Uncertain future for NSW bananas

Many growers across the North Coast say another dry, hot summer will force them to shut up shop, given their returns for the larger part of this year have hovered around the cost of production.

The NSW government and Australian Banana Growers’ Council (ABGC) have responded by funding a new industry development officer for NSW with the directive of keeping the southern industry afloat by developing niche, premium markets and improving supply chain efficiencies.

Heavy Queensland production has kept NSW fruit out of Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne markets for most of this year and local markets have returned an average of $18 to $20 per 13 kilogram carton for Cavendish, peaking at $25.

Lady fingers have made up to $18 for an 8kg carton of premium fruit.

In post-cyclone times, prices hit $150 to $170 per carton for Cavendish and NSW growers say those brief periods of high returns have been all that has kept their farms going.

Despite some losses this year to tropical Cyclone Ita, which struck North Queensland in April, Australia’s banana production reached record levels in 2013-14 with more than 28 million 13kg cartons sent to market, up eight per cent on the previous year, which itself was a record.

The lift in production confirms bananas as the largest single horticulture industry in Australia, with ABGC chief executive Jim Pekin saying the recovery since 2011’s Cyclone Yasi had been extraordinary.

For subtropical banana growers in NSW farming hilly country, costs of production are much higher than in Queensland and the lack of competitiveness has pushed more and more trees out of production each year.

In the 1980s, NSW produced 85pc of Australia’s bananas and today it accounts for less than 3pc, said Coffs Harbour wholesaler and ripener David Norberry.

Production this year was down 20pc on last year, due not only to the hard season – an excessively hot and dry summer followed by a cold winter – but also to the trend of farming enterprises on the Mid North Coast to replace banana trees with other horticulture ventures such as blueberries, tomatoes and cucumbers, he said.

Hope remains for success in north

For northern NSW banana grower Dave Guinea, who has 12 hectares of mostly Lady Fingers under production at Crystal Creek, near Murwillumbah, it will take at least six months of perfect seasonal conditions for his farm to return to full production.

He says production is down 30 per cent on typical years and that has combined with returns almost half what they need to be for banana growing to be profitable in his region.

“The glut of Queensland bananas on the market in the past two to three years has led to the worst prices for us in 20 years,” Mr Guinea said.

“And in those same years we’ve had floods, droughts and now a very cold, windy, dry winter which took a big toll on bunch size and fruit quality.

“The next six months is do or die.”– SHAN GOODWIN

Nambucca district grower Tony Styles, Weemala, Yarrahappini, described the NSW industry as being on life support.

The risk of introducing aggressive new pests hanging over the industry in the wake of the find of live root-knot nematodes in Fijian ginger imports last month was yet another blow, he said.