Do you like Bananas?
If so I have very bad new for you. The banana is heading towards extinction. All down towards a disease which is infecting the bananas. Scientists call this disease Tropical Race 4 (TR4) which is all caused by a strain of fungus - Fusarium Oxysporum cubense. This fungi lives in the soil and is unfortunately immune to pesticides. It kills the banana plants by starving them of nutrients as well as water. TR4 was found in 1992 from Indonesia and Malaysia. However, it didn't stay there. By 2013, it was in Mozambique. Probably due to the disease traveling on equipment and boots of banana plantations. Now the pathogen has infected Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Oman, Pakistan and Australia. In 2018, it hit Myanmar. TR4 only affect the Cavendish banana. And surely you would think that every is ok then. We just use one of the other 1,000's types of banana.
But, no.
The Cavendish accounts for 47% of all the global production of banana. Which is a big problem as the banana is the world's most popular fruit. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN reports that 50 million tonnes of Cavendish bananas are used yearly which would affect 99% of the bananas exports if the Cavendish died. What makes things worse with the Cavendish's predicament is that the fruit is infertile. This means that scientists have to clone them in order to grow them continuously which is fantastic for farming. Since the Cavendish species is a clone one, all of the genetic material is the same. Therefore, we know how the banana response to pesticides, the speed of growth and the amount that each plant grow. But, that simple identical genetic code comes with problems because if one disease (such as TR4) knows how to affect one banana. Then, it can wipe out the whole species.
But, it is not like we haven't experienced this before. Back before the Cavendish variety was popular, we had another popular type of banana. This one was the Gros Michel. It was sweeter and therefore, dominated the American and Europe markets. And I reckon you have tasted one. Have you've even had a banana flavoured sweet? If so you'll know that it tastes nothing like bananas of today. That's because they are based of the Gros Michel. Like the Cavendish, they had one weakness. The earlier fungal strain of Tropical Race 1 (TR1) which was detected in 1890 within Latin America. In 60 years of TR1, it destroyed the Latin American crop. Costing the industry of bananas around £1.75 billion ($2.3 US billion) in today's money. So they switched to the Cavendish in 1947, completely disappearing in 1965. The Cavendish was completely immune to TR1 and therefore, a good choice... But now, it's happening again! Just with the new fungal strain TR4.
The United Kingdom also import bananas, up to 5 billion yearly. We are used to the surely endless yield of inexpensive fruit which originates in plantations which could be thousands of kilometres away. Imagine what would happen if the banana did go extinct. How much money this country would lose from sales. Not to mention, how much moneys countries such as New Guinea, Indonesia, Malaya as well as the Philippines - all countries who could do with not having their main export go extinct.
Scientist are aware of this though. All focused on the project are hurrying with gene-editing tools in order to rescue our beloved fruit. However, everyone on the project will have to face a bigger problem towards food science - the opposition of genetically modified organisms (GMO) being used for food...
What your opinion on GMO food? Would you eat it?
Want to know more on the subject of Cavendish bananas? Why not look at;
This Article
These YouTube videos from SciShow: The Terrifying Truth About Bananas and Bananas Are Losing the War on Fungus
If so I have very bad new for you. The banana is heading towards extinction. All down towards a disease which is infecting the bananas. Scientists call this disease Tropical Race 4 (TR4) which is all caused by a strain of fungus - Fusarium Oxysporum cubense. This fungi lives in the soil and is unfortunately immune to pesticides. It kills the banana plants by starving them of nutrients as well as water. TR4 was found in 1992 from Indonesia and Malaysia. However, it didn't stay there. By 2013, it was in Mozambique. Probably due to the disease traveling on equipment and boots of banana plantations. Now the pathogen has infected Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Oman, Pakistan and Australia. In 2018, it hit Myanmar. TR4 only affect the Cavendish banana. And surely you would think that every is ok then. We just use one of the other 1,000's types of banana.
But, no.
The Cavendish accounts for 47% of all the global production of banana. Which is a big problem as the banana is the world's most popular fruit. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN reports that 50 million tonnes of Cavendish bananas are used yearly which would affect 99% of the bananas exports if the Cavendish died. What makes things worse with the Cavendish's predicament is that the fruit is infertile. This means that scientists have to clone them in order to grow them continuously which is fantastic for farming. Since the Cavendish species is a clone one, all of the genetic material is the same. Therefore, we know how the banana response to pesticides, the speed of growth and the amount that each plant grow. But, that simple identical genetic code comes with problems because if one disease (such as TR4) knows how to affect one banana. Then, it can wipe out the whole species.
But, it is not like we haven't experienced this before. Back before the Cavendish variety was popular, we had another popular type of banana. This one was the Gros Michel. It was sweeter and therefore, dominated the American and Europe markets. And I reckon you have tasted one. Have you've even had a banana flavoured sweet? If so you'll know that it tastes nothing like bananas of today. That's because they are based of the Gros Michel. Like the Cavendish, they had one weakness. The earlier fungal strain of Tropical Race 1 (TR1) which was detected in 1890 within Latin America. In 60 years of TR1, it destroyed the Latin American crop. Costing the industry of bananas around £1.75 billion ($2.3 US billion) in today's money. So they switched to the Cavendish in 1947, completely disappearing in 1965. The Cavendish was completely immune to TR1 and therefore, a good choice... But now, it's happening again! Just with the new fungal strain TR4.
The United Kingdom also import bananas, up to 5 billion yearly. We are used to the surely endless yield of inexpensive fruit which originates in plantations which could be thousands of kilometres away. Imagine what would happen if the banana did go extinct. How much money this country would lose from sales. Not to mention, how much moneys countries such as New Guinea, Indonesia, Malaya as well as the Philippines - all countries who could do with not having their main export go extinct.
Scientist are aware of this though. All focused on the project are hurrying with gene-editing tools in order to rescue our beloved fruit. However, everyone on the project will have to face a bigger problem towards food science - the opposition of genetically modified organisms (GMO) being used for food...
What your opinion on GMO food? Would you eat it?
Want to know more on the subject of Cavendish bananas? Why not look at;
This Article
These YouTube videos from SciShow: The Terrifying Truth About Bananas and Bananas Are Losing the War on Fungus
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