Popular Banana Breed is in Danger From Fungus

January 19, 2015 – The Cavendish banana, the successor to the Gros Michel, which succumbed to a fungus, Fusarium oxysporum, also called Panama Wilt Disease, is about to experience the same fate. Experts forecast the demise of the Cavendish within the decade.

The story of the Gros Michel, or Big Mike, is a study in why monoculture cultivation can have devastating consequences. Although still around, by the end of the 1940s fungus had wiped out the commercial banana crop. Plantations in the banana growing countries were abandoned as large-scale cultivation came to an end.

Today a vestige of the Gros Michel can be found in parts of South America and Southeast Asia, some African countries, on Pacific and Caribbean islands and a few places in Florida and California. The trick to keeping it alive is small scale cultivation.

The song, “Yes We Have No Bananas” pre-dates the death of large-scale Gros Michel plantations, but refers to the beginning of the outbreak in Central America during the 1920s when audiences could listen to Al Jolson on radio singing the tune.

So once again banana growers have failed to learn about the deficiencies of monoculture in cultivation. The Cavendish, which is prized for its long shelf life rather than sweetness (apparently the Gros Michel was much tastier) is killing off bananas in Asia, and now is spreading to Africa and the Middle East. If it spreads to Central and South America we will see in the Cavendish’s death, history repeated.

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organziation (FAO) has a plan in place with a budget to provide a rapid reaction force in dealing with the spread of the fungus. Much of the money is going into researching a new fungus-resistant breed of banana. Wild banana and plantain varieties, most inedible, are being tested for their genetic resilience to the fungus. Also studies in Taiwan have identified some Cavendish banana plants that show resistance to the fungus.

In the short term however, in Africa where 85% of the bananas grown are consumed locally, the Cavendish is a major food staple. Its loss would be devastating.

The answer of course is to stop relying on a single predominant breed in cultivating a staple crop. Biodiversity is the key.

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