NSW Department of Primary Industries, Banana Industry Development Officer Matt Weinert is running the reject analysis in the state, and says there has been comments that quality of the fruit has not been the best and that is keeping prices down.
"The aim is to improve productivity," he said. "You don't make money on second class or reject fruit. So the idea is to get more product into a premium pack, so the growers are making more money as well."
The reject analysis research will have two components, with Mr Weinert firstly visiting the farms to inspect the downgraded and rejected fruit and try to work out the causes. He is this week visiting properties in the NSW North Coast region, and the second component will information sharing with the national Plant Protection Project which is conducting it pest and disease research.
"The only problems we have been finding so far is that there is some bird and bat damage, which we are not sure how we are going to be able to deal with," Mr Weinert said. "But then there is some issues with rough handling and nutrition issues with some of the fruit as well. There is also some pest insect damage, like thrips and Sugarcane bud moths that we are finding as well. Those issues, particularly the pest disease issues will feed back into the Plant Protection Program, and work out ways to better manage these."
It is hoped that he will also be able to provide feedback directly to the growers through the packed product analysis, which will compare packed cartons to product specifications.
Mr Weinert says it is scheduled to be a three year project, with the reject analysis work and pack analysis work in the first 12 months, and the next two years will be on developing strategies to the issues that are found to be causing the problems for growers.
The subtropical program is not just confined to NSW, with research being carried out in South East Queensland and Carnarvon in Western Australia, through the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development.
"That will encompass all of the subtropics," Mr Weinert said. "It has potential for other growers to look at (its findings) Australia-wide, and that is the aim, to develop some reject sheets that growers can use to do the scoring and then potentially a short video on how to do it as well."
While the project is in the early stages, Mr Weinert says one of areas being looked at is the plant nutrition, and what factors could be affecting it during the growth stage.
"I don't want to pre-empt anything, but particularly in Ladyfinger and Ducasse, we are getting what people are calling 'dummy finger', and something that has been called Mokillo," he said. "Basically, it is where the fruit is misshapen, or hasn't filled out properly. When you look at previous publications, it can be caused by anything from a bacterial disease, right through to calcium and boron that may be causing those issues. So we want to flesh out what is exactly causing that, so we may go in and compare the misshapen fruit and compare the nutrition in the misshapen fruit to the good fruit and see if there are any issues there."
The program is financed through the Hort Innovation banana fund, and the NSW Industry Development Officer says it is important that he works with as many growers as possible, to best discover the issues and then come up with management solutions.
For more information:Matt Weinert
NSW Department of Primary Industries
Phone: +61 438 644 136
matt.weinert@dpi.nsw.gov.au