The Northern Territory's banana freckle outbreak worsens with two more cases found

Biosecurity officials from the NT Government say there are now a total of three positive cases of the disease from three separate properties.

All are in the Batchelor-Rum Jungle area, about 100km south of Darwin.

Questions are now being asked on whether the decision to declare the NT free of the devastating disease in 2019 was premature.

Surveillance teams have now checked about 40 properties in the area of where the first case was detected a few weeks ago.

Four samples were taken and two have come back from testing laboratories as further cases of banana freckle.

An emergency national meeting of biosecurity officials recently declared it was still "technically feasible to eradicate" the current outbreak.

RELATED READING

Quarantine restrictions have been established to stop bananas or banana plants leaving the Territory.

Queensland, which produces about 90 per cent of the nation's bananas, are keeping an anxious watch on developments inside the Territory.

The latest response to the further detections is to continue checking properties to determine the size of the outbreak.

A week ago, government officials stated: "The current detection in the NT is not thought to be connected to the previous outbreak."

It was then hoped the disease was isolated to the one property, which planted the infected banana tree after the Territory had been declared free of the banana freckle.

A massive banana freckle eradication program was launched between 2013-2019 in the NT.

Back then 43,589 properties were involved in a NT-wide surveillance program with more than 500,000 banana plants destroyed on 9500 properties.

Banana freckle was detected and treated on 260 properties in the biggest biosecurity of its type ever mounted in Australia costing $26 million.

The disease was successfully eradicated with proof of freedom declared on February 1, 2019.

That eradication program also involved a "host-free period" of at least six months, including a full Top End wet season.

Then sentinel disease-free banana plants were monitored for the disease before proof of freedom was declared.

Most of Australia's bananas today are grown in Queensland, where the industry is valued at about $600 million.

Banana freckle cannot be eradicated by the use of chemicals, the banana plants have to be removed to get rid of the disease.

The many visitors to the Top End for their dry season holidays are being advised not to take banana fruit, the peel or banana plant material out of the area from which it was purchased.

Sign up here to Good Fruit and Vegetables weekly newsletter for all the latest horticulture news each Thursday...