NSW banana growers looking to gain marketing advantages via organic farming practices have another significant tool in their arsenal thanks to some innovative thinking and extensive trials.
The first commercial lures and traps for banana weevil borer (BWB), the biggest insect pest of bananas in NSW, are now making their way onto North Coast plantations.
The BWB larvae bore through the base of the banana plant causing yield reductions and "dropouts", plants snapping at ground level from the weight of the bunch, and treatment to date has been costly and difficult.
NSW Banana Industry development officer Matt Weinert, who has led the trials and development of the new lure-and-trap system, said growers sprayed or injected plants with chemicals to manage the pest.
If treatments were mis-timed they could flare other pests, he said.
"The life cycle of the weevil and the fact they don't move very far from where they mature suggests they can be managed by mass annihilation trapping," he said.
The traps had the potential to reduce populations, cutting costs and providing marketing benefits, he said.
Trials of aggregation lures and traps near Coffs Harbour and Lismore have been successful.
A lure manufactured in France and traps made from recycled icecream containers were placed across David Tate's Korora plantation near Coffs Harbour at a rate of 16 per hectare.
More than 9000 weevils have since been removed and Mr Tate expects to be operating chemical-free in two years.
Already he farms under sustainable principles on his 5ha plantation, "Dave's Bananas", which grows Cavendish, Lady Fingers, Sugar and Ducasse fruit.
The traps will save him the $800 a hectare it has cost to spray for BWB a year but he says the marketing advantages are even more significant.
"I sell direct to the public and they tell me in no uncertain terms the less chemicals the better," Mr Tate said.
The Tullera trials, near Lismore, compared the set-up used at "Dave's Banana's" with a second lure manufactured in Costa Rica and a prototype trap designed to reduce the bycatch of beneficial insects.
"While the lure here outperformed the French version the trap reduced the catch of BWB," Mr Weinert said.
Queensland company Bugs for Bugs at Mundubberra have now manufactured the lure and trap system and it is available to growers.
