According to the ‘Australian Horticulture Statistics Handbook 2022/23’ the annual production of Lady Finger banana in that year was 11,228 t compared to 363,023 t of Cavendish, so Lady Fingers represent only about 3% of overall banana production. However, the farmgate value of Lady Finger production can be estimated as worth about $30 million, which because of the higher price paid for Lady Finger per kg of fruit, represents about 5% of the overall banana industry. But whatever way you want to look at it, the Lady Finger industry is an important industry in its own right.  In New South Wales the Lady Finger industry is proportionally much more important than it is overall for Australia.

In the April 2024 edition of Australian Bananas (see here pp 26-27) we drew attention to the constraint that Fusarium wilt Race 1 has placed on Lady Finger production in Australia. Varieties with resistance have been sought and evaluated over time, but while many have been identified with resistance, none have so far measured up as replacements for the Race 1 susceptible Lady Finger in the marketplace. So where possible, affected growers have sought new ground not infested with the pathogen.

In 2019/20 some new Lady Finger selections, Lady Finger hybrids and Sugar hybrids were imported from banana breeding programs in Brazil to evaluate in Australia. As described in the April article in Australian Bananas, some of these are being screened against Race 1 on the Atherton Tablelands. Here in this article, we present results from the plant crop of their agronomic evaluation at South Johnstone. This evaluation is part of the project BA21002 – ‘New varieties for Australian banana growers’.