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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."
Problems are easy. Solutions are a lot harder.
If you depend on a single type of crop, it's very hard to diversify.
> they'll just find another single type of banana to grow everywhere...
Ah, but this time it'll probably be a GMO banana. Wholly owned and under the control of a single corporation thanks to IP laws.
Can you imagine the profits? A single corporation owning one of the most popular food products with no competition?
Well,while those advances are real and significant, we do also have people actively working to keep those advances from being utilized. Wouldn't want to tamper with the genetics of a seedless man made fruit, which often has an extra set of chromosomes, and sometimes is a hybrid with a parent that has banana streak virus integrated naturally into its genome...nope, wouldn't want to mass with that picture of biological integrity.
As it stands right now, it looks like the most promising research is the use of somaclonal variants. This is, to make a long story short, when you generate clones with slight random genetic variations which are then grown out and screened for their level of disease resistance. This seems to be the way things will go, which is fortunate, because then we don't have to deal with the anti-GMO crowd trotting out their usual manure.
Seems like a overblown crisis. If it will take decades to be an issue, I am sure someone will work out...
Ah, the old "meh, let the children figure it out" line.
Like I've never seen this line of thinking when an environmental issue came up...