THE landscape of Top End agriculture will need to transform dramatically if it is to survive the punishing blows inflicted upon its watermelon and banana growers over the past fortnight.
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Farms in Katherine have been quarantined following an outbreak of the highly infectious cucumber green mottle mosaic virus, meaning the Northern Territory’s $60 million watermelon industry is likely to undergo a radical reduction in size as producers come to terms with the two-year growing ban that they have been slapped with.
The banana industry will also be decimated in coming months after the announcement that, as part of a national response to combat banana freckle, six exclusion zones will be set up in the NT, with existing plants earmarked for destruction.
The farmers impacted by the CGMMV outbreak and the banana freckle battle plan are going to feel the pinch in 2015, with many already scrambling to come up with alternative ways to produce income from the land where their watermelon and banana crops currently stand.
Diversification will be the key, but there is every possibility that some of them will not be able to make it work.
If those farmers are forced to walk away from the land, it will have a devastating effect on the NT, both at macro and micro levels.
If watermelons cease to be grown at all because of a Territory-wide outbreak of CGMMV, it will make sizeable dent in the bottom line of our agricultural sector.
Worse still, it would create major economic problems in communities, not just for the farmers, but also for their workers and the local businesses which supply goods and services to the farms.
