Authorities will kill 16,000 banana plants in Queensland in a bid to limit the spread of a disease that's threatening the state's $570 million industry.

Authorities will begin destroying 16,000 banana plants at a far north Queensland farm in an effort to stop the spread of a devastating disease.

The farm at Tully, south of Cairns, has been under quarantine since early March when the soil-borne Panama TR4 disease was detected there, sparking fears for Queensland's $570 million industry.

It's the same disease that destroyed the Northern Territory's banana industry in the 1990s.

Biosecurity Queensland's chief officer Dr Jim Thompson says officers will inject chemicals into 16,000 plants to kill them.

"We'll be killing all the plants in that area, and that's about a 10 hectare block of land, and fencing that off and ensuring that that area is not used again," he told the ABC.

"It will be left as it is for a period of time, until further decisions can be made on future treatment of that area."

[Source: http://www.sbs.com.au]