This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
Recently, some concerns have been raised about the health of theworld’s banana plants. A number of media reports have said thatbananas may completely disappear. Some claim that this could happenin as little as ten years.
Bananas are one of the world’s most important food crops. Theyare also the fourth most valuable export. Bananas do not grow fromseeds. Instead, they grow from existing plants. Bananas arethreatened by disease because all the plants on a farm are copies ofeach other. They all share the same genetic weaknesses.
For example, the Cavendish banana is most popular in Americanmarkets. It is an important export crop. However, some kinds offungus organisms easily infect the Cavendish. Black Sigatoka diseaseaffects the leaves of Cavendish banana plants. The disease iscontrolled on large farms by putting chemicals on the plant’sleaves. Farmers put anti-fungal chemicals on their crops up to oncea week.
Another fungal disease is more serious. Panama disease attacksthe roots of the banana plant. There is no chemical treatment forthis disease. Infected plants must be destroyed. Panama disease hasaffected crops in Southeast Asia, Australia and South Africa. Thereis concern that it may spread to bananas grown in the Americas. Thiscould threaten an important export product for Central and SouthAmerica.
The International Network for the Improvement of Banana andPlantain supports research on bananas. The group has headquarters inFrance and other offices in the major banana-growing areas of theworld. The group says that more research must be done to developimproved kinds of bananas.
The group says that fungal diseases mainly affect only one kindof banana. In fact, there are five-hundred different kinds ofbananas. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization saysthe Cavendish banana represents only ten percent of worldproduction.
The U-N agency says farmers should grow different kinds ofbananas. This protects against diseases that affect only one kind.Experts warn that disease may cause the Cavendish banana todisappear. This has already happened to one popular banana becauseof its genetic weakness against disease.
This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by MarioRitter.