A review into banana imports could devastate the industry and lead to putting the nation’s biosecurity at risk, the peak body representing NSW farmers says.
In a statement, NSW Farmers said, ‘This week. the Federal Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry announced a review of quarantine arrangements for bananas imported from the Philippines into Australia’.
‘NSW Farmers member and Coffs Harbour banana grower Paul Shoker said news authorities were considering opening the gates to imported produce from the country was nothing but a kick in the guts for the nation’s $1.3 billion banana industry’.
Mr Shoker said, ‘Australia’s banana growers produce enough fresh, tasty fruit for the whole nation, so there’s no need to import bananas from other countries, and risk bringing in a long list of exotic pests and diseases with them’.
‘It only takes one slipup, and we’ve got a pest or disease spreading through the landscape, devastating family farms and stripping livelihoods from hardworking Australians.’
Mr Shoker warned there would be serious consequences for Australia’s future food security if the nation’s biosecurity standards continued to be treated as a pawn in international trade.
‘More than 90 per cent of the fresh food we eat here in Australia is domestically produced, so if exotic pests and disease enter the nation and decimate our farms, then the reality is we’ll be looking for something to eat,’ Mr Shoker said.
‘If the Federal Government thinks this is going to end well, then excuse the pun – but they’ve gone bananas.’
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