides specific banana industry content and best practices to reduce sediment and nutrient run-off
- Grassed inter-rows in bananas in the Wet Tropics region reduced the cost of fertiliser application and reduced sediment and water loss
- Monitoring nitrogen losses from bananas in the Wet Tropics region
- Installation of a sediment trap at Boolabah Farms (PDF, 4MB)
Panama disease tropical race 4
Panama disease tropical race 4 (Panama TR4) is a serious disease of banana plants that has been found on farms in Far North Queensland.
Understanding Panama TR4
Panama TR4 is a soilborne fungal disease that enters through the roots and starves the plant of water and nutrients, causing the plant to wilt and die.
Panama TR4 can infect most banana varieties including:
- Cavendish
- Lady Finger
- Ducasse.
The disease is among the greatest threats to worldwide banana production. In some countries, the impact on industries and livelihoods has been devastating. We need to manage the disease in Far North Queensland or the same impact may occur.
The disease can't be eradicated and can survive undetected in the soil for decades. We can't identify Panama TR4 until banana plants show external signs of infection.
You can easily spread the disease if you move:
- infected banana plants and planting material
- contaminated soil and water.
People and machinery movement are the biggest risk to spreading the disease, but it can also be spread by:
- vehicles
- equipment
- animals
- heavy rainfall
- floods.
Panama TR4 grower kit
The Panama TR4 grower kit brings together the latest information about the disease, on-farm biosecurity practices and support services, specifically for Far North Queensland banana growers.
Protecting your farm
Good on-farm biosecurity measures are critical to protect farms from Panama TR4 and to contain the disease if it is detected. You must ensure you manage the movement of soil, water and plant material entering and exiting a farm.
Equipment and items that have come into contact with infected planting material or contaminated soil may spread the disease, such as:
- vehicles
- machinery
- tools
- clothing boots.
On-farm biosecurity measures include:
- zoning—a simple and cost-effective way to manage disease risk pathways onto and off a farm
- footwear exchange stations and foot baths
- cleaning and disinfecting all vehicles and machinery
- setting up a clean access road.
Use these resources to help implement an effective farm biosecurity plan.
- Watch advice from growers about where to start with protecting your farm.
- Use the Banana best management practices: on-farm biosecurity guide (PDF, 4MB)—a comprehensive resource, including self-assessment checklists, to assist you to evaluate and implement an effective biosecurity plan.
- Contact the Australian Banana Growers’ Council (ABGC)—the national peak industry body for commercial banana growers.
- Visit farm biosecurity for information about on-farm biosecurity measures to help you reduce the risks posed by disease, pest and weeds on your farm.
Financial assistance
The Queensland Rural and Industry Development Authority (QRIDA) offers sustainability loans to eligible producers under the Queensland Government Primary Industry Productivity Enhancement Scheme (PIPES). These loans can be used to invest in control measures to protect farms from biosecurity risks.
Also consider...
- Watch a short animated video about Panama TR4.
- Watch a short video about how to properly clean a vehicle.
- Show this short video to your workers about coming clean and leaving clean.
- Watch a short video about on-farm biosecurity for managing footwear, detailing examples of how to manage the movement of people on and off your farm, as an integral part of protecting your property from Panama TR4.
- Watch a short video on identifying symptoms and protecting your farm, showing how to identify the disease and what protection measures you can put in place on your farm.
- Check the maps of biosecurity zones for restrictions when moving banana plants and items in Queensland.
- Learn more about growing bananas in the Great Barrier Reef catchments.
- Ask visitors and contractors that are working on or around your banana farm to watch this video before arriving.
© The State of Queensland 1995–2024
- Last reviewed: 08 Sep 2021
- Last updated: 08 Sep 2021