The NT Government will start destroying plants infected with banana freckle again, after inspecting nearly 2,000 properties following an outbreak earlier this year in the Batchelor and Rum Jungle region.

A new response plan, recently approved by the “National Management Group”, will now see plant biosecurity personnel from the Department of Industry and Trade working to eliminate the disease through the removal of infected banana plants and plant materials from 42 identified properties.

The properties where the disease has now been found include Middle Point, Marrakai, Fly Creek and on the Tiwi Islands.

Chief Plant Health Officer Dr Anne Walters said the response plan includes consultations and working with affected property owners.

“The latest positive samples show that banana freckle is more widespread than was initially thought,” Dr Walters said.

An earlier government response plan had been put on hold until more detailed surveillance was completed to better understand the extent of the spread and to enable it to develop the best strategy to combat the disease, the government said.

“The team will now focus on collecting as much information as possible through continued surveillance about where banana freckle is being detected to try and establish how far the disease has spread,” Dr Walters said.

Surveillance has been conducted at 1,832 properties in the Territory since banana freckle was first detected earlier this year to gather as much information as possible about the spread of the disease.

To lessen the disease’s impact on Territory-grown bananas, the biosecurity team will continue working with industry stakeholders and banana growers.

“The surveillance is an important part of our efforts to protect the Northern Territory’s banana industry. We urge anyone who has a banana plant to contact the hotline,” Dr Walters said.

“Knowing about healthy plants also provides an important piece of information for our team.”

Plants from infected properties will be removed by cutting them off at the base and treating them with glysophate.

Specimens will also be taken from plants on infected properties allowing biosecurity personnel to know more about the disease and how it has spread. Strict biosecurity decontamination protocols will be observed by biosecurity officers to avoid the risk of spreading the disease, the government said.

Industry representatives had expressed concern earlier this year when the fungus was detected on plants and had hoped to limit the damage of plants that could affect the industry.

Thousands of banana plants were destroyed across the Top End after the first outbreak hit in 2013. The commercial banana industry was wiped out during the eradication program. The program had caused massive anger from Territorians who accused the government of poor communication and taking to strict an approach.

Banana Freckle is a ‘wet spore’ organism affecting banana leaves and fruit but is not considered a health risk to humans consuming affected bananas. It can spread through splashes of water droplets, wind-driven rain or by people moving infected fruits and plants and suckers used for planting.

Signs of a banana freckle include sandpaper-like texture on leaves and fruit; spotting of flower bracts, leaves and bunch stalks; fruit blemishes and blackening of large areas of the fruit’s surface due to dense spotting.