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Disease Threatens 99% of the Banana Market (washingtonpost.com)
An anonymous reader writes: In the 1950s, Panama Disease wiped out the dominant type of banana that was imported worldwide. Banana-growers had to switch to a different strain, the Cavendish banana, at great expense. Now, a new study finds that a more virulent strain of the disease is directly threatening the Cavendish banana. Banana plants are dying from it throughout Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Australia. It hasn't reached Latin America yet, which is good — that's where the vast majority of the world's bananas are produced. But the researchers say it's just a matter of time. "The latest strain is likely to put the risks of monoculture on display once more. And while scientists might find or breed a better one in the mean time, the reality is that this time around we don't have a formidable replacement that's resistant to the new strain of Panama Disease. Once it reaches Latin America, as it is expected to, it could be only a matter of decades before the most popular banana on the planet once again disappears."
http://slashdot.org/story/102169 for those that wish to verify.
Having tried a fair bit more bananas that most people, I disagree. I would say Cavendish is just fine. Sure, there is diversity in banana fruit tastes, and IMO Cavendish is not as good as, say, a Pisang Awak, but I don't get where people call it bad. I've had worse varieties.
and won't survive a plane crash like your laboratory-born neo-fruit.
Cavendish has been cultivated for well over a century. Not exactly what you'd call a 'neo-fruit,' as if that would be a bad thing anyway.
One of my co-worker in Singapore has a banana plantation in Indonesia, and because of the disease he almost lost everything
Once the disease arrive, all the banana trees died, within weeks
Banana tree truck is unlike the solid wood tree truck - the core of the tree trunk is layered, much like onion, and the layers are tender - the disease, a type of fungi, attacked the gaps between the layers inside the core, and the rot came from within
There is no cure, absolutely no cure
Once the plantation is infected they have to chop down all the trees and ***BURN EVERYTHING***, , else the fungi may spread to nearby banana trees
Bonus trivia ...
Do you know how the disease spread to Africa?
The disease hitched a ride on the bottom of a pair of boots
Yes, *BOOTS*
Some 'banana expert' went to Asia to check the banana disease, he wore a pair of boots into the plantation which was affected
Some months later, that same 'expert' went to Africa - and he wore the *SAME* pair of boots and walked into a pristine banana plantation (absolutely no disease) and the fungi which hitched a ride on his boot was transferred into the soil, and from there onwards Africa's banana are no longer disease free
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
The main reason the bananas are vulnerable to this is that all commercially grown bananas are sterile clones, reproducing asexually: http://www.damninteresting.com...
Wild non-cultivated bananas are pretty much all seed and wouldn't make a very desirable alternative: https://upload.wikimedia.org/w...
Since the commercial bananas are all identical, they are all equally susceptible to the same disease, which leaves three options:
1) Identify and switch to a different strain of banana that's not susceptible, which takes a lot of time, money, and likely has other drawbacks
2) Forget about bananas -- hard to do in parts of the world where they are a staple food
3) Use genetic engineering to try to create a disease resistant version before it's too late
Fact is that Cavendish becomes the main variety because the 'Panama Disease'. as mentioned in TFA, wiped out the previous, much more tasty variety
In Asia you get to enjoy more varieties because banana originally came from the South East Asian region (mainly Indonesia and Malaysia, with some in Southern Thailand and on some island in the Philippines)
There was no banana in Africa nor in America - all the bananas in Africa was brought there some 2 thousand years ago, most probably by sea-faring tribes originated from Southern China / Vietnam which plied both the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean
In places like Indonesia and Malaysia there are other varieties of bananas, unfortunately many varieties had gone extinct due to habitat destruction
I have tried 'red banana' before, yes, blood red in color, very tasty and smell really nice too - if you happen to be near Singapore, Indonesia or Malaqysia do not forget to taste all the different varieties of banana that you would never get to taste elsewhere
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
Found one:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foo...
Exactly.
A friend of mine did a few months of work and travel in Australia.
One of her jobs was to dump perfectly ripe red tomatoes, and pick the green ones and send them to Europe.
The Economist sounded this exact alarm more than 10 years ago: http://www.economist.com/node/...
https://upload.wikimedia.org/w...
It doesn't hurt to be nice.