‘Kinder’ weather lifts hopes of better banana yield

AFTER a lacklustre year Far Northern banana growers are optimistic of a better yield in 2020.

The Far North region, north of Cardwell, harvested 350,000 tonnes in 2019/20.

The figure made up 94 per cent of the national yield of 372,000 tonnes.

Australian Banana Growers’ Council chairman Stephen Lowe said the industry faced challenging environmental conditions in 2019.

“It was a hard year to grow bananas,” he said.

“We had an extended period of wet weather, cold weather and then extremely hot weather. Production was down because growth conditions were not ideal.”

Any improvement in growing conditions would mean a better yield in 2020, Mr Lowe said.

“You would expect we will get more this year but then again it’s totally dependent of climate.”

Paulo Di Carlo of Di Carlo Bananas said to date this year the yield was up on January 2019 totals.

“The weather has been a bit kinder,” he said.

“This time of year it’s a typically slow demand, people are on holidays and school is not back yet so things do slow down a bit, demand wise.”

Supplying markets in Perth, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, the Woopen Creek business expected a return to peak demand in early February.

Mr Di Carlo hoped for decent rain but not too much and had his fingers crossed that no cyclones hit the Innisfail area.

“The next two or three months are your crucial months. We are hoping the weather doesn’t go too extreme for us,” he said.