WATERMELON farmers are playing an anxious waiting game to see whether or not a disease that could cripple the Northern Territory’s $50 million industry has been detected on a farm near Katherine.
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On September 18, the Department of Primary Industry and Fisheries announced that it was inspecting every watermelon farm in the NT after a suspected case of cucumber green mottle mosaic virus was detected on a Katherine farm.
The virus impacts yields and fruit quality, and can also affect other crops, including cucumbers.
The department’s plant pathologists are currently testing plant samples with suspected CGMMV at Berrimah Farm in Darwin, while the Elizabeth Macarthur laboratories in New South Wales are also testing samples.
A department spokesman said both laboratories were required to independently verify a positive result before the presence of CGMMV could be confirmed.
