Australia
April 22, 2015
Queensland horticulture is facing a perfect storm of biosecurity emergencies with the latest being the discovery of Cucumber Green Mottle Mosaic Virus (CGMMV) on a Queensland melon farm.
This brings to three the current serious pest and disease outbreaks faced by growers.
The other two major threats are Panama disease (Tropical Race 4) affecting two farms in far north Queensland and concerns about the fire ant infestation in the Lockyer Valley.
Peak horticulture Growcom said today the outbreaks served as a reminder of the importance of effective biosecurity and quarantine systems in ensuring our pest free status and the significant competitive advantage that this brings for Australian producers.
“It is imperative for the entire Australian horticulture industry that the CGMMV outbreak is dealt with promptly. Queensland growers produce most of Australia’s melon crop which is worth about $90 million to the Australian economy and supports regional jobs. The majority of fruit is transported to southern markets.
“However, this virus affects a range of other important crops including cucumber, zucchini, pumpkin, squash, bitter gourd and bottle gourd.
“As a first step, it is imperative the disease be controlled and eradicated. There also needs to be a thorough investigation into the origins of the disease to ensure our quarantine systems can be improved.
“However, the most pressing matter is whether Biosecurity Queensland has enough resources to handle this outbreak effectively, given that resources are already tied up in combating the Panama disease outbreak in north Queensland.”
Ms Mackenzie said the review of the state’s biosecurity capability mooted by Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, Bill Byrne recently, while welcome, may take too long.
Urgent action needed to be implemented on the ground right now and this required more resources.
“Speaking at the Queensland Rural Press Club recently, Mr Byrne acknowledged that Queensland was in the front line of biosecurity risks and challenges and industry and communities depended on a robust biosecurity system in the state,” said Ms Mackenzie.
“Mr Byrne said at the time that the state was capable of dealing with the major biosecurity crisis in north Queensland – Tropical Race 4 in Tully – but if another event struck, the state would be stretched to deal with it following the cuts to the Biosecurity Queensland workforce in recent years.
“We now have a second major biosecurity emergency in the State on our hands. We praise the state’s Biosecurity Queensland officers for picking it up so promptly but clearly the department will be stretched to deal with two unfolding emergencies and continue ordinary work loads.
“Growcom has called for increased funding for plant biosecurity to match that of animal biosecurity for some years.
“Plant biosecurity within DAF has been funded at significantly less than half that of animal biosecurity and yet plant industry value of production is more than $2 billion greater.
“Horticulture looks forward to Queensland becoming ‘combat effective’ (the Minister’s words) as soon as possible. We can’t wait for a review. We need an immediate stocktake of capacity, and action.”
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