Cyclone-affected bananas to be harvested

General manager of Plant Biosecurity and chief plant health manager, Michael Reid, said growers would have an additional two-week supply of bananas which they could sell where destined for interstate market access following Cyclone Jasper.

Mr Reid said many benefits would come from this arrangement.

"Rather than letting fruit go to waste, many of these windfall bunches should be suitable for marketing and consumption," he said.

"This measure will assist in the long-term economic recovery of these growers."

Mr Reid said Australian consumers would also benefit.

"As there will be an increased supply in the marketplace, which should also assist in keeping banana prices down," he said.

According to DAF, accredited businesses do not need to do anything to be eligible for these arrangements, as the department has made an amendment to the ICA operational procedure Hard Green Bananas [ICA-06] and it is in the process of being provided to accredited businesses by their local Plant Biosecurity Officer.

To maintain interstate market confidence in our produce, random inspections may still need to be carried out on packing sheds and transporters, Mr Reid said.

He said as 80 per cent of Australia's bananas come from far North Queensland, it was important to maintain our high standards despite the setbacks experienced at the present time.

Queensland maintains part of the state area freedom certification for Panama disease tropical race 4. Any areas infested with Panama TR4 are required to be certified under Inspection of Bananas for Freedom of Soil and Plant Material [ICA-67] to mitigate any risks associated with soil and other plant material for Panama TR4.

At his banana farm at Tully, Australian Banana Growers Council chair Leon Collins said crop losses would be higher from water damage and trees blown over.

"I've been through Cyclones Winifred, Larry and Yasi and this is the first flood we have had in seven years here," he said.

"At my place in Tully I have a 360 view of water and at Lakeland we lost only 10 trees and all the dams are full."

Mr Collins grows the William Cavendish variety and said the DAF announcement was welcome.

"But it's business as usual for us, because if a banana does not make the grade we will discard it in the shed," he said.

"Crop losses are a lot larger than we thought from this cyclone, not from wind but from water."

Mr Collins said a key issue was about delays in getting fruit to market as the longer the fruit remained on wet ground there are concerns for its quality.

He said damaged roads and infrastructure are another concern.

"We will have road and transport problems if we can get product south," he said.

But on the positive side, he said "I have not seen any crocs.

"I can't get into my other farm at the moment as the only access is by water.

"There's too many logs in the water to safely use a boat."

Mr Collins said while everyone in his industry was prepared for Cyclone Jasper, the immense rain was a bit of a surprise.

"Once the category 2 cyclone made landfall the eye went off to the Gulf but the rain stayed here," he said.

"It took a week to get here, I reckon BOM gave us good enough warning but I don't know if they could have premeditated the flooding, it looked to be a complicated (weather) system."

Mr Collins said like many others, he was without power at present.

"We work off mains power here and that's gone," he said.

"There's been no drop of water levels here yet, but I have heard at top of the river it has started to drop.

"A lot of them cant get to work the approaches are flooded out."

Mr Collins said he hope consumers would support the banana market over the festive season.

"Christmas is when bananas are up against cherries and all the stone fruit," he said.

"There will still be bananas on the shelves they will still taste good and we will make sure there enough for supply, but the price might move up a bit once we find out how bad the damage is."