Mr LUGG - 1999-06-03
I understand there has been an outbreak of Panama disease affecting bananas in Darwin’s rural area. Can the minister please inform the Assembly what the status of this quarantine incursion is, and how this outbreak will be handled?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I thank the member for his question, because it will give me the opportunity to further explain to members of the House the state of the live cattle trade.
It is of some concern that we have an outbreak of a disease which is suspected to be fusarium Panama disease Race 4 at a property at Middle Point.
You may recall that in 1997 we had an outbreak of Race 4 Panama at a property at Berry Springs which necessitated the entire destruction of that banana plantation, and we had an outbreak after that in only 3 plants at Lambell’s Lagoon which we’re confident we have contained. However, the outbreak we have now discovered at Middle Point, and which is still subject to verification by the pathologist, bears all symptoms of Panama Race 4. It’s extremely wide spread and in all probability will require the complete destruction of that plantation as well.
By fortuitous coincidence we have in town at the moment a gentleman called Marco Lorenzo whose family by themselves account for 35% of the world pineapple market but also maintain very large plantations of bananas in Davau in Mindanao in the Philippines. I took the opportunity to invite Marco to discuss with my officers and members of the banana industry and the Northern Territory Horticulture Association what measures we could and should take in relation to Panama Race 4, and what reasonable steps we could undertake to ensure that the industry survives.
The general rule in the Philippines is to destroy the crop and abandon the land. That’s more the manifestation of lack of research into Panama disease in general, given that it’s a tropical disease and most of the tropical areas in the world are either third world or emerging countries. They have not had the ability or wherewithal to devote a lot of resources into research into these diseases and into developing resistant strains.
Mr Lorenzo has offered and we have accepted the kind offer of sending to us research scientists and an operations manager who ensures the quarantine standards on his properties are maintained, and it will be in conjunction with them and with discussions with people in the industry itself that we do hope to put in place a fairly strict regime in relation to quarantine on banana properties and movements of planting materials between those properties.
It is not only planting materials, it’s dirt, it’s any sort of soil that’s transported between those properties which can cause an outbreak of this disease. We are not sure where it comes from. We are not sure whether its been contained within the soils for ions and all of a sudden it has emerged following a large wet season. We have to be vigilant and we have to put in place quarantine measures that will ensure the long-term survivablility of this industry.
As an adjunct to that, we understand the Taiwanese have undertaken some research in Indonesia as a result of having banana plantations that they have invested in and that are infested with Panama disease. We will be talking to them in an attempt to work with them in developing resistant strains. This is a serious disease outbreak, a serious incursion, and one that has the potential to destroy the banana industry in the Northern Territory before it properly gets off the ground unless we put in place sensible and enforceable quarantine measures, and unless the industry recognises itself the seriousness of this disease, the outlook for the banana industry in the Northern Territory at this particular point of time is not particularly good.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I thank the member for his question, because it will give me the opportunity to further explain to members of the House the state of the live cattle trade.
It is of some concern that we have an outbreak of a disease which is suspected to be fusarium Panama disease Race 4 at a property at Middle Point.
You may recall that in 1997 we had an outbreak of Race 4 Panama at a property at Berry Springs which necessitated the entire destruction of that banana plantation, and we had an outbreak after that in only 3 plants at Lambell’s Lagoon which we’re confident we have contained. However, the outbreak we have now discovered at Middle Point, and which is still subject to verification by the pathologist, bears all symptoms of Panama Race 4. It’s extremely wide spread and in all probability will require the complete destruction of that plantation as well.
By fortuitous coincidence we have in town at the moment a gentleman called Marco Lorenzo whose family by themselves account for 35% of the world pineapple market but also maintain very large plantations of bananas in Davau in Mindanao in the Philippines. I took the opportunity to invite Marco to discuss with my officers and members of the banana industry and the Northern Territory Horticulture Association what measures we could and should take in relation to Panama Race 4, and what reasonable steps we could undertake to ensure that the industry survives.
The general rule in the Philippines is to destroy the crop and abandon the land. That’s more the manifestation of lack of research into Panama disease in general, given that it’s a tropical disease and most of the tropical areas in the world are either third world or emerging countries. They have not had the ability or wherewithal to devote a lot of resources into research into these diseases and into developing resistant strains.
Mr Lorenzo has offered and we have accepted the kind offer of sending to us research scientists and an operations manager who ensures the quarantine standards on his properties are maintained, and it will be in conjunction with them and with discussions with people in the industry itself that we do hope to put in place a fairly strict regime in relation to quarantine on banana properties and movements of planting materials between those properties.
It is not only planting materials, it’s dirt, it’s any sort of soil that’s transported between those properties which can cause an outbreak of this disease. We are not sure where it comes from. We are not sure whether its been contained within the soils for ions and all of a sudden it has emerged following a large wet season. We have to be vigilant and we have to put in place quarantine measures that will ensure the long-term survivablility of this industry.
As an adjunct to that, we understand the Taiwanese have undertaken some research in Indonesia as a result of having banana plantations that they have invested in and that are infested with Panama disease. We will be talking to them in an attempt to work with them in developing resistant strains. This is a serious disease outbreak, a serious incursion, and one that has the potential to destroy the banana industry in the Northern Territory before it properly gets off the ground unless we put in place sensible and enforceable quarantine measures, and unless the industry recognises itself the seriousness of this disease, the outlook for the banana industry in the Northern Territory at this particular point of time is not particularly good.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016