Agriculture - National Horticulture Industry Profiles - Bananas
Bananas
Bananas are Australia’s third most valuable fruit industry behind pome fruit and citrus. The gross value of production in 1996/97 was $217 m, or about 5% of the total gross value for all Australian horticulture.
Because rainfall is often intense in tropical areas, soil erosion is a major risk which growers are addressing. Traditional fertiliser practices have also come under scrutiny in recent times, because they have been found to acidify the subsoil of plantations.
Major producing areas and production
Bananas are mainly produced in tropical and subtropical areas in Queensland and New South Wales, and production is almost all for the domestic market.
The value of banana production at the farmgate in 1996/97 was $162.2 m, an increase of $3.4 m on the previous year. The total bearing area of commercial banana production for the year to March 1997 was 13 180 ha. There are approximately 2300 growers. Australian consumption of bananas is about 13 kg per person each year.
Major production regions
| Region | Agro-ecological region |
Production (t) |
Value ($m) |
% of total crop area |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wet Tropics, Qld | Wet tropical coasts | 127 840 | 125.1 | 53 |
| Mid North Coast, NSW | Wet subtropical coast | 22 630 | 30.8 | 15 |
| Far North Coast, NSW | Wet subtropical coast | 10 530 | 14.3 | 11 |
| Carnarvon, WA | Arid interior | 9 070 | 12.8 | 3 |
| Cairns, Qld | Wet tropical coasts | 5 680 | 5.6 | 2 |
 |
Production, production trends and exportsAustralian bananas are mainly exported to Japan, Indonesia and New Zealand. Exports are less than 1% of total production. |
Industry contact
Australian Banana Growers Council: PO Box 414, Brisbane, Queensland 4001; telephone: (07) 3220 0407
Production and value data sources
Horticultural Research and Development Corporation 2000, Horticultural Productivity and Sustainability Project
Australian Bureau of Statistics 1996, AgStats 1996-97
National Land and Water Resources Audit 2000, non-agricultural land mask from 1:1 000 000 Landuse in Australia
Agriculture Fisheries Forestry - Australia 1996, Agro-ecological Regions of Australia
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