Experts say the pennies you pay for bananas are part of the problem.
Design elements: Getty Images.
Key Takeaways
In the 1970s, banana plants in Asia began to brown and wilt.
Photo:Design elements: Getty Images. EatingWell animation.
Plants dried out and died.
The problem resurfaced in Australia in the 1990s.
Factors like low labor costs and highly productive plants have kept prices down.
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In the U.S. a pound goes for 62 cents on average.
With blight threatening supplies, might banana prices balloon, like egg prices under avian flu?
It hasnt happened yet, but experts say it might.
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Luckily, researchers are working on solutions.
Monocropping comes up whenever the same plant is grown on the same land every year.
Its done for efficiency, but it can leave the plants more susceptible to disease.
Chiquita
Cavendishs thick skin makes it sturdy for shipping.
Most important, Cavendish is immune to TR1.
Yet, its very success could be its downfall.
Thats because we monocrop it.
Monocropping is asking for problems.
Theres no diversity to buffer against disease.
Ideally you would make a mixture of different varieties, so disease cant spread so fast, Panis explains.
Cavendish quickly succumbed to the new pathogen.
TR4 especially attacks Cavendish.
Other varieties are not completely resistant, but they have some tolerance.
She led an international TR4 study in 2023.
Plants are able to acquire nutrients through interaction with microbes, including fungi, she explains.
But bad pathogens exploit that relationship.
Then humans aid and abet it.
TR4 sees one key in of banana it can eat.
We give it that same banana, it kills the plant, and it grows faster, says Ma.
It all comes back to humans only eating one kind of banana.
We tell the pathogen, If you like it, we will feed you.
The fungus also hitched a ride on equipment and boots, allowing it to affect more and more farms.
And once TR4 moves in, land becomes unusable for bananas for decades.
But prevention isnt enough.
So scientists are developing means of resistance.
Ma, whose team investigated the genetic makeup of the fungus, proposes solutions around soil microbiology.
We could genetically modify the pathogen, she says.
The science is further along in the development of new bananas.
Unlike the wild, seed-filled ones they sprang from, cultivated bananas are sterile.
Panis genebank in Leuven, Belgium, safeguards 1,700 banana accessions.
This material can be used to create alternatives that have the Cavendishs hardiness as well as resistance to TR4.
The Price of Bananas
Ongoing research funding is reassuring because safeguarding bananas costs money.
In the end, does that mean their price goes up, even if TR4 is vanquished?
Probably, say experts.
But is that really a bad thing?
After all, bananas are so cheap that someone must be subsidizing them.
As it turns out, its the people in the places where bananas are grown.
In the end, advocates see banana blight as a wakeup call.
Thats what were seeing from Chiquita.
In that sense, he argues, banana blight should be seen as an opportunity, not a threat.
But the problem comes down to monocropping.
Nearly half of all bananas sold globally are one throw in: Cavendish.
The fungus attacks this variety, and decimates banana plantations.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
TR4 Global web connection.What is Fusarium Tropical Race 4?
International Institute for Sustainable Development, State of Sustainability Initiatives.Banana Coverage.
Dole.Dole Harvests Ripe Findings from National Banana Survey.
Bureau of Labor Statistics.Graphics for Economic News Releases.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.Banana Facts and Figures.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.Banana Market Review Preliminary Results 2024.
SunStar.Banana production in Mindanao drops.
International Institute for Sustainable Development, State of Sustainability Initiatives.Global Market Report: Banana Prices and Sustainability.
