Cavendish bananas in danger?

Bananas are regarded as the world’s healthiest food. They are known for their enormous health benefits. They are rich in antioxidants and aid in digestion and combat certain types of cancer. More than 100 billion bananas are consumed every year and are the most important food crops in the world after wheat, rice and corn. There are numerous Cavendish banana exporters.

Off late, bananas have made headlines not due to their health benefits but because a powerful disease is threatening the banana industry.

During the harvest season last year, banana farmers in Jordan and Mozambique made a discovery. Their plants were no longer bearing creamy fruits they had been growing for decades.

Scientists found that a fungus is turning bananas into a rotting, fibrous mass in Southeast Asia.

The Panama disease, also known as Fusarium Wilt, is a lethal fungal disease that is affecting the banana plant. It blocks the flow of nutrients and water and eventually kills the plant. The disease particularly affects Cavendish bananas. Cavendish bananas are the most popular variety growing globally, mainly produced for the export market.

The disease is resistant to fungicides and therefore it cannot be controlled chemically as it would normally be the case. This has caused a lot of anxiety in the industry. In 1950, a deadly strain of the same disease caused irreversible damage in the banana plantations in Central and South America. The disease at that time destroyed Gros Michel banana, the world’s most consumed variety at that time. It was also referred to as Big Mike.

After Gros Michel was wiped out, it was replaced by Cavendish. Cavendish went on to become the most popular variety, thanks to its resistance at that time to its deadly fungus. Cavendish represents around 47% of the global production.

However, a new strain of fungus was discovered in Taiwan in 1990 and since then it is attacking Cavendish plants in Southeast Asia. The disease is slowly spreading to countries such as China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and even northern Australia.

The global exports of banana account to almost 18 million tonnes.

The banana industry is nervous of the disease spreading to other major producing regions such as Latin America as it is easily transmittable by soil, air and water. Scientists are now looking for a new variety that will replace Cavendish and is resistant to fungus.

We can only hope that with advances in modern technology there is hope for the Cavendish banana.