Quarantine Restrictions in Place as Panama Disease Hits North Qld Banana Farms
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A DEVASTATING banana disease has resurfaced in the state’s far north, prompting Biosecurity Queensland to put strict quarantine measures in place.
Chief biosecurity officer Jim Thompson said samples taken from a property in the Tully Valley south of Cairns in the state’s far north have tested positive for Panama disease tropical race 4.
The banana farm has been locked down and is ‘under direction’ of biosecurity agencies.
More conclusive tests are not expected to be available for four to six weeks.
But authorities have acted swiftly to control and contain any further spread by issuing a biosecurity notice earlier today.
“In effect, the property will be under biosecurity directions in terms of how they’ll operate, that won’t be very different from the directions that were on the previous infested property,” Dr Thompson said.
“We’ve come a long way in two years since the first detection and the biosecurity practices are way in front of where we were before.”
Biosecurity Queensland has not identified the farming operation but the latest discovery has reignited the shockwaves that were felt when the first outbreak was detected in the same area in March 2015.